Beethoven – Eroica + Egmont Ouvertüre

Publisher: SEPEA audio

Playing time: 59 min

Specifications: half track ¼“, stereo, 38 cm/s, CCIR, 38 cm/s

Reel(s):               2 special metal reels, printed, with stickers

Packaging:        2 standard cardboard boxes, covered with stickers

Inserts:               2 x information on cardbox, 1 booklet with 12 pages

Homepage: https://sepeaaudio.com/

Translation of the German review:

The Eroica (the "Heroic") is for many music listeners the most popular of the nine Beethoven symphonies. For other people it is considered "heavy stuff", which does not surprise me in some recordings of this work, since they were recorded, for example, with "bombast orchestras" or evoke a great seriousness with an imaginary raised forefinger. In my opinion, this fairy tale rather belongs to the years around 1800*, since the Eroica was longer and more monumental than the symphonies that the Viennese audience knew until then.

Would you like something lighter and more upbeat? With a young, lively and smart ensemble in the original instrumentation from Beethoven's time? The 36-piece Klangkollektiv Wien (11 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos, 2 double basses, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 1 timpani) under the direction of Rémy Ballot does a fabulous job. They work together with their concertmaster on every nuance, they put accents in the important places and work out a fine structure of the sequence of scenes.

Thus the 1st movement "Allegro con brio" (with fire, desire, joy, temperament, energy, dynamics, power and tempo) is enlivened in just the right dose - this is already a sensationally played alternative to many interpretations heard elsewhere. In the 2nd movement, "Marcia funebre (Adagio assai)" (funeral march, very slow), the fine texture continues. It is impressive how the orchestra handles the crescendo: the overall musical flow moves like rising and falling waves. The 3rd movement "Scherzo (Allegro vivace)" (moving, fast, cheerful, lively) spreads a buoyant solemnity and shows Beethoven's and the orchestra's art of cleverly interleaving instrumental groups in piano and tutti passages. The perfect and terrific analog recording invites the listener to participate in the staggering of the orchestra. In the 4th movement "Finale: Allegro molto - Poco andante - Presto" (fast) the attributes heard in the first three movements add up. The finale is then not even so much spectacular; rather it is the logical consequence of the previous interpretation, for which I can attest a rounded beauty to the entire work. The Egmont Overture rounds off the album and once again impressively demonstrates the joy of playing and the skill of the Klangkollektiv Wien.

This very beautifully and professionally recorded performance is touching and captivating. It conveys the distinct signatures of the composer, the conductor and the ensemble in an equal expression and fuses them into a great whole. This issue is a great alternative dedicated to the analog world and especially to tape, and in my opinion it belongs only there. The recording as well as the production are sublime in every way. The two lovingly designed gatefold boxes contain two SEPEA audio metal reels with Studio Master Tape and a lavishly designed 12-page booklet with all conceivable information in English and German as well as many photos. Anyone who owns a tape recorder should definitely have this master tape copy in their collection.

*Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn (Germany) in 1770 and grew up there. In 1787 he traveled to Vienna for the first time to be taught by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. After returning to Bonn because of his mother's death, he was drawn back to Vienna in 1792. Since Mozart had died in 1791, he took lessons from Joseph Haydn. Beethoven died in Vienna in 1827.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)