Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor Op. 67; Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 43 - Concertgebouw Orchestra, Georg Szell
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor Op. 67; Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 43 -
Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Georg Szell; George Szell, conductor
Classical | 1 CD | EAC Rip | 322 Mb | FLAC+LOG+M3U+Cue | Pretty good scans | 3 RS links
Publisher: Philips
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor Op. 67; Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 43 - Concertgebouw Orchestra, Georg Szell
The excellence of these two famous performances hasn't diminished a bit over time. George Szell's Beethoven Fifth exists in three versions: this one; another with the Cleveland Orchestra on Sony; and (finest of all) one with the Vienna Philharmonic live from the Salzburg Festival on Orfeo. Talk about an embarrassment of riches! It's really pointless to dwell on minute variations in interpretation or playing: all three recordings represent a surpassingly high level of achievement, from the taught opening and generously "con moto" Andante, right through the grim scherzo to the explosive finale. It's simply great Beethoven.
Szell's Sibelius Second has stood as a reference edition of the score since the day the recording was made. Once again, there is a live rendition (with Cleveland made on tour in Tokyo) that arguably surpasses this one in some respects, but at present it's only available on a limited basis from Japanese Sony, and hearing this dazzling recording, with it's warmly glowing strings, perfectly judged first movement climax, jaggedly brilliant brass in the second movement, sizzling scherzo, and effortlessly grand finale, it's easy to forget all about any other performance you might have heard or currently own. Frankly, no other even approaches Szell's knockout combination of discipline and excitement, though some (such as Barbirolli's on Chesky or Bernstein's on Sony) offer a marginally greater sense of spontaneity, albeit with markedly less spectacular playing.
Sonically, this remastering sounds exactly the same as the "Early Years" two-disc set containing all of Szell's Concertgebouw recordings for Philips (also available from Musical Heritage Society), which is to say it's noticeably better than the overly dry, "CEDAR-ized" first CD issue. In fact, the engineering on display here compares favorably with today's best. Classics in every sense of the word, these two performances deserve an honored place in even the most minuscule collection of music by either composer.
–David Hurwitz
Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 11. September 2009, 23:55
George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra / Beethoven Symphony No.5 & Sibelius Symphony No.2
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1 | 0:00.00 | 7:37.50 | 0 | 34324
2 | 7:37.50 | 10:14.50 | 34325 | 80424
3 | 17:52.25 | 5:34.45 | 80425 | 105519
4 | 23:26.70 | 8:58.41 | 105520 | 145910
5 | 32:25.36 | 9:27.00 | 145911 | 188435
6 | 41:52.36 | 12:42.38 | 188436 | 245623
7 | 54:34.74 | 5:43.55 | 245624 | 271403
8 | 60:18.54 | 13:41.19 | 271404 | 332997
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Filename J:\MUSIC COPIES\BEETHOVEN\Symphonies\Szell\George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra - Beethoven Symphony No.5 & Sibelius Symphony No.2.wav
Peak level 87.1 %
Range quality 100.0 %
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Copy CRC 538CF8CB
Copy OK
No errors occurred
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EAC extraction logfile from 11. September 2009, 23:55
George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra / Beethoven Symphony No.5 & Sibelius Symphony No.2
Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GSA-4167B Adapter: 3 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : No
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : No
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : No
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 320 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=%e" %s -o %d
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 7:37.50 | 0 | 34324
2 | 7:37.50 | 10:14.50 | 34325 | 80424
3 | 17:52.25 | 5:34.45 | 80425 | 105519
4 | 23:26.70 | 8:58.41 | 105520 | 145910
5 | 32:25.36 | 9:27.00 | 145911 | 188435
6 | 41:52.36 | 12:42.38 | 188436 | 245623
7 | 54:34.74 | 5:43.55 | 245624 | 271403
8 | 60:18.54 | 13:41.19 | 271404 | 332997
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename J:\MUSIC COPIES\BEETHOVEN\Symphonies\Szell\George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra - Beethoven Symphony No.5 & Sibelius Symphony No.2.wav
Peak level 87.1 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 538CF8CB
Copy CRC 538CF8CB
Copy OK
No errors occurred
End of status report
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
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INDEX 01 07:37:50
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INDEX 01 23:26:70
TRACK 05 AUDIO
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 00 32:23:36
INDEX 01 32:25:36
TRACK 06 AUDIO
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
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INDEX 01 41:52:36
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 00 54:32:74
INDEX 01 54:34:74
TRACK 08 AUDIO
TITLE "Sibelius: Symphony No.2 in D major, op.43 - IV. Finale (Allegro moderato)"
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INDEX 01 60:18:54
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TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Beethoven: Symphony No.5 in C minor, op.67 - I. Allegro con brio"
PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 01 00:00:00
TRACK 02 AUDIO
TITLE "Beethoven: Symphony No.5 in C minor, op.67 - II. Andante con moto"
PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 00 07:35:50
INDEX 01 07:37:50
TRACK 03 AUDIO
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 00 17:50:25
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 01 23:26:70
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 00 32:23:36
INDEX 01 32:25:36
TRACK 06 AUDIO
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 00 54:32:74
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TRACK 08 AUDIO
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PERFORMER "George Szell & Concertgebouw Orchestra"
INDEX 01 60:18:54