Beethoven: The Symphonies Chamber Orchestra of Europe & Yannick Nézet-Séguin

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21:
• 1 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: I. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio 08:59
• 2 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: II. Andante cantabile con moto 07:17
• 3 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: III. Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace 03:57
• 4 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: IV. Finale. Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace 05:26
• Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36:
• 5 Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36: I. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio 11:49
• 6 Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36: II. Larghetto 09:58
• 7 Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36: III. Scherzo. Allegro 04:29
• 8 Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36: IV. Allegro molto 06:16
• Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica":
• 9 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": I. Allegro con brio 16:20
• 10 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": II. Marcia funèbre. Adagio assai 14:48
• 11 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace 05:27
• 12 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica": IV. Finale. Allegro molto 11:10
• Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60:
• 13 Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: I. Adagio - Allegro vivace 11:36
• 14 Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: II. Adagio 09:23
• 15 Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: III. Allegro vivace 05:46
• 16 Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: IV. Allegro ma non troppo 06:48
• Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67:
• 17 Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67: I. Allegro con brio 07:00
• 18 Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67: II. Andante con moto 09:22
• 19 Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67: III. Scherzo. Allegro - Trio 05:23
• 20 Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67: IV. Allegro 10:53
• Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral":
• 21 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": I. Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande. Allegro ma non troppo 11:53
• 22 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": II. Szene am Bach. Andante molto mosso 12:23
• 23 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": III. Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute. Allegro 05:05
• 24 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": IV. Gewitter, Sturm. Allegro 03:42
• 25 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": V. Hirtengesang. Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm. Allegretto 09:09
• Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92:
• 26 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: I. Poco sostenuto - Vivace 13:27
• 27 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: II. Allegretto 08:55
• 28 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: III. Presto - Assai meno presto 08:10
• 29 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: IV. Allegro con brio 08:21
• Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93:
• 30 Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: I. Allegro vivace e con brio 09:09
• 31 Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: II. Allegretto scherzando 03:41
• 32 Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: III. Tempo di menuetto 06:00
• 33 Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: IV. Allegro vivace 07:36
• Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral":
• 34 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso 15:33
• 35 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": II. Molto vivace 12:59
• 36 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": III. Adagio molto e cantabile 15:36
• 37 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVa. Finale. Presto 02:36
• 38 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVb. Allegro assai 03:39
• 39 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVc. Presto - Recitativo "O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!" 03:24
• 40 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVd. Allegro assai vivace. Alla marcia "Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen" 03:51
• 41 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVe. Andante maestoso "Seid umschlungen, Millionen" 03:34
• 42 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVf. Allegro energico e sempre ben marcato "Freude, schöner Götterfunken" 02:21
• 43 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVg. Allegro ma non tanto "Freude, Tochter aus Elysium" 02:19
• 44 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IVh. Poco Allegro – Prestissimo "Seid umschlungen, Millionen" 01:42
• Total Runtime 05:47:12

Info for Beethoven: The Symphonies

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe present Beethoven’s nine symphonies in what is the very first recorded cycle to be based on the recently concluded New Complete Edition of the composer’s works. “I’m interested in how Beethoven’s music can surprise us today,” says Maestro Nézet-Séguin. “Our interpretation should make the audience feel as if they were hearing this music for the first time. That is my goal.” Set for release by Deutsche Grammophon on 15 July 2022 as a 5‑album edition.

Originally planned as part of the Beethoven 250 celebrations, this project was postponed by the coronavirus pandemic. Its concerts were rescheduled and recorded in July 2021 at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, where orchestra and conductor were joined in the Ninth Symphony by soloists Siobhan Stagg, Ekaterina Gubanova, Werner Güra and Florian Boesch and the professional choristers of Laurence Equilbey’s Accentus.

The COE first recorded the Beethoven cycle thirty years ago, producing pioneering work with its first Honorary Member Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Its musicians were delighted to rediscover the symphonies with Nézet-Séguin, also now an Honorary Member of the orchestra. Building on their experience of working together, which dates back to 2008 and has already produced acclaimed DG recordings of the complete symphonies of Schumann and Mendelssohn, Nézet-Séguin and the COE players approached their third composer-led project for the Yellow Label by developing fresh interpretations informed by the recently concluded New Complete Edition of Beethoven’s works.

The scholarly-critical edition replaces decade after decade of editorial clutter with countless details of articulation and expression recovered from multiple original sources. Among the innovations listeners will hear in this recording is the revised and expanded role of the contrabassoon in the Ninth Symphony, a work edited by Dr Beate Angelika Kraus of the Beethoven Archive in Bonn, who has written a fascinating account of certain aspects of the detective work involved in her research for the booklet notes that accompany the recording.

Maestro Nézet-Séguin and the COE’s July 2021 Baden-Baden Beethoven celebration, presented as a mini-festival of four concerts, raised spirits at a time when audiences were finally able to return to the concert hall after multiple lockdowns. Each concert in the belated 250th-birthday tribute to the composer was streamed live and recorded by Deutsche Grammophon, and the cycle as a whole garnered widespread critical praise.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praised the conductor for his “elegant and discreet” Beethoven, and noted that “highly focused communication between conductor and orchestra and beautifully coordinated interplay between the different sections became the hallmark of each of the nine symphonies”. Bachtrack, meanwhile, hailed the “musical intelligence behind Nézet-Séguin’s approach” as he conducted a COE “on superlative form”, with a special mention for their “exuberant, musically thrilling performance” of the Ninth.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s Beethoven cycle adds another major landmark to his much-lauded Deutsche Grammophon discography, which began in 2012 with a recording of Mozart’s Don Giovanni that earned rave reviews and prompted Gramophone to describe him as “a superb Mozartian”. Since then, he has recorded five more of the composer’s mature operas – these last in company with the COE, with whom he has also released the aforementioned Mendelssohn and Schumann cycles, Visions of Prokofiev (with Lisa Batiashvili), and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 (with Seong-Jin Cho). Other highlights include recordings of Rachmaninoff with The Philadelphia Orchestra, of which he is Music Director, and an album of solo piano music, Introspection, released last summer. In April this year, Maestro Nézet-Séguin’s achievements were recognised by the industry’s most prestigious awards when he won his first Grammy (Best Orchestral Performance) for his recording with The Philadelphia Orchestra of Florence Price’s Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3.

“… it was as if Beethoven’s expressive potential had come to life in all its power and freshness, enabling these symphonies to be heard in an entirely new way” (Online Musik Magazin)

Florian Boesch, bass-baritone
Werner Güra, tenor
Siobhan Stagg, soprano
Ekaterina Gubanova, mezzo-soprano
Accentus
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Yannick Nezet-Seguin, conductor

No biography found.

Booklet for Beethoven: The Symphonies