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The third in Manchester Camerata's ambitious series to record the entire Beethoven Symphony Cycle under the baton of it's former Music Director Douglas Boyd.

Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 

Douglas Boyd and Manchester Camerata

Catalogue # AV2185

Symphony No. 1 recorded at The Bridgewater Hall, on 29 November 2008
Recording producer: Andrew Keener, Recording engineer: Simon Eadon
Assistant engineer: Will Brown, Editor: Simon Eadon

Symphony No. 3 recorded at The Bridgewater Hall, on 27 September 2008
Recording producer: Misha Donat, Recording engineer: Simon Eadon
Assistant Engineer: Will Brown, Editors: Ian Watson and Jennie Whiteside 

Manchester Camerata has made an indelible mark with their universally acclaimed series of recordings for Avie. With this release, their fifth for the label, they continue their Beethoven cycle with live versions of the First and Third Symphonies that capture the spirit and freshness of these remarkable, genre-busting works, as well as the excitement, atmosphere and energy of the 33-piece orchestra under their Music Director Douglas Boyd. 

Manchester Camerata has become recognised as one of the finest, most innovative chamber orchestras in the UK, and Douglas Boyd has proven to be an eminent Beethovenian. Conducting the composer’s Fidelio at the 2009 Garsington Opera Festival, The Times noted “his grasp of Beethovenian idiom” and “pungent underlining of orchestral detail”, praising the musical performance as “sublime and exultant”. 

TRACK LISTING

Ludwig Van BEETHOVEN (1770 – 1827)

Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 (1800) (26:33)

[1] I Adagio molto – Allegro con brio (9:16)

[2] II Andante cantabile con moto (7:47)

[3] III Menuetto – Allegro molto e vivace (4:04)

[4] IV Finale: Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace (5:24)

Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 ‘Eroica’ 

(1804) (47:51)

[5] I Allegro con brio (16:01)

[6] II Marcia funebre – Adagio assai (15:14)

[7] III Scherzo – Allegro vivace (5:30)

[8] IV Finale – Allegro molto (11:04)

Total time: 74:35

“The First Symphony receives one of the most enjoyable performances I have heard for a long time, and one of the most detailed.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2010 ****

“[Boyd] draws lean, elegant playing in the classical mould...It’s as if every hint of Beethoven the Romantic revolutionary has been excised.” Financial Times, 19th December 2009 ***

“These are refreshingly “straight” but compelling accounts of both symphonies, scrupulously observant of Beethoven’s dynamic markings and wonderfully transparent...Boyd sustains a remarkably expansive Funeral March, the emotional climax of the Eroica and the crowning achievement of this remarkable, collectable disc.” Sunday Times, 15th November 2009 ****

Discover the whole Manchester Camerata Beethoven Cycle

Visit the Avie Website