"period interpretation" beethoven?

Try Sir Roger Norrington and the London Classical Players. Benjamin Zander also has an "authentic" recording of Beethoven's 9th. Whether these "period interpretations" have really "benefitted" from scholarly work is a hotly debated topic. Nonetheless, have fun listening to them! Let us know what you think...

Best,
Eric

Eric, do I detect a soft touch of innuendo there ;)?
Blw, you might also add Gardiner & the London Fortepiano Trio for "original" instruments. But I think you'll be served by Norrington, as Ewha suggests. Cheers

There are quite a few Beethoven symphony cycles that use period instruments or are informed by period practice:

* Gardiner's set on DG Archiv uses period instruments. I think his tempos are generally on the hectic side, especially the finale of the 9th, which is manic without majesty.
* David Zinman’s set on Arte Nova is bargain priced. Uses modern instruments but influenced by period practice. Best in the set, I think, are 1, 2, and 4.
* Also using modern instruments but influenced by period practice is the set by Harnoncourt with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. These are vigorous, engaging readings.
Of the three sets I list here, I prefer this one of all the historical or quasi-historical performances.

But if you want your Beethoven sublime and majestic, historical may not be the way to go. I’m sure that Audiogon users have their own favorites, and just for the heck of it, here are some of mine:
Symphony No. 3: Klemperer, EMI
Symphony No. 5: Kleiber, DG
Symphony No. 6: Walter, Sony Classics
Symphony No. 9: Bohm, DG

There are plenty of others – happy listening!

Zinman's the one they mentioned, thanks to Jhold for that. Sounds like I should look into the Harnoncourt ones too.

Actually, the original question I asked in Indy was as follows...

Back in 1979 or 1980, I went to the Kennedy Center for a performance of Beethoven's 5th, among other things. I do not remember the other things on the program. This was, by quite a margin, the most exciting, thrilling, and, to me, emotional reading of the 5th I've ever heard--before or since. I am not one who gives a standing ovation at every performance, although it seems to have become de riguer over the past twenty or so years. But there was no holding back on this performance. Frankly, it was like no other performance that I can remember that did not have the benefit of words (or pictures!) to augment the emotion of the music alone. The guy in Indanapolis (darn if I can't remember the name of that store... it's up on the north side of the city in a little strip mall next to a fairly big camera store) thought that I might have been referring to Zinman. Harnoncourt might have been another candidate, although thinking about what I've read, I think that the research that went into these performances was substantially later (five to eight years) than the performance I remember...

Zander's blindingly-fast "authentic tempos" are in evidence in Boston 4 times per year. His 6th sounds completely different, and not to my taste. His take on Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in 1990 sort of launched this whole issue of originally-scored tempi bigtime.

I would generally agree with Jhold on period practice, although for a majestic 9th I would reccomend Furwanglers Bayreuth perfomance. The strange thing about the fast tempo period conductors is that the 1930's performances by Toscanini are the closest to them in tempi and phrasing.

Pls1: I second Furt at Bayreuth. Even though the sound of the chorus is strange (coming from below) due to the Bayreuth stage.
Also recommend Furt's '43 recording of the 5th/Berliner (DG).
Finally, I'm not sure Bwl's referring to Harnoncourt if it was back in the late '70s... admittedly, I'm not a fan of "period" playing! Cheers!

The Harnoncourt Beethoven with the COE from around 1990 is worth a owning, unlike most "period" Beethoven interpretations (and I like period playing, especially for Haydn).

RE Furwangler 5th. The 1943 is excellent. I slightly prefer the 1937. There is an excellent transfer available from Biddulph.

I'll track the Biddulph down. Thank you! Furt's 1937 was my "ref" 5th (picked it up on tape fm the local radio).