Beethoven: Gods, Heroes and Men
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Kent Nagano
The two orchestral works receive very distinctive performances from Kent Nagano and his Montreal forces. He adopts some period practices, but of course with an orchestra of modern instruments...
Beethoven: Gods, Heroes and Men
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Kent Nagano
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The two orchestral works receive very distinctive performances from Kent Nagano and his Montreal forces. He adopts some period practices, but of course with an orchestra of modern instruments...
About
There are countless recordings of Beethoven's Third Symphony ‘Eroica’, which he was originally going to dedicate to the revered Napoleon Bonaparte before the latter turned into a tyrant. What sets this new album apart from all the other recordings is the attractive programme: the American-Japanese conductor Kent Nagano combines the famous ‘Eroica’ with Beethoven's lesser-known ballet music ‘The Creatures of Prometheus’. Nagano is ably supported here by the renowned Montreal Symphony Orchestra, whose music director he has been since 2006.
In the ballet score – written shortly before the Third Symphony – we find the first clear signs of the composer's admiration for Napoleon, the ‘Prometheus of his era’. The finale, for example, is based on a contredanse in E flat, taken from a popular French operetta of the time, and which Beethoven also used in the last movement of the ‘Eroica’.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
August 2011
The two orchestral works receive very distinctive performances from Kent Nagano and his Montreal forces. He adopts some period practices, but of course with an orchestra of modern instruments and proportions...All told this is a controversial but stimulating disc.
September 2011
Orchestra and conductor are at their best in the Prometheus ballet music extracts. Nagano's use of the full orchestra might seem a touch weighty for such music, particularly when heard in so sombre an acoustic. But the direction is exacting, the playing determined and spruce.
