Collins Classics OFFICIAL - Beethoven (FULL ALBUM) Buy it here: http://apple.co/1ElTxjj Read the CD booklet here: http://bit.ly/1NKyTDx Spotify: - Symphony No.7: http://spoti.fi/20s9rqk - Symphony No.8: http://spoti.fi/1nxxIx6 Symphony No .7 in A maior, Op.92 0:00 Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 42:27 Conducted by Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra Recorded at Waithamstow Town Hall (UK) You will find bellow, a part of the english text that originally came with the CD. It gives the historical context of this symphony, an idea of the state of mind Beethoven was in at the time of the composition and some explanations of the track in itself. Symphony No. 7 in A maior, op. 92 Completed in May, the Seventh Symphony was first performed in public at a Vienna concert on December 6, 1812, given in aid or the soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hanau in the previous October. Beethoven conducted, in spite of the increasing deafness which had hampered the rehearsals. Although Beethoven's rather regrettable ‘Battle’ Symphony given at the same concert had an even greater success, the Seventh made its immediate mark: the Allegretto had to be given twice, and the whole symphony had to be repeated four days later The symphony begins with a long introduction to the first movement proper. Out of the initial A major chord there merges the first theme of the introduction, soon to be joined by the rising scales of its pendant. Having already touched on the remote key of F major even before the appearance of these scales, Beethoven ventures into C major for the second theme of the introduction, a dolce strain for the first oboe supported by other woodwind containing the springing rhythmic germ which is to inform the Vivace. A tattoo of Es leads into a change from common-time to Six—eight for this main body of the first movement with its buoyant, dance-like first subject. Its repeat by the full orchestra leads to the second subject which, more conventionally than that of the introduction, is in the dominant E major, but, like it, is led by the oboe and supporting winds before its immediate repetition by the strings. After the double-bar, the development section is based largely on elements of the first theme and the salient rhythmic formula it shares with the second. The recapitulation is as long as the exposition, but Beethoven re-presents his themes differently; not only orchestral colour but mood and manner are varied. The coda is remarkable: a syncopated figure derived from the opening theme engenders a mighty crescendo against a dominant pedal point encompassing four octaves before the feverish final bars. It was Beethoven's junior contemporary, Weber, who declared on hearing this passage: ‘Beethoven is now ripe for the mad-house‘. The famous Allegretto unfolds in A minor, and, between the diminuendo woodwind chord which opens, and closes it, hardly a bar is not informed by the rhythmic pulse established at the outset Soon a second melody emerges as a countertheme to the first, and is repeated in an orchestral tutti. The key changes to the major for a woodwind melody which the tirst violins entwine with flowing triplets. But these tum to downward scales to admit the initial theme in A minor, more insistent than ever and giving rise to a fugato. The return of the A major section is followed by a coda in which the initial theme in the minor is heard in antiphonal dialogue between various instrumental groups before the final chord. The Presto extends the normal pattern of a scherzo based on a minuet in which two repealed sections are followed by the two repeated sections of a trio, and that by a return to the first part, but without repeats He adds to this pattern by repeating once again both the trio section and the first pan. This begins and ends in F major but also dailies in A major. The trio is in D major, with a held and rarely relinquished A providing a pedal point like a high drone The coda is short and sharp" Beethoven‘s finale releases even more energy than the ebullient Presto. The movement begins its furious course in A major after a peremptory summons by two dominant chords. Two well—contrasted themes in the tonic are followed by a third theme in C sharp minor, quieter but strongly pointed by its dotted rhythm and misplaced accents. The development explores keys as remote as a hushed B flat major before a return of the initial summons introduces a recapitulation crowned by an overwhelming coda.

• published: 22 May 2015
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