Sunday, February 4, 2018

Benjamin Zander, Orchestra of Americas

I really like his uptempo Beethoven's 5th, and Beethoven's 7th always gets me pow right in the left ventricle. It stirring. Vigorously like a Nestle's chocolate milk.



Jason comments on Youtube: "I haven't understood classical music until this man taught me through these videos." 

This is TEDx Talks.

3 comments:

ricpic said...

You haven't heard the 5th or 7th till you've heard it rendered full justice by a Toscanini or a Von Karajan conducting a New York Philharmonic or a Vienna Philharmonic. If that comes off as snobbish, so be it.

The Dude said...

David Zinman was among those who believed that Beethoven's metronome was okay and the tempo markings on his work were correct. I saw Zinman conduct the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Ludwig's 5th and one barely had time to reflect on a phrase or motif before bam - on to the next. I swear he could have gotten through the 9th in a half hour, tops.

Good times, freude, indeed.

As a side note, a coworker back in those days was a huge fan of classical music and opera. He had seen the Ring Cycle in its entirety at least 3 times and could tell you the story, from beginning to end, if you could endure such an onslaught of story telling. He pronounced Von Karajan's last name "Kare-a-jann". That always cracked me up.

chickelit said...

Looking for a recommendation back on the Verdi post.