Beethoven 6 - Carlos Kleiber

[Ardbeg10y]

I have been on a pursuit for years to understand Beethoven. I’m taking a shortcut here, but on the former forum I have been adviced certain recordings and Beethoven 3 was recommended as an key / entry work.

True. I theoretically do understand why - but it does not touch me. I was a kind of non-believer in Beethoven. I simply did not see it and Beethoven and myself could not get into the same room, I believe our ego’s conflict.

I have been introduced recently to Carlos Kleibers take on Beethoven. For the first time, I did truly appreciate and understand Beethoven. Well, understand - it appears that Kleiber is putting in his own accents too much to the performance against what should be done according to the scores. Since ‘understand’ implies an action of mind something does not compute entirely for me, but lets say, these performances touch my heart which in the end is more important than the mind.

I really appreciate the recording of Carlos Kleiber’s live performance of Beethoven 6 - Pastorale with the Bayrischen Staatsoper, even when there is a lot of background noise. It exceeds other recordings by far. It is alive, it is Beethoven. Finally …

Is correctness / mind / theory or emotion / heart / captivation more important?

[Chris-G]

Carlos Kleiber was a unique and inspired musician, his Beethoven 6 is a rarity which wasn’t originally planned for release. We should be very grateful that it is available. Kleiber would rehearse to the nth degree but was still able to sound spontaneous and to see him communicate his joy in the music was itself a pleasure. Try to find a DVD recording of live performances of Beethoven symphonies 4&7 which he gave with the Royal Concertgebouw - highly recommended!