vienna philharmonic symphony no.3 in e-flat major, op.55

states Claudio Abbado who has constantly reworked the symphonies of the master from Bonn (1770-1827). 'With Beethoven, you never stop learning.'. This was also a revolution: from then on works were written for posterity and not for immediate recognition. Completely misunderstood at the time ('Boring, interminable and disjointed,' according to one critic), it was to be appreciated only with posterity. Beethoven initially dedicated the symphony to Bonaparte, but when the latter had himself crowned emperor thus flouting the composer's revolutionary ideal, he struck out Bonaparte's name and replaced it with the following words, 'An heroic symphony composed to celebrate the memory of a great man.' This would be completely fortuitous if the 'heroic' term chosen did not impose a fundamental innovation, that of spirituality in a musical work, a work which also broke with the classical symphony already because of a length which had never been attained before (approximately fifty minutes). A Major turning point in the work of Beethoven and in the history of music, the dedication of the work already, in itself, is a legend.

55, the famous Eroica is premiered in Vienna on Apunder the direction of the composer. It is amazing that previous releases have not corrected this recording mistake.The birth of the Romantic Symphony or the Eroica However, I am now satisfied that the volumes are where they should be. Restoring the correct volume levels was like doing a crossword puzzle.

Surprisingly, I found that the original recordings had nearly a dozen changes in recording volume made, I suppose, to avoid saturation.

3 is also a great performance, although perhaps not quite as great as the Eroica. Still, it required removal of the 'boxy' sound, as well as controlling some standing waves that often crept into Musikverein performances of this time. Fortunately, this recording has often had good sound, although there have been so many releases that some, inevitably, are not of good quality. All other performances, including other Furtwängler ones, pale next to this one. When I heard this performance of the 3rd Symphony for the first time as a young man in a Turnabout LP, I began to understand, for the first time, the role of the last movement, and thus the meaning of the symphony as a whole.

Vienna philharmonic symphony no.3 in e-flat major, op.55