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DVD : Beethoven - Eroica / John Eliot Gardiner, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique |
- Intriguing conceptThis CD represents an intriguing concept: a drama based on the first performance (a kind of rehearsal) of Beethoven's magnificent Symphony # 3, originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte (but changed after learning of Bonaparte's accession to Emperor). A lot of dramatic elements are encapsulated in this BBC production. The music, I think, dominates, but here I will review the drama (at another point, I may review the symphony itself, which is also included on this CD).
The music itself is played by Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. And a nice version of the Third Symphony this is. A number of the musicians (not the full orchestra) actually play the role of musicians in this drama.
The structure of the drama is around the four movements of this work. Some cannot comprehend what they are hearing; others are delighted by the novelty. Between movements, there are exchanges and interactions among the characters. Ian Hart plays Ludwig van Beethoven, and does not do badly. He is in turn rude and vulnerable and brilliant; he is beginning to experience the deafness that afflicted him the rest of his life (is it not astonishing that he composed the late symphonies, the late string quartets, and so on while being deaf?).
We see Count Dietrichstein hating the music, because it does not conform to the formalities of symphonies. This represents a nice counterpoint, later, when "Papa" Haydn stops by to listen and concludes after the fourth movement that "Everything is different from today."
The drama notes an unhappy ending to a romance that he would like to conclude with marriage; the promise of financial support from Prince Lobkowitz; his testy relationship with a student (he concurs with Haydn that "students are idiots").
The drama is adequate, but it is the music that scintillates and is the heart of this work. Nonetheless, the drama itself is worth watching for a portrayal (not always accurate) of Beethoven and his times (including class relationships). I give this 5 stars for the music; otherwise, for the drama, 3 1/2 stars.
Rating:
- MTV for Us, Fellow Classicists!My five stars are for the uninterrupted performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony by the Revoultionary Romantic Orchestra on their historic instruments, in full costume in the setting of a Rococo palace. That performance can be accessed and played independently, and it is a fine rendition of the Eroica, perhaps one of the best available, well worth playing even if you choose to do the ironing or to pump iron rather than watching the monitor. If you are unacquainted with the kinds of horns, clarinets, and other instruments that Beethoven wrote for, this video is an easy and enjoyable way to observe them in action. The orchestra is far smaller than any you would hear in a big symphony hall, and that's waht makes it musically superior, since you don't need the volume of 30 violins and ten violas in your living room. With smaller forces, the tuning is better and the acoustical transparency allows you to hear the inner voices and the subtleties of part writing. Conductor John Eliot Gardiner has a very well-defined sense of this symphony, of its contrasting sonorities and dynamics. Yes, he asserts that he's following Beethoven's instruction precisely, but in fact he's doing more than that. He's judiciously interpreting a whole conception of the piece, and that's what makes him a superb conductor.
The scripted portrayal of the premier of the Eroica, in the salon of a Viennese aristocrat, is an amusing bagatelle, worth watching precisely once. I don't find the portrayal of Beethoven particularly convincing, despite which the episode is evocative of the ambiance in which Beethoven lived and worked. It's more a teaching tool than a drama; in fact, I think it could be usefully shown to a high school class.
Get the video for the vivid interpretation of the symphony, and regard the playlet as a bonus feature.
Rating:
- The Greatest Symphony in a Great PerformanceI am primarily interested in the musical value of DVDs (although the video aspect is certainly important), so I must first say that the sound on this disc is simply stunning, probably the best I've ever heard. Just listen to the beginning in which the concertmaster (the real one) of the orchestra tunes up in the magnificient acoustic of the beautiful all-wood room the orchestra will play in. The BBC is to be congratulated for a very fine production on this disc. The picture quality is also excellent. But, it is the music that I am mainly interested in, and the performance it receives is quite revelatory; it is the most firey and radically revolutionary performance imaginable. It is different from that on the cd with the same musicians. It uses somewhat smaller forces, and some may complain that the string body is too small, but what is gained is a chamber-like clarity and verve of playing that has to be heard by all. This disc should be on the shelf of anyone who loves music, as well as in the library of all schools and colleges and public libraries. The greatness of this music lies in several elements, but highest among them is the continuous sense of forward movement and in an almost inexaustable invention of development. The words of the countess in the teleplay actually are very appropriate here: "My God! It's like a dam bursting!" Indeed, this is precisely true. Beethoven achieved something that no one had before, and that even he hardly did again. Up to 1815 or so, he still prefered the "Eroica" above his other symphonies (the 9th was to come), and it is this increadible ability to build and to continue building until it seems it will never end (and only does because of the demands of nature)that make the "Eroica" (perhaps only except for the 9th) the greatest symphony in the world, and it is this element that comes out most strongly on this disc. Sure, Beethoven wouldn't have told his piano student Reiss to "Piss off!" in the company of the ladies and the royalty (or in public at all, probably), but it hardly matters. Movies such as "Amadeus" and "Shakespeare in Love" both contain far less truth and accuracy in their tales, and yet they work due to the energy put into them. I've yet to see a movie or teleplay on a composer or famous person which was completely accurate,and, of course, you can't be; you just have to be true to the spirit of the person, and "Eroica" does that. If you still don't like the comedy, per dei, then watch the performance of the music alone with the video showing you a facsimile of Beethoven's original manuscript. Just listen to the snarling horns in the trio of the scherzo, and you'll never be able to listen to this trememdous music in quite the same way again. That's what Beethoven wants-- for you to see music--the world-- in a new way that will never end. By the way, if you like this one, get Michael Tilson Thomas' "Keeping Score" DVD on Beethoven's 3rd Symphony, and, for that matter, ALL the DVDs in his series with the San Fransisco Symhony. His performance of the "Eroica" is obviously imformed by this one by John Eliot Gardiner and his Revolutionary and Romantic (and revelatory!) players.
Rating:
- Great Music - Poor MovieFirst off, the Eroica Symphony is fabulous. This movie is not. There is a rivetting scene in Ken Russell's "The Music Lovers" wherein we enter the inner thoughts of various audience members whilst they listen to Tchaikovsky's live-performance of one of his piano concertos. In "Eroica" we do not enter the listeners heads on a visual level: we just watch their reactions through facial and bodily gesture...to the point of total nausea! (Timothy Piggott-Smith's unspoken facial reactions to the second movement is an admittedly masterful moment....but this one magic moment does not make for an enjoyable film.) We are subjected to the Prince's wife's simpering smiling stupid look over-and-over-and-over again-and-again-and-again....as well as the flirtatious glances betwixt a servant boy and girl. And constant zoom shots into Beethoven and Haydn grow tedious and seem silly after a bit also. All of this just goes on all too long and to a terrifically boring effect. Plus, Gardiner as Beethoven - well, I've seen more convincing acting in high school plays! He just never seems real. And speaking of "real": how likely is it that the orchestra would be able to perform this revolutionary symphony cold - with no rehearsal (this film is showing the first rehearsal!) and yet they perform it (except at the beginning when Beethoven unloads on them to give it more "guts")...still, after begin yelled at one time only, they perform it perfectly!!! When they first see the score, there are reaction shots of the musicians befuddlement over the newness of the musical notations, etc - yet they pull it off without a hitch! Anyway - buy a CD of "Eroica", close your eyes and envision your own thoughts and feelings. Watching this movie can actually make a person end up hating the music due to its accompanying Chinese water-torture visuals. I'll admit it was a nice idea - inspired probably by the superior similar sequence in the Ken Russell film - but it makes for a tiresome movie.
Rating:
- Entertaining, inspiring and informativeFirstly, I would like to say that this is a very entertaining film. I have loved the Eroica since I was about 14 or 15 years old and I have always been moved by the work's passion, daring, drama, wealth of ideas and its wildness. I was brought up on the old '63 von Karajan/Berlin Phil recording and it inspired me a lot many years ago. The work was also on the Australian High School music curriculum in the 1970s and I studied the score in detail, like thousands of other Aussie kids. However, Christopher Hogwood's 1985 recording of the work for L'Oiseau-Lyre with his period instrument orchestra, The Academy of Ancient Music, really inspired me even more and yet again. Surely this was a work in which Beethoven pushed the 18th century orchestra to its limit and then some? I also have the Norrington and Gardiner CD recordings of the work. The Gardiner/Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique recording is the best of the H.I.P. recordings in my opinion.
This DVD gives us some idea of circumstances of the first performance of this work in Prince Lobkowitz's Palace. The acting from all concerned is very good. Ian Hart turns in a very fine performance as Beethoven, and gives Gary Oldman (whom I liked very much in "The Immortal Beloved") a run for his money. Jack Davenport plays the enormously sympathetic and worldly Prince Lobkowitz with great style and affection. Marie Lobkowitz, his wife, is played with passion, zest and relish by Fenella Woolgar. I didn't really like the choice of Frank Finlay as Haydn, I imagined Haydn as a much more of an "earthy aristocrat" in his senior years, Mr. Finlay tended to play him as a "grumpy old man". However, this is a minor quibble, and the entire cast is magnificent, even the players of small roles.
Now the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique plays the work with power, pizzazz and daring. Yes, this was a revolutionary work, probably the most revolutionary piece of music ever composed, well, it is certainly "up there" with Machaut's Messe de Notre Dame, Johannes Ockeghem's Missa pro defunctis, Brumel's Missa "et ecce terræ motus", Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine, Biber's Mystery Sonatas, Rameau's "Zoroastre", Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde", Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire", Strauss's "Elektra", Stravinsky's "Le sacre du Printemps" [perhaps THE quintessential TwenCen "revolutionary" piece of music?], Berg's "Lulu" and Stockhausen's "Gesang der Jungling". John Eliot Gardiner and his band of specialist musicians work wonders with the 3rd Symphony of Beethoven and it really is my favourite version these days. I do not believe that any other recording captures the thrilling sounds Beethoven hoped an orchestra could bestow upon his written music any better than that of the O.R.e.R.
Just a note to big fans of Mozart and Beethoven: isn't the first subject the exposition of the first movement of the Eroica a shameless rip-off of the theme from the 'Intrada' to "Bastien und Bastienne" by Mozart? Or a remarkable coincidence?
;-))
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