Beecham was in love -- deeply, passionately, recklessly in love -- with Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. His recordings of the Viennese classical masters are testimonies to his love: affectionate, powerful, persuasive, and often affecting performances that love neither too wisely nor too well but with unrestrained enthusiasm and unrelenting energy. Indeed, the only thing Beecham loved better than the Viennese classics -- aside from Wagner, Sibelius, and Delius -- was himself. There is more than a little smugness in his Haydn, ...
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Beecham was in love -- deeply, passionately, recklessly in love -- with Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. His recordings of the Viennese classical masters are testimonies to his love: affectionate, powerful, persuasive, and often affecting performances that love neither too wisely nor too well but with unrestrained enthusiasm and unrelenting energy. Indeed, the only thing Beecham loved better than the Viennese classics -- aside from Wagner, Sibelius, and Delius -- was himself. There is more than a little smugness in his Haydn, more than a little self-regard in his Mozart, and, sometimes, more than a little narcissism in his Beethoven. It didn't matter: as these '50s recordings of Beecham conducting his Royal Philharmonic in Beethoven's Second and Seventh symphonies, his C major Mass and his incidental music for The Ruins of Athens, Beecham's performances may be narcasistic but at least his love is returned. The strength and vigor of Beecham's conducting elicits playing of tremendous power and force from...
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