Verve Marriner conducts Beethoven

15 April 2024 marks the centenary of the birth of Sir Neville Marriner, widely considered to have the most extensive discography of any single musician. He recorded for most of Decca’s imprints – L’Oiseau-Lyre, Decca, Argo, and by acquisition, Philips Classics. He also recorded extensively for EMI and, in the final chapter of his discographical history, Hanssler Classics. Known and celebrated for his recordings of Baroque music and of Mozart, Marriner also made highly-desired recordings of Beethoven with ‘his’ Academy of St. Martin in the Fields – a chapter in his recorded history being gathered together for the first time. In September 1970 he set down recordings of Beethoven’s first two symphonies for Philips. These were first included in a 4-LP set entitled ‘The Rise of the Symphony’ (6707 013). One more symphony, No. 4, coupled with a string-orchestra transcription of the ‘Grosse Fuge’ was set down in December 1974. Perhaps a complete Beethoven symphony cycle was never envisaged at the time, for it wasn’t until the 1980s that recordings of Beethoven symphonies gathered momentum, starting with the ‘Eroica’ in 1982 and concluding with the Ninth in April 1989. Two recordings of the Violin Concerto were also made: with long-standing leader of the Academy, Iona Brown (herself also a conductor) in January 1980 for Argo, and quite surprisingly, again in December that year with Gidon Kremer for Philips, who incorporated two of the Schnittke cadenzas into his performance. These were rounded out with a disc of a selection of charming Minuets, German Dances and Contredanses, also for Philips, in 1978.