Beethoven's Eroica - Extremes of tempo (sound clips)

Going to Extremes
The timings and tempi listed are for the whole movement, not the excerpts.

First movement
Excerpts. Each clip ~= 2MB.

Fast

Scherchen (1958) This excerpt, m168-285, shows the best and worst aspects of this performance: a terrific intensity, but always on the verge of being undercut by the inability of the ensemble to keep together, or even to keep up.	14:29 (175 bpm)
Beermann (1991) Achieves 'speed' by rushing all the easy parts. This bit (m305-430) literally goes off the chart about 30 seconds in, running about 200bpm in measures 371-393.	14:45(171)

Slow

Klemperer (1970 Sep 25) Exactly like Klemperer's earlier performances, but in slow motion. The players keep getting ahead of him, then correcting themselves. Apparently recorded off the radio - note the high frequency noise at :27.	18:42 (111)
Knappertsbusch (1962) He always started below his 'main' tempo and then got warmed up; but this is almost static. Another broadcast presumably preserved by an amateur.	17:18 (120)

Second movement
Complete clips ~17MB, excerpts ~2MB.

Fast

Grossmann, Ensemble 28 (2002) excerpt Although it's the fastest ever by a large margin, it doesn't sound completely ridiculous, as the second-place Norrington sometimes does. This is probably because of the very small orchestra (the eponymous 28). Regardless, the performance is not a useful experiment, as it simply gets faster and faster for no good reason, while Norrington at least has the necessary contrast between sections.	11:11
Norrington, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart (2002) excerpt Certainly the liveliest funeral I've ever attended -- most of the movement is actually faster then Beethoven's marking.	12:07

Slow

Celibidache, Munich P (1996) excerpt At this tempo, it might be a lost fragment of late Mahler, or even Webern.	19:14
Asahina, Osaka PO (2000 Jul 8) Asahina recorded the Eroica nine times, often as part of a complete Beethoven Symphony cycle. In his last year, at age 92, he recorded a double cycle, with two performances of each symphony. This is from the first Eroica in that release - the other, recorded two weeks later, is significantly faster (18:26).	19:11

Third movement
Complete clips ~6MB, excerpts ~2MB.

Fast

Sir Henry Wood, Queens Hall SO (1926) One of the few early uncut recordings of this movement -- before the LP era, conductors would routinely omit one or both repeats to make it fit onto a single 78rpm side. This was issued on two sides: in 1926, 4:48 was still more than the engineers could manage. The orchestra's ability to put the music across at this tempo is impressive.	4:48
Koussevitzky, London PO (1934) This was the first complete version to be fit onto a single 78rpm side. Reportedly this took special attention from the studio engineers.	5:08
Leibowitz, Royal PO (1961) excerpt Like several of the early ultra-fast conductors (Scherchen, Gielen), Liebowitz was a specialist in modern works.	5:11
Toscanini, NBC SO (1953) A live performance, but approved for release by conductor. He was eighty-six.	5:22

Slow

Klemperer, New Philharmonia (1970 Sep 25) Really tedious, though it's nice to hear all the 'little notes' in the 3rd Horn part (at 3:31).	7:46
Celibidache, Munich P (1996) Surprisingly listenable, though the recording makes the horns sound like they're made out of plastic.	7:08
Lombard, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine (1991) excerpt A very odd case. The first two movements of this performance are quite lively, and then this. It's as if the conductor was hit with a tranquilizer dart.	7:07

Fourth movement
Complete clips ~17MB.

Fast

Gielen, Cinncinnati SO (1980)

9:48