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You are here: Home / Music / Music Bleg

Music Bleg

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I was in the car listening to WV Public Radio at 2:40 pm, and I heard a symphony I am dying to purchase. I’ve tried to make sense of the website but have no idea where to look. Did any of you catch it?

*** Update ***

Thanks. Beethoven’s Symphony #3, Eroica.

Reader Interactions

53Comments

  1. 1.

    mr. whipple

    Call ’em up, they’ll know. Of course, they’ll probably hit you up for a donation, but everyone needs a tote bag.

  2. 2.

    JenJen

    If you were listening to Jim Lange, here’s the playlist of symphony music he played during today’s broadcast. Might help you narrow it down at least; from the chart and the time you indicated, maybe it was Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, aka “Eroica”?

  5. 5.

    PurpleGirl

    http://classical24.publicradio.org/listings/listings.php?display=true&source=C24

    Playlists and information about Jim Lange’s Classical Music show.

    Upper right hand side of WV Public Broadcasting front page has a list of things, among them Radio Schedule. I kept trying different sub pages till I found Jim Lange’s playlists.
    If you want, I’ll go back step by step and note each one.

    Based on your 2:40 time it was one of these two pieces, I think

    2:18PM Richard Harvey – Concerto Antico
    London Symphony Orchestra
    Paul Daniel, conductor
    John Williams, guitar
    Sony 68337 – BUY

    2:48PM Jacques Offenbach – Orpheus in the Underworld: Overture
    Cincinnati Pops
    Erich Kunzel, conductor
    Telarc 80116 – BUY

    I like doing net research…

  6. 6.

    John Cole

    @JenJen: That was it! Beethoven’s Symphony #3- Eroica. I caught the 3rd movement and loved it immediately. Even stayed in my car for five minutes in the parking lot.

  8. 8.

    JenJen

    You know, Cole, that is a really terrific (and looooooong) symphony to cook to. Would be perfect while lovingly nurturing an Italian sauce.

    Although these days I prefer Sirius’ “Lithium” channel so I can bang my head, and pots & pans, to some Rage and Alice in Chains. My music-cooking tastes are weird.

  9. 9.

    Ming

    psst — (whispers) get it done by von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. fucking gorgeous at its everfucking gorgeousest.

  11. 11.

    jayjaybear

    That’s one of those “classical” pieces whose title presents an exercise in great care in typing…for some of us, at least…

  12. 12.

    brat

    Here’s a background story on the Eroica. Originally, Beethoven was going to dedicate the symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte, because of his radical reformations in Europe. EXCEPT, Beethoven tore up the dedication page after Napoleon named himself Emperor.

    Instead, the dedication page forever reads, “To a Man who could have been Great.”

  14. 14.

    Batocchio

    @Ming:

    Are you a fan of von Karajan’s in general? I know some people love him, but I didn’t like the von Karajan recording of Beethoven’s 9th I heard (but he recorded it three times, I believe, and the one I had was not the best-regarded version from 1977, IIRC). I’ll try to check out that recording of the Third. Thanks.

  16. 16.

    c u n d gulag

    The Third is one of his best. I can’t believe you never heard it before.
    All of them are great, but 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 are my favorites.

  17. 17.

    Currants

    Oh, no wonder! Try to find the Orchestra of the 18th Century’s recording (on period instruments). It’s alive–it moves and breathes. The 7th, too, by the same orchestra–when my partner puts one of those symphonies on the music just fills my mind and there is nothing to do but listen.

  18. 18.

    JeremyH

    @Batocchio:

    My favourite recording of Beethoven’s 9th was a live recording of Bernstein conducting the Berlin Philharmonic at a concert to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall. You can hear the sense of history felt by the musicians – just wonderful.

    The original Deutsche Grammaphon double-CD release even included a small fragment of concrete taken from the wall – mine has blue paint on it. :-)

  19. 19.

    peachkfc

    The 9th is probably the “greatest,” but my personal favorite is the 7th. However, the first Beethoven symphony I learned to love was the 3rd. I had a record of it when I was a little girl (yes, vinyl, I’m that old) of it, no idea what orchestra or conductor, that I played over and over until the grooves literally wore out. As for recordings, Cristoph Eshenbach has been recording all the Beethoven symphonies with the Philadelphia Orchestra, haven’t heard the 3rd yet, but I’m sure it’s good.

  21. 21.

    Batocchio

    @JeremyH:

    Thanks for the rec! Meanwhile, I’m listening to Karajan conducting the Third right now (Pasquinade’s link). Really good stuff.

    (BTW, I only post music once a week at my blog, and it’s generally not classical, but I’m posting something from Boito’s Mefistofele tomorrow night.)

  22. 22.

    HumboldtBlue

    Jesus Christ scratching away on a viola, Cole, but you are just now hearing Eroica? Even a fucking troglodyte like me has had it for more than 20 years. I have kin in WV and you sir, do them no justice. None at all.

  25. 25.

    New Yorker

    I’m of the opinion that Beethoven’s odd-numbered symphonies are the great ones. The 5th and 9th are well-known, of course, but the 1st, 3rd, and 7th are also brilliant.

    There’s nothing wrong with the even-numbered symphonies, it’s just that they’re not as memorable as the others.

  26. 26.

    EastFallowfield

    First thing they played in the class that was called something like “Introduction to Classical Music”.

  27. 27.

    JenJen

    @John Cole:

    Even stayed in my car for five minutes in the parking lot.

    Something nobody would do in a West Virginia summer, no matter how gorgeous and fulfilling the music. Thank the FSM for winter!

  29. 29.

    gbear

    All of them are great, but 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 are my favorites.

    Wow. I never realized that Chicago and Beethoven had so much in common.

  30. 30.

    kos

    If you have an iPhone, get Shazam, and you’ll never have to ask questions like these again. Simply launch app when you hear song you like, and Shazam tells you what song it is. Best. App. Ever.

  31. 31.

    Bill H

    Cole, there is hope for you if you were captivated by Beethoven’s Third. Waith until uou hear the Seventh.

    The best rendition of the Ninth I have ever heard was by Robert Shaw and the Allanta Symphony. He may not have been the best ever with an orchestra but as a chorale master… May not have recorded well. I heard it live.

  33. 33.

    Dave Trowbridge

    If you’d like to know more about the symphonies of Beethoven and learn to listen to them with more understanding of what makes them so special, the Teaching Company has Robert Greenberg’s wonderful The Symphonies of Beethoven on sale for $89.95. Greenberg is a great lecturer who brings the music to life with in-depth explanations of musical form and copious extracts.

    I also recommend his How to Listen to and Appreciate Great Music. (Also on sale.) I’ve been going through it as research for a novel, and although I’ve been listening to “classical” music for over 50 years, I’m now hearing it with new ears.

  34. 34.

    sjsq

    My very favorite Beethoven Symphony. And, I’m a hard-core Beethoven-head. (I’m also, BTW, a hard-core Dead-Head (here we go!!!!)).

    In the mid-90’s, I saw the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform the 3rd symphony (note that Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto (along with all of the others) is also awesome) at the outdoor Ravinia Theater in the Chicago suburbs – it was absolutely superb.

  36. 36.

    Ming

    @John Cole: @Batocchio:

    word is, von Karajan did the Beethoven cycle four times and this (the first) was the best.

    hope you love it! when i was little, i would sit in the family room listening to these symphonies on headphones in the dark, looking at the bluish glow of the stereo display. i thought life could offer nothing better.

  37. 37.

    Jeff

    Perhaps the sentiments are a bit dated but for my money
    no-one did the “Eroica” better than Leonard Bernstein, in either the NYPO, or the VPO renditions
    He also had a chapter in his book the “The Infinite Variety of Music” that dealt with the “Eroica: filled with musical examples and both profound and approachable.
    To my mind the Funeral March is the perfect piece of music.
    As Bernstein said –with Beethoven, you have the feeling that every note must follow another in just that way–itcant be any other .

  38. 38.

    gbear

    @kos:

    Simply launch app when you hear song you like, and Shazam tells you what song it is.

    So what comes up if you launch the app while your cat is meowing?

    Kevin Kling has a great story about what happened when his dog and cat started arguing while his voice activated software was running.

  40. 40.

    Jeff

    Beethoven’s Second Symphony is a wonderful work
    easily on par with Haydn’s London Symphonies, and Mozart’s great symphonies, but it is the work of a man beginning to find a new path– whereas the 3rd is that new path.

  42. 42.

    Jason

    The 1960s Karajan 9th is freaking amazing. When ‘Ode to Joy’ comes up it almost always brings tears to my eyes. Just a beautiful piece of music and a wonderful version of it. My second favorite Beethoven is the 6th – Pastoral. Another breathtaking piece of music.

    Chicago Symphony is doing all Beethoven symphonies in June. trying to get to see the 9th (and the 6th if I can).

  45. 45.

    fraught

    Not one comment on the Fifth. Has familiarity led to contempt? It was not alway thus.

    E.M. Forster in Howard’s End, 1910: “It will be generally admitted that Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man. All sorts and conditions are satisfied by it.”
    He writes a half chapter on his characters listening to it. I still like it and the 6th and 7th and yes, the third.

  46. 46.

    jetan

    The Third is a great symphony. I can’t say the Sixth is underrated. though. I’m sure a lot of people were introduced to Beethoven via the Disney movie adaptation of the “Pastoral”.

  49. 49.

    New Yorker

    @PDXChris:

    I’m not saying the Pastoral isn’t memorable, I just don’t think it’s as good as each of the odd-numbered symphonies.

    My ranking for best to least best (there is no “bad” with Beethoven): 9, 3, 5, 1, 7, 6, 8, 4, 2

  50. 50.

    ChrisNBama

    The Eroica is a wonderful symphony, John! Beethoven initially dedicated it to Napoleon, but when Napoleon declared himself Emperor, Beethoven withdrew the dedication.

    Beethoven Symphonies 3, 5-7, and 9 are really the epitome of western symphonic music.

    Cheers,

    Chris

  52. 52.

    neil

    You can get the boxed set of Karajan’s Berlin Phil Beethoven cycle from the ’60’s very affordably. It’s worth it. He recorded the entire cycle three times – but this set is the best one Karajan did – though I don’t think he ever did a “bad” one especially.

    The Fifth symphony, by the way, is one of those pieces where if you see it on your home-town orchestra’s program list, you think “oh – that again?” – but then you hear it, and you realize all over again how bloody good it is.

  53. 53.

    David

    Recordings, recordings, we got recordings:
    http://turing.cs.camosun.bc.ca:8080/Beethoven/Symphony3

    I believe this site belongs to Deryk Barker, and it looks pretty old to me in terms of the recommendations. Note how he slips in that he owns 100 different recordings and isn’t done yet (last I heard, though, I though he was up to 150).

    There’s a spot in the last movement where the flute always sounds as if it’s flat (because flutes usually are) but generally it’s actually the bassoon that’s sharp.

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