Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Orchestra: Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
Conductor: Kent Nagano
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Sony
Catalogue: 88697857372
Release: 2011
Size: 300 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
The Creatures of Prometheus Overture, Op. 43
01. Act I, Overture
02. Act I, Introduction. Allegro non troppo
03. Act II, No. 5 Adagio
04. Act II, No. 8 Allegro con brio
05. Act II, No. 16 Finale. Allegretto
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 ‘Eroica’
06. I. Allegro con brio
07. II. Marcia funebre. Adagio assai
08. III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace
09. IV. Finale. Allegro molto
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’.