Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Carlos Kleiber, Bavarian State Orchestra :: Beethoven: Symphony No 4

Why only 5-star ?

Moon,Won-kook | Seoul, South Korea | 08/07/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I want to give more stars than 5 to this title. Carlos Kleiber conducted Beethoven symphony no.4 with majesty. And it is magnificant. It has changed from Little to Great, Low to Aloud, Slow to Fast in Movement 1. Before I loved his another masterpiece, Beethoven sym no.5 (DG). However, this title is another impact. To find a fine jewel in mud, take this title. You never feel regret for it."

Hot and sizzling Beethoven

Alan Majeska | Bad Axe, MI, USA | 11/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Carlos Kleiber's Beethoven Symphony 4, from a live recording in Munich, 1982, can best be described as "Hot and sizzling". Allegros are very fast, and Kleiber is not above driving the Bavarian State Orchestra for an exciting performance. I'm happy Orfeo released this, although it's not the only way I want to hear Beethoven 4: Szell/Cleveland (Sony), Bohm/Vienna (DG), Bernstein/New York (Sony) are all excellent. Kleiber's recording is most like Szell, but his tempos are even faster.



This is a rather expensive disc, as there are no discmates, and it's total timing is under 40 minutes. More of a specialist disc for Carlos Kleiber fans.



There is a live recording of Beethoven 4 from Carlos Kleiber and the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam, filmed in 1983 (Philips DVD) which strikes me as more exciting than this Orfeo recording. Perhaps the presence of cameras inspired Kleiber to greater heights: it too is fast and similar to this Munich recording, but seems more exciting to me.



If you are a completist of Carlos Kleiber's recordings, you'll want this. But the Philips DVD is a better bargain, as it also has Beethoven Symphony 7 as discmate, and you get great sound and beautiful camera work also."

Another Carlos Kleiber performance for the ages

R. McGinn | California | 12/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I might as well show my hand at the outset: in my opinion Carlos Kleiber is the greatest conductor of classical music and opera who ever stepped on a podium. That said, this is a spectacular performance of Beethoven's 4th Symphony, recorded in Munich in 1982. The members of the Bavarian Staatsorchester play their hearts out for Carlos. In my opinion, this performance, on a CD, is actually more compelling than that available on the wonderful DVD of Carlos conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra the following year. The entire performance is magnificent, but the last movement is sheer magic: unbelievably energetic, propulsive, and joyous. It invariably raises my spirits. I even like listening carefully to the almost four minutes of rapturous applause the audience lavishes on Carlos at the end, wishing that I had had the pleasure of being in that audience that night. This is the next best thing. Listen to how fervent and sustained the applause is and you can tell that the audience realized that it had just heard something very special, in my view a performance for the ages. I strongly encourage purchase of this CD. It's easily worth the $19 or purchase price on Amazon."