Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #217998 in Music
• Released on: 2000-12-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Customer Reviews

Good solid performance with great, full-range sound
Well, I had been curious about the dvd-audio series of Beethoven symphonies from conductor Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle for several months; but the nice happenstance timing of WEA lowering their list prices on these discs, plus my purchasing the new "universal" Pioneer DV-563a player, put it right in my path as a key moment to adventure into this added territory of High Resolution. First, I must confess that I am not much of a Barenboim fan, either in his career as Great Pianist or in his career as Great Conductor. Nevertheless, I am generally a fan of the darker, richer European orchestra sound, especially as exemplified in bands like the Dresden Staatskapelle, Vienna Philharmonic, and others. Within the first half of listening to the first movement, I decided I was quite happy with this purchase. The dvd-audio sound is exemplary: full range, replete with detail, rich overtones, and powerful heft. The multichannel mastering has been done very well. You get a large soundstage with only one orchestra playing, neither a channel-dancing blizzard of special effects, nor the minimalist added rear channel ambience which barely manages to suggest more of the venue than ordinary 2-channel stereo (which you sometimes find on other discs). Especially, it is nice to hear the whole Berlin orchestra playing in something like a real space. While the studio in which this recording was evidently made scores points for resonance and clarity; it still sounds like a studio, rather than a concert hall. Better this passing and subtle sense of artificial limit as the louder orchestra meets the studio walls, than the opposite extremes of recording in venues so large the sound just expands outwards until it finally disappears. Although Barenboim has sometimes in the past billed himself, or allowed the marketing people to "tag" him as, a devoted disciple of the truly great Wilhelm Furtwangler; in this Beethoven he steers a very middle course, and just lets the music play itself straightforwardly. The interpretation leans towards the Romantic schools of Beethoven playing, without straining for strikingly eccentric phrasing or too fast-too slow tempos. The Pastoral sixth symphony can take more of this Romantic interpretation, after all, than other Beethoven; and here the performance reminds us that this symphony is both a considerable step in Beethoven's musical development, as well as a founding musical proof for the later descendants of nineteenth century symphonies and orchestral tone poems, all the way up to Mahler at least, if not further. One of the very great pleasures to be gained in having this disc in your collection is it's good, solid ability to remove that sense of listening to a recording, along with not having to make allowances for limitations in the sound so that you can concentrate on the performance. Here is an effortless means of allowing yourself to get into the Beethoven, no reservations needed. No, dvd-audio is still not quite exactly like having the Berlin Staatskapelle in your living room; but it is several subtle and powerful steps nearer to that holy grail of home reproduction. Highly recommended.

Karajan and Barenboim the best for Beethoven
I have compared it with the version of Karajan and it really does not have anything to envy to him on the contrary, in certain passages as the second movement seems to me superior. I recommend it to all the lovers of Beethoven and Barenboim.

Reply to Jack Meginnis...
Jack, the reason why you are not getting anything out of your sub maybe the format in which these discs have been mastered. I don't have them so I don't know for sure, but if they were only mastered in 5.0 (as opposed to 5.1) then all the bass information would be spread around the main channels rather than routed to your subwoofer. You would have to have at least one set of full range speakers in order to have any chance of hearing the lower range if they were mastered in 5.0. Please contact me via highfidelityreview.com if you would like to discuss further.