ICON Eugen Jochum

While the EMI (now Warner) "Icon" Series has proven very variable, there should be absolutely no hesitation here. This is a magnificent box bringing together all the wok Jochum did for EMI during his "Indian Summer" years from 1976-1980. The Beethoven cycle is magnificent and it's amazing that it took EMI this long to issue it in its entirety. Disky did a good job some years back, but that release was quickly withdrawn. While this is definitely "big band" Beethoven, Jochum keeps textures and tempos remarkably fluid. He's very scrupulous about repeats. I can't think of a single performance among the nine which isn't truly fine. I've even come to understand Jochum's view that No. 4 isn't a "little" score after all, and he was remarkable over the years in sustaining that view. The jewel in this crown is undoubtedly this glorious Fifth, but as I say, this entire cycle is a winner.The Brahms was never a favorite of mine when first issued, but the lighter textures and fairly swift tempos Jochum adopts grew on me over the years and I would single out Nos. 2 and 4 for special praise. But this too (along with the Overtures) is, like the Beethoven, a very fine cycle.It should be noted that what helps to make these two cycles so thoroughly splendid is the glorious playing of two of London's top orchestras, and the really excellent sound. Time and again I am always drawn into the Beethoven because of the outstanding playing of the LSO. The sound was the work of the now legendary pair of "Two Christophers", Bishop and Parker, working in the resplendent acoustics of the Kingsway Hall.Often I wondered how this EMI Jochum Bruckner cycle would have sounded had it been played by the LSO (probably near-definitive) but, alas, that was not to be. Funding came in part from the now defunct East German VEB label, and naturally they were eager to promote an East German Orchestra. Leipzig was already working on Bruckner, so it was Dresden. While I still strongly prefer Jochum's DG 1, 4, 7 & 9 with Berlin, the Dresden 2 (pity it's Nowak, however!) and 5 are very fine indeed, helped by the latest (1980) recordings which sound better than the rest. I also prefer Dresden 8. Jochum's earlier 8 with Berlin for DG was surprisingly tense sounding, and the Dresden is much better paced overall. Also, DG had recorded No. 8 in the then newly finished Philharmonie, and the sound was terrible. It's little wonder that the rest of the Bruckner Jochum did with Berlin for DG was back in the Jesus Christus Kirche. The massed Dresden brass (no small thing in Bruckner) can sound rather blowsy, often recalling a military brass band. But, I don't want to make too much of this as personal taste becomes a factor.This box comes into almost direct competition with the recently issued DG box, and at present, the prices are nearly identical and the EMI contains some very fine Mozart and a good Bach b minor Mass as well. While the Bruckner maight be a "tossup" (I'd give DG a score of 6, the EMI 5 in overall readings) the Beethoven and Brahms in the DG box I think will be more to the taste of the "specialist" than to that of someone just wanting good solid performances in stereo sound. While there are some good things in Jochum's DG Beethoven and Brahms, you'll have to put up with less than good sound. Some of the Berlin recordings in the DG box date from the early 1950's when Furtwaengler was still alive the the orchestra was very much still his. Also interesting is the fact that while Jochum was always welcome in Berlin while Furtwaengler was still there, a certain Austrian was not! Why, in heaven's name, didn't DG include Jochum's fine Haydn done with the LPO at around the very same time he was doing his Beethoven and Brahms for EMI? It certainly would have made the DG box more desirable.But, make no mistake, this fine EMI box is not to be missed if you are interested in a "cornerstone" for your library.

I already had the Bruckner recordings and Brahms 1-3, so why buy this? Well, the price was worth it for the Brahms 4 alone - a wonderful performance. The Beethoven symphonies proved to be as good. I was especially surprised by the Pastoral - the 'Scene by the Brook' usually makes me nod off eventually (even Bohm) but not here - Jochum brings air and light into the score (as well as water!) and kept my interest throughout; wonderful woodwind. The 9th was as incandescent as one could wish - indeed, I was surprised that some movements were faster than in the recent Haitink LSO recording. The overtures are wonderful too. I reckon these performances could scarcely be bettered. Pity the Brahms and Bruckner have not been remastered - generally good sound but still a rather horrid opening to Brahms 1 and the wonderful Bruckner 9 seems shallower in recording than some of the others. Apart from just a little edge on the string tone the Beethoven recordings are very impressive and the choral contribution to the 9th very present and exciting. I haven't got round to the Bach or Mozart yet! Everyone should have this set.

I thought ,I was buying Eugene Ormandy the Philadelphia cheese conductor who does excellent work of Bruckner,That is the danger of ordering late night and tired, but no this time ,because of the Beethoven's with the LSO I decidedTo open the box and glad I did , after tasting the sweet strings of the LSO,the LPO does another acceptable job ofThe Brahms Symphonies, then with the Dresden Orchestra the Bruckner symphonies are a delight,This is all full works box sets three major composers complete set symphonies,even if like myself you have the worksBy other artists , at less than £2 per cd, just to own this box ten times better than a crate of beer.

This 20CD set brings Eugen Jochum's various EMI recordings together in one collection for the first time. This includes the 'lost' Beethoven cycle with the LSO, majestic Brahms with the London Philharmonic and his outstanding Dresden Staatskapelle set of the Bruckner Symphonies. These recordings all date from the late 1970s and mark what was to be this great conductor's own 'Indian Summer' in the recording studio (contemporary with another great EMI maestro, Sir Adrian Boult).Jochum was among several German conductors (including Kempe and Sawallisch) whom EMI engaged to fill the void left by Klemperer: a high priest of the central symphonic repertoire to rival Karajan on DG. Many of these Jochum recordings were critically acclaimed on initial LP release but for some reason did not enjoy the circulation they deserved. Indeed, the Beethoven cycle has been missing for years, turning up briefly about 10 years ago complete on CD on a small budget label. The Brahms has fared better, despite a clumsy coupling across two 'double forte' sets with Tennstedt's controversial 'Deutsches Requiem'. However, the Bruckner has remained a firm, bestselling favorite here on Amazon and elsewhere in a competitively priced budget set.Now, ALL of these powerful and highly individual interpretations recorded in rich, full-bodied late analogue, make for a wonderful compendium for both this conductor's many admirers and as a great introduction to these cornerstones of orchestral literature. With Jochum's spiritually charged Munich recordings of the Bach B Minor Mass and Mozart's Coronation Mass as hefty bonus items, this set merits the highest recommendation.

Alles gut!

Eugen Jochum fue un gran director de orquesta, creo que muy subestimado, ante los reflectores y el poder que Karajan ejerció en Europa después de la década de los años 50 del siglo XX.Las mejores grabaciones de Jochum son las de obras de: Wolfang A. Mozart, Ludwig. V. Beethoven y de Anton Bruckner. Este paquete contiene excelentes rendiciones de los dos últimos; no pueden dejarse de escuchar, están dirigidas con gran maestría y arte, además en la caja se agregan otros discos que tienen: una rendición muy bella de la Misa de Coronación de Mozart, y una ejecución soberbia de la Misa en Si Menor de J.S. Bach.Las grabaciones tienen muy buena calidad de audio, son todas estéreo, unas totalmente digitales (DDD) y otras ADD. Este paquete de discos es infaltable para el que que valore al gran director que fue Eugen Jochum.

ヨッフムというと、ブルックナーの交響曲全集を録音した、オーソリティという評価が大きく、最初のベルリンフィル・バイエルン放響との全集よりも歴史あるドレスデン・シュターツカペレの柔らかい響きで各曲が、C D１枚ずつにまとめられており、聴きやすい名演奏だと思います。ドイツ・オーストリア系交響曲として、さらに、ベートーヴェン、ブラームスの交響曲全集も収められています。それぞれ、小細工の少ない、演奏であり、例えば、ベートーヴェン第５番の第一楽章が始まると、フルトヴェングラーに近いテンポで、推進して行きます。これも持っておきたい演奏です。２０枚のC D で、この価格も魅力的で、手に入れやすい作品集として、推薦できるものとなっています。

For the price, you should not even think about this. Buy the box! It's a heck of a bargain!OK, ignore the value for money: how good is the music? Well, across the 20 CDs, you get all the recordings Jochum made for EMI. There's his cycles of Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner, which is why most people will buy this box. Some of these recordings have been unavailable in CD for a while, so that makes this box even better from the collector point of view.I must admit up front to a particular favorite: Jochum's Beethoven 7th slow movement. I knew that piece very well from early adolescence, but when I watched the movie Zardoz, Jochum's slow movement was used to great effect as Sean Connery aged. I was blown away by the slow, stately pace he took on the slow movement, and immediately after watching the movie ran out and bought the entire Beethoven Jochum box set on LP. In truth, none of his other Beethoven interpretations have stuck with me, but I still love the way he takes the Allegretto. For these recordings, which appear remastered very recently, it's great to have the complete Jochum Beethoven cycle again: they have been out of print for a long time as CDs.What Jochum does do, better than almost any other conductor of his era, is Bruckner. Jochum made several recordings of these symphonies, and all received high acclaim, deservedly so. I guess you could comment on a Teutonic conductor naturally doing well with this kind of music, especially considering Jochum's history with the Nazi regime, but that's a bit too glib. His understanding of the music is what leads to his excellent interpretations, and the CDs here are representative of the best versions available of Bruckner's work.The Brahms symphonies for me fall into the "really good but not superb" category. I could happily live with each recording, but none of them are the absolute best of each piece.For the choral fan (of which I am one), the choral music here (Mozart Coronation Mass, Bach Mass, Bruckner Te Deum, etc) are all wonderful pieces. The Verdi Requiem stands out. I had bought this decades ago and filed the LP in my collection, then promptly never listened to it after the first pass, for some inexplicable reason. Hearing it here brought back the memory of just how good it was, and made me wonder why it sat on my shelf for so long!Jochum is one conductor who received a lot of attention in the LP era, but with the advent of CDs in 1981, he started to be less well represented. The lack of a lot of his music on CD made sure new listeners did not really get a good exposure to his style and artistry. This box set, especially at the price, is a great reason for everyone to rediscover just how good Jochum was. These recordings are all excellent, all show the master at his best, and provide some great music. And I am so happy to have a new recording of the 7th Allegretto to wear out!

for EMI in his final two decades. In the lp era he recorded mostly for DG and Philips. With the LSO here, he was in his mid 70s and lived almost another decade. He had recordedtwo previous Beethoven symphony cycles, first on DG with the Bavarian RSO and Berlin PO in the 1950s, and then with the RCOA in the late 1960s for the Beethoven bi-ccentennial.Sonically and interpretively, the Jochum/ LSO Beethoven here I find quite rich and detailed. We hear the interplay of all the orchestral choirs quite clearly and can guage which voices are more or lessimportant relatively as they appear, often simultaneously. Probably that was true of the earlier cycles, but one could not receive the aural data quite as well. I miss the Concertgebouw sound, most often in wind passages. The EMI sound here provides a live concertperspective. One can trace climaxes from their geneses to their often thunderous conclusions, e.g. in #2/2 and #7/1 and 4. Brass and tympani are duly prominent, though the tympani are not quiteas cataclysmic as Klemperer's in #9. I do prefer Jochum's other orchestras slightly, but that preference is at least slightly neutralized by the sonic ambience.The Bruckner cycle is also better sonically than Jochum's earlier one with the BRSO and BPO, butthe Dresden SO I find a slightly better orchestra than the very good LSO. Even so, I prefersome of the DG versions such as #s 1,4, 6,8 and 9. The Dresden #2, though, is spectacular, especically in the third movement-great brass and tympani. And the Dresden #8 projects terror and beauty galore.In the Brahms symphonies, swings and roundabouts also occur between the LPO the much earlier DG-BPO cycle,The EMI sound is noticeably superior, and Jochum observes more repeats, e.g.in #2/1Jochum's 1983 remake of the Bach B minor Mass surpasses his 1957 version for Philips.It is more ardent. The soloists are sound stronger and more beautiful, especiallyHelen Donath and Brigitte Fassbaeander, and the improved sound helps across the board. Jochumhad written that the B Minor Mass was the greatest composition ever. He was inured to sacredmusic from birth. He recorded the four major sacred works and Amazon should reissue the other three. That his St. Matthew Passion is not readily available is lamentable.The Mozart Coronation Mass and Vespers k339 are also wonderful and three of the foursoloists sing beautifully: Edda Moser, Julia Hamari and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (probablyNicolai Gedda does also, but I find his voice then unpleasant). This Icon box providesa small but valuable sample from Jochum's enormous discography. Well worth it, for he was a verygreat conductor.