Beethoven: The Symphonies - Leonard Bernstein Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

Beethoven: The Symphonies - Leonard Bernstein Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 3, 2017

Classical music lovers are taught to honor the achievements of the so-called “trio of ‘B’” composers, namely Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, but I’d argue that a fourth “B” needs to be added to the list, namely the iconic Leonard Bernstein. Lenny, as he was almost universally known by friends and even those who had never met him, was arguably the single most influential American musician of the 20th century, one whose fame was due at least as much to his conducting activities as it was to his compositional efforts. There are some curmudgeons who actually attempt to argue that Bernstein’s music never rose to the same heights that some of his conducting performances did, an argument I will gladly take up (i.e., I think anyone who doesn’t realize what a compositional genius Bernstein was is obviously unschooled in music and/or genius). Kind of ironically, there’s a whole “’nother” school of curmudgeons who insist that Lenny’s conducting efforts are often overblown and misshapen, another view that I find peculiar, to say the least. That said, Bernstein did seem more at home with some of the more hyperbolically emotional composers like Mahler than with the relatively reserved (if still passionate) works of someone like Beethoven.

Bernstein tackled Beethoven repeatedly throughout his career, and if these circa 70s recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic arguably have a little less energy than his earlier cycle with the New York Philharmonic, there’s a certain gravitas to some of these recordings that isn’t quite as evident in the earlier ones. There’s also a more “regal” or perhaps stately feeling (for want of a better term) in some of the grander movements, especially the mammoth choral finale of the Ninth Symphony. The Vienna Philharmonic typically played warmly under Bernstein’s baton, and the orchestral sound here is sumptuous, bolstered by Deutsche Grammophon’s legendary engineering prowess.

Beethoven: The Symphonies - Leonard Bernstein Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

There's really no video component to this release, other than a static menu with the selections. In fact, once you've mastered what color button accesses which of the mixes, you don't really even need to have a monitor or display employed to enjoy the release.

Beethoven: The Symphonies - Leonard Bernstein Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray audio disc included in this package includes DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (24/192) and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 (24/96) tracks. I'm something of a purist, and so I actually preferred the stereo mixes of these symphonies, despite the fact that amplitude was slightly less forceful than on the surround versions. There's a less boxy, reverberent sound on the stereo mixes that I personally found more pleasing, and in fact my major complaint with the surround version was the kind of echo-y, overly wet (to my ears), ambience in the midrange. Both tracks offer excellent fidelity and beautiful reproduction of the orchestral masses. Dynamic range is extremely wide throughout.

Beethoven: The Symphonies - Leonard Bernstein Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While there are no on disc supplements, this nicely packaged set comes with CDs of all the symphonies, plus introductory notes culled from talks Bernstein gave about the works.

Beethoven: The Symphonies - Leonard Bernstein Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Blu-ray audio aficionados who don't already own it may well want to check out Beethoven: The Symphonies with Herbert Von Karajan at the conductor's podium to see what a difference various baton wielders bring to their work. These Bernstein readings are often quite forceful, and as usual the Vienna Philharmonic sounds fantastic. Highly recommended.