Although 2007 marks no milestone birthdate or deathdate on Beethoven’s timeline, that hasn’t stopped record companies from hauling out super-budget boxed sets devoted to the composer. Early in the year EMI brought out a 50-disc Collectors Edition, trumped by Sony BMG’s promise of a 60-disc “Masterworks” collection. Not to be outdone, Cascade offered Beethoven’s integral works on 87 discs. Enter Brilliant Classics, whose complete Beethoven box weighs in at 85 discs with room to spare (European dealers sell an alternate edition that includes 15 extra discs laden with historic Beethoven performances).
The label has cast its licensing tentacles far and wide, embracing famous names and unknowns alike while filling repertoire gaps with new recordings made especially for this project. A substantial portion of the material derives from the Universal Classics family of labels. Friedrich Gulda’s thrilling, sometimes iconoclastic late-1960s Piano Sonata cycle appears alongside the pianist’s less consistent though never uninteresting collaborations with Horst Stein and the Vienna Philharmonic in the five piano concertos. Alfred Brendel’s early Vox Diabelli Variations is musically and sonically inferior to his more mature Philips remakes, while an entire disc of keyboard miscellany (including the rabble-rousing G minor Fantasia Op. 77) features lean-toned, gutsy playing from one Georg Friedrich Schenck.
You can do worse than the sometimes underplayed (Nos. 3, 5, 7, and 9) yet never less than solid 1974 Masur/Leipzig symphonies cycle, where Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 8 particularly attract attention. Not only do the classic mono Grumiaux/Haskil Violin Sonata encounters from Philips still sonically hold their own, but they also tower above each of that label’s subsequent stereo versions. The Guarneri’s 1987-92 Beethoven quartet cycle always impressed me for its vitality, sharply honed linear interplay, and warm engineering.
Was a Philips Missa solemnis a must? If so, I would have recommended Jochum’s heartfelt, robustly engineered version over the later and cooler Colin Davis traversal here. Similarly, why the clean yet faceless Szeryng/Haitink Violin Concerto instead of the more involved Grumiaux/Galleria? Yet collectors who searched far and wide for Heinrich Schiff’s 1998 Cello Sonatas now can bask in this great artist’s extraordinary finesse and musical intelligence.
Should you prefer Beethoven piano trios on the flexible, roomy side, the Borodin Trio’s 1984 Chandos cycle will suit your metabolism. Other chamber works both hit and miss, performance-wise. For example, the Zurich String Trio ranges from mousy (Op. 3) to more on the ball (the Op. 9 trios); Anthony Goldstone and the Cummings Trio are turgid and poorly balanced in the three Piano Quartets; while the Septet falls into the beguiling, graceful hands of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble. Among shorter orchestral fare, the Zinman/Rochester Creatures of Prometheus incidental music and the Skrowaczewski/Minnesota survey of overtures deserve special mention.
It’s good to be able to access Beethoven’s operatic odyssey with the original Leonore (Blomstedt) and rewrite Fidelio (Dohnanyi) back-to-back, and well cast. The young Peter Schreier (vintage 1968-1970) is on hand for most of the art songs. And let’s not forget those piles upon piles of folksong arrangements Beethoven churned out for quick cash, cobbled together here from both older and newly recorded sources. Minor Beethoven, true, but with some major moments, like the Auld Lang Syne arrangement’s oddball twists and turns of phrase and harmony (why don’t we ever hear that on New Year’s Eve?).
In lieu of a booklet, a CD-ROM contains all texts, annotations, and translations. Considering its high overall quality, completeness factor, and absurdly cheap asking price at around a buck and a half per disc, the Brilliant Classics Complete Beethoven Edition sells itself. [3/13/2008]
