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Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies ~ Pletnev

Box Set

PLETNEV / RUSSIAN NATIONAL ORCH (Artist), BEETHOVEN,LUDWIG VAN (Composer), PLETNEV,MIKHAIL (Composer), Format: Audio CD
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 22 ratings
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Audio CD, Box set, September 11, 2007
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Editorial Reviews

Product description

PLETNEV MIKHAIL / RUSSIAN NATI

Review

BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONIES (9) Russian National Orchestra, conducted by Mikhail Pletnev (Deutsche Grammophon; five CDs). Mikhail Pletnev is a brilliant musician, an amazing pianist and an idiosyncratic conductor, and he has made a glorious mess of the Beethoven symphonies. The seesawing of tempos in this compelling, driving and sometimes shocking set induce now motion sickness, now awe. It may not be to every taste, but it demands to be heard. -- NEW YORK TIMES: ANNE MIDGETTE

Product details

  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.39 x 0.69 x 5.14 inches; 6.24 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Deutsche Grammophon
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ 028947764090
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ August 11, 2007
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Deutsche Grammophon
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000SSPL26
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 5
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 22 ratings

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
22 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kimba W. Lion
5.0 out of 5 stars Beethoven for the 21st Century mind
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2008
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I note with amusement that the objection consistently raised against this set is that it doesn't sound like other people's Beethoven. Isn't that a good thing? If I wanted to hear someone else's Beethoven, I'd go put on one of the other sets I have.

With these recordings, Pletnev has allowed the pendulum of performance practice to swing back, after decades of misguided interpretations by the Historically Informed Performance crowd--rigid, lifeless performances that focused on the marks on paper (to quote one such conductor's notes) instead of the visceral quality of real music making, in an attempt to recapture what was heard at the time the composer was alive.

Sorry, but our modern minds are filled with completely different experiences than those of times past, and we cannot possibly recapture the subjective experience of other eras.

Wisely, Pletnev has given us Beethoven for the 21st-century mind, for the person who has heard all that has come after Beethoven's time. But don't think this is "hooked on Beethoven" or some other tawdry, demeaning reworking of the master's masterworks. Pletnev's recordings show a thorough understanding of the music, a visceral reaction to it, and reflections of having heard other great masters' works. Sibelius and Tchaikovsky came to mind most often as I listened to this set. But again I must stress that there are no cheap tricks involved in any of these performances; it's just that Pletnev's performances embrace the entire consciousness of the contemporary musical mind. This is not destructive to Beethoven's music in any way; it places Beethoven in context in today's world.

No matter how others may complain about Pletnev's tempo changes, every one makes sense. He brings out amazing details, highlights bits of melody, and allows you to hear things as you never had before.

The recording engineers helped greatly, too, with a sound that is rich, balanced, and marvelously detailed.

I would recommend this set of Beethoven symphonies above all others.
24 people found this helpful
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Huntley Dent
5.0 out of 5 stars A boldly eccentric Beethoven cycle--there's nothing else like it
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2007
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Russia doesn't really have a Beethoven tradition that has made its mark on recordings, so this complete cycle of the nine symphonies from Pletnev and his Russian National Orch. is something of a milestone. Even Mravinsky, who showed flashes of inspiration as a Beethoven interpreter, gave us nothing close to a complete cycle. Yet no one could say that Pletnev's style is "typcially Russian" or typically anything else. He has thrown caution to the winds, following any whim that occurs to him. Since he has an original musical soul, the results are strange and wonderful, and totally unpredictable.

I am giving Pletnev's efforts five stars because the only alternative is to throw up my hands. There are times when the whole enterprise seems like an elaborate prank--witness the three different tempos that Pletnev applies to the first four bars of the Pastorale before deciding to race off at lightning speed, only to slam on the brakes thrity bars later. Balances are at times extremely different from the norm; there are sudden enormous slow downs, as in the Trio of the Eroica's Scherzo; Pletnev flirts with the lightness of the period movement, only to wallow the next moment in a voluptuous romanticism that would have made Mengelberg blush (only the wayward, brilliant Dutch conductor can be offered as a parallel). By comparison, Bernstien seems like the village priest.

As for a detailed review of each symphony, I'll leave that to others -- or to a later entry after I've absorbed this shockingly original set. But my first impression is one of exhilaration blended with total bafflement. What is this wild man doing to Beethoven? You'll have to give him a listen to find out.
40 people found this helpful
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Joseph M. Perorazio
3.0 out of 5 stars The Russians are coming.
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2011
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Pletnev plays rather fast and loose with Beethoven's symphonies, applying extreme shifts in tempo and dynamics seemingly on a whim. In the process he creates either the silliest Beethoven cycle in history, or a brilliant template for future conductors, depending on one's taste in Beethoven.

With clipped phrasing and generally quick tempos, Pletnev's overall vision of the symphonies does fit in with today's interpretive style for Beethoven, but any similarity with other contemporary recordings ends there.

Packaged in a compact capbox with striking colors and modernistic fonts, the cycle is presented as a contemporary reading of old music, and at times it is a very successful set. The 8th, for example, gets an outstanding reading and is probably the most successful of the cycle, easily comparing with the best recordings. However the iconic 5th is subjected to various elastic tempos, and a very rushed finale, leaving this most familiar of all symphonies somehow unfamiliar when the recording is over.

Other symphonies suffer from Pletnev's unorthodox style, most obviously in the Pastorale (in this case a "Fastorale"), with an alarmingly-fast first movement that robs the music of its bucolic sweetness. The 7th receives a stately Allegretto (and a silly ending to the Presto), and the Eroica vascillates between breakneck speeds and brake-slamming pauses, its architectural wonders grossly distorted in this reading.

Also unsatisfying is the 9th, with a too-fast 3rd movement that glosses over the music's mystical wonders, and a choir in the last movement that suffers from an overly warbly and shreikey women's section.

It must be said that the Russian National Orchestra plays beautifully and follows Pletnev's every bizarre turn with absolute precision, although their brass section is weak at times. Strings sound burnished and full, with a mature sound that belies this orchestra's young age.

The recorded sound is demonstration quality ... clearly Deutsche Grammophon learned their lesson after the debacle with their Claudio Abbado Beethoven cycle from 2000, a strange attempt at audiophile mastering that many people thought was poorly done.

Pletnev is either a musical genius, or a complete wackadoo (perhaps both), but in any event his Beethoven should be heard, because he does at least have something to say, and doesn't just pound out yet another by-the-numbers Beethoven cycle. It is quite an entertaining listen, and the sound quality really is spectacular. Still, this will never be a reference recording; it's too eccentric, too arbitrary, and frankly just too weird. But perhaps for that very reason alone, it's worth exploring.
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Oliviero
5.0 out of 5 stars Un dualismo che ipnotizza
Reviewed in Italy on April 8, 2024
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Mikhail Pletnev è, da tradizione, assoluto rigore formale ma anche sorprendente intensità emotiva. Fin dal primo ascolto ci si lascia trasportare dalla sua direzione precisa, senza alcun calo di tensione.
Il prodotto è arrivato in ottime condizioni (pur essendo usato) e nei tempi previsti. Consiglio il venditore per la sua assoluta affidabilità perchè in passato ho acquistato altre cose sempre soddisfacenti.
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lobinyk
5.0 out of 5 stars 近年稀に聴くベートーヴェンの演奏
Reviewed in Japan on May 12, 2020
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他の全集では聴けないベートーヴェンの演奏だ。たえず音の意味を探りながら音楽をしている感じがする。こんな感じは他の演奏ではないことで、その点ではフルトヴェングラーに似ているが決してデモニッシュな演奏ではなく今風な響きだが、どこか音のつながりに意味深さを感じさせる。クーベリック、アバド、ブロムシュテット等のありきたりなベートーヴェンではなく、どこかシューリヒトに通じるセンスの良さを感じさせるが、あれほど明るくぱりっとしていない。作品の持つ光と影を見事に音化した大変意味深い演奏でプレトニョフの才能とセンスの良さが発揮された価値ある演奏だと思う。ロシアものだけでなくぜひともこんな演奏でドイツやオーストリアものを聴いてみたい。
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Matthew Jackson
5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing and natural.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2015
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fantastic and well worth the money. New insights which sound natural and non-gimmicky or affected in each and every symphony.
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