September 17, 2008
-
Symphony #1 in C, Op. 21 (BIS 1716)
Symphony #6 in F, Op. 68 (BIS 1716)
You will need to go back to February of 2007 (http://www.xanga.com/MaestroSteve/570052825/item.html) to see my earlier reviews of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Beethoven Symphony cycle. This month we catch up with the final two releases of the series, one released in 2007 and the other just released.
By now, it is obvious that Osmo Vanska’s Beethoven cycle will be one of the great audiophile achievements of this decade and the Minnesota Orchestra has handily asserted itself as one of the countries finest ensembles. The orchestra has a great history of Beethoven recordings that goes back mostly to the 1960s and 1970s with Skrowaczewski, but there is something about these releases which really make them special.
The 2007 entry into this cycle pares what is undoubtedly one of Beethoven’s most well-known symphonies with his first exercise in the genre. The coupling was also issued in Roger Norrington’s traversal of the symphonies on period instruments in the previous decade. But over the last 20 years or so, only two modern orchestral versions of these symphonies has stood out much in complete cycles and each of the ones used for comparison had its special niche. The first of these comes from Harnoncourt’s intriguing hybrid cycle on Teldec which was a live recording trying to capture the excitement of the moment and taking an approach that was informed by recent scholarship on performance practice. A more traditional approach featuring Walter Weller on the podium used a traditional approach in terms of the orchestra itself and it was the first “complete” set offering the addition of a tenuous tenth symphony by Beethoven (pulled together from sketches). These are hardly names we associate with Beethoven performances perhaps and they certainly fall outside the big conductors from big labels. For me, Pierre Monteux’s Decca recordings of the first symphony somehow managed to capture the playfulness of this symphony and was coupled with a clarity often missing from that period of Classical music recording. The more experimental sixth symphony also seems a fairly flawless piece to mess up terribly. Where the trouble comes is when there is too much of the conductor in the performance and less Beethoven. So it would seem that in Vanska, we have a conductor who comes to the score with a deep appreciation for the music and allows it to speak for itself without lots of messy theatrics. That he has at his disposal one of the great orchestras of the time and one of the best acoustic halls to perform these works in helps tremendously.
To help see the differences perhaps in the timings of the performances mentioned, here they are for comparison:
Symphony No. 1
Harnoncourt
Norrington
Weller
Vanska
Adagio molto-Allegro con brio
9:20
8:49
9:04
8:32
Andante
7:41
7:08
5:58
7:49
Menuetto
4:00
4:19
3:35
3:35
Adagio-Allegro molto e vivace
5:26
5:30
5:53
5:38
TOTAL TIME:
26:48
25:46
24:41
25:51
The similarities in timings are intriguing. For the other recordings in Vanska’s cycle, one feels like here we have a performance that gives us Beethoven for all time and not just a snapshot of a particular time. His tempos tend to be a bit quicker for slower movements, playing on those early French Overture connections and Haydn-esque first movements. It is fascinating that both the period performances have slower Menuets than those by Weller or Vanska, but otherwise Vansk’s overall performance times in at about average for the work.
The first symphony has a great introduction that tends to begin in the middle of something, in fact it feels like we are in the wrong key altogether as it winds its way to C Major. The opening chords feel more like the summary of something that has not been heard and then we are off to the opening first theme. But along the way are amazing wind colors that interesting sonorities between the wind and string statements throughout. A tendency with the wind chords in this movement is to overcompensate by playing louder than the music is written to project over the front of the orchestra, but here these statements are beautifully and delicately played, floating over the orchestra. Detail? You bet. In fact you can even hear the way the paired winds are playing different lines—something which any wind player who has played this symphony can really appreciate, that is balance! The second movement makes one wish that Vanska and the orchestra would consider late Mozart and the Haydn London symphonies as worthy of a recording or two. This second movement has a little of that Mozartian overture feel before things move into a playful little realm playing with the accents. One can be struck at the dancelike quality of this movement in Vanska’s performance. This is the symphonies true minuet and as such, the interpretation of the third movement, marked as a Minuet, played far quicker as an early scherzo makes great sense. In fact when the second movement changes keys and the winds call and answer one another, people most likely had to think that they were in the more traditional minuet. But it is all about form and having this movement playfully move into fugal sections must have both frustrated and infuriated those first listeners. Listen how consistent the shaping of those long-short-short accents are throughout this movement—just another great performance from this pairing. The final movement’s opening measures are hilarious as the strings sneak into the musical opening after forceful chords. If you enjoy the playfulness and sheer audacity of what Beethoven is doing in this symphony you will be overwhelmed with the sort of understanding that is on display in every bar of this recording which features one of the best displays of a symphony on CD you may ever hear (unless you pick up the rest of the cycle!).
Balances between the strings and wind are amazingly detailed and about as perfect as one could hope for in any classical recording. The strings do not feel like they can overwhelm the rest of the ensemble and the winds do not feel as if they have to strain for their often lyric statements. What’s more is that accents are consistent with all the sections of the orchestra. This is Beethoven the way it should be played and heard. It is not some sterile musicological experiment but a truly musical and authentic performance of musicians at the top of their game with a conductor letting the music play. It is all helped by the Hybrid SACD recording.
The disc would be easily recommendable if there was nothing else on it. But, there is more! Beethoven’s experiment with a programmatic symphony brought together elements of the traditional motivic and formal rhetoric of the 18th century symphony with the rhetorical aspects of pastoral music. The intent to simply suggest a scene and then to let the music follow its own course is what makes the work unique. We do not need a specific program to follow Beethoven’s program, instead we are allowed to float along and imagine the scene for ourselves.
For comparison here are the timings of the recordings mentioned before for this symphony:
Symphony No. 6
Harnoncourt
Norrington
Weller
Vanska
Arrival in the Country
13:07
10:33
9:35
11:26
Scene by the Brook
11:59
11:56
12:41
11:58
Merry Gathering
5:10
5:08
5:34
5:13
Storm
3:52
3:43
3:16
3:38
Shepherd’s Song/Finale
9:44
8:45
9:44
9:03
TOTAL TIME:
44:24
40:05
40:50
41:36
Looking at the timings of this symphony we see again that it is in how one approaches the slower moving segments where things differ among these interpretations. Vanska’s performance of the first movement hits toward the center time-wise taking a slightly longer time to get to the country while Weller’s approach seems to be impatient by comparison. The rest of the timings seem to be about the same with Vanska’s approach seeming to be about middle of the road between relatively minor differences in timings.
In the 6th Symphony, Beethoven created a more detailed string approach where we get to hear different parts of the string ensemble in contrast to one another. Cello writing has come a long way since his first attempt and he allows right from the start to let the celli take one some beautiful moments of his primary theme. This stylistic approach, in contrast to the other symphony on this CD, allows you to hear in great relief the difference between the 18th century symphony and what would become the Romantic symphonic approach after Beethoven’s death. (Far after since it is not until almost the 1870s when composers begin to really approach this integrated orchestral detail in this genre.)
So often recordings of the Pastoral take off promisingly only to peter out as the accents that start a movement, or which begin a phrase or motif disappear in the performance. This never happens in this fascinating recording where once again the ensemble maintains its attention to detail throughout. As the first movement bubbles along each measure gets the same attention that the initial statement receives. The fact that this feels so natural and not artificial is what makes Vanska’s performances throughout this cycle standout. The “Scene by the Brook” can often feel a bit over-watery and mushy as strings can mistake lyric writing for a lack of spacing in the line itself. But here the music is not glossed over like some tired old stream we have been to time and again. Vanska’s performance is of a pristine waterway not some river polluted by a century or more of musical detritus. The storm explodes with great ferocity and the build up to the climaxes is amazing to hear as the crescendos and decrescendos weave throughout and there are plenty of smaller ones paid attention to as well. It is hard to imagine this played much better and as it comes to a close, moving beautifully, and most naturally, into the following movement one is not struck by the change in tone. The wind chords here are exquisite and the music’s swell into the grand string lyrical statement is dead on as the detailed string interplay between string groupings. It boggles the mind at the consistent way everything is approached here as well.
If you were to only want one recording of either of these symphonies, this release would be the one to have. It perhaps is one of the finest Pastoral’s on disc, if not the best. Rarely have I finished with the 6th symphony from a recording and thought, I should listen to that again. The performances are such a delight that you have to force yourself to listen to something else! Fantastic performances that honor 18th century rhetorical understanding, outstanding musicianship, amazing orchestral recorded detail, and just plain outright great music to work with make these BIS releases the best of any year! Coupling these two together allows us to hear these differences in contrast to one another in ways that have not happened before. This is not a Beethoven release that one says, “Ah, Beethoven” and then files away until you forget you have it. This is a release, like all the others, where one says, “Wow—let’s hear that again, and again…”
Tomorrow, we'll take a look at the final release in the series.
Recent Comments