It will come as something of a historical corrective
if one is not acquainted with Weingartner’s Beethoven to listen to his
recordings in the light of Naxos’s Pfitzner- Beethoven of similar vintage.
It will also be no less instructive, at least in terms of internal tempo
relation and linear curve, to set Weingartner alongside Toscanini. The
echt Romanticism of Pfitzner, all tempo rubato and pliancy, meets no
consonant call in Weingartner’s greater sense of controlled direction
and in matters such as the Andante con moto of the Fifth even
Toscanini must yield, at least when it comes to sheer speed, to the
older man’s patrician imperturbability; he is a full minute and a half
quicker than Toscanini’s 1930 New York recording.
Speed however tells only a partial story at best. What
has been called his "lean beef" Beethoven strikes a chord
with me. He is weighty but not weighed down – there are no bass-up sonorities
here, no saturation either vertically in terms of projection or across
barlines. The first movement of the Fifth is momentous but not monumental,
articulacy being fused with a compelling sense of momentum. The Andante
con moto is indeed as Ian Julier notes emphatic of the con moto
instruction. First and second violins are in constantly animated
life, the anticipatory cello and double bass lines brought out, the
internal rhythm of the movement conveying ebullience without, remarkably,
undue haste (though I suspect others will be more prescriptive of him
here). The third movement fugato section is well delineated and the
emphatic control of the finale an expected Weingartner hallmark where
the pointing and cumulative tension are handled with assurance and command.
The British Symphony Orchestra play well – they had made other recordings
of note and were composed of ex-Servicemen, a number of whom doubtless
played in other orchestras at the time (after all most members of British
orchestras in the 1920s and early 1930s had been in the services during
the War in some capacity or other).
Weingartner’s cycle of the Beethoven Symphonies – the
first to be made – was an ad hoc affair. The Fifth for example was recorded
acoustically with the LSO in 1924, again electrically with the Orchestra
of the Royal Philharmonic Society (often misnamed the Old RPO or some
such) in 1927, this splendidly dramatic British Symphony Orchestra traversal
of 1932 and one year later with Beecham’s new LPO. The LPO was, domestically
speaking, made to replace the 1927 recording because the British Symphony
Orchestra set was never issued in Britain, Columbia thinking the matrices
sounded too faint. The Sixth has a simpler history. This is Weingartner’s
sole recording of it, an earlier 1924 attempt, made at the same time
as the 1924 LSO sessions, having been abandoned incomplete. Once again
his directness, surety of line and sense of the relative speed of each
component of symphonic form hold him in good stead. He brings out the
rhythmic potential of the first movement and the sense of form and weight
that lies behind the Pastoral. It’s no accident that his opening
movement takes nine minutes and Pfitzner’s eleven. In the Scene by
the Brook (a fast moving one by the sound of it, cool and fresh)
he knocks three minutes off Pfitzner (and I won’t tell you what he knocks
off Beecham’s leisurely traversal twenty-five years later when this
movement was routinely being taken slower and slower). The entry points
are alive, the murmuring middle voices intoxicating – an odd word to
use of Weingartner to be sure but there you are – the pizzicatos pointing
the rhythm delightfully, the bassoon and clarinet solos of elysian charm;
a fast movement, far too fast I’m sure for many, but not unaffectionate
and malleably part of the symphonic shape of the work. I’m not sure
quite who those characterful woodwind players were but some elite musicians
were employed for the Society’s orchestra, including clarinettist Charles
Draper and his brother, bassoonist Paul, a trio of Brain hornists and
variously Fransella and Murchie as flautists. So it may well be A.E.
Brain Jun who is so fine in the Peasants’ Merrymaking – a rousing,
stomping affair. The Thunderstorm is full of punchy dynamics,
brass effulgence and dramatic immediacy and the finale, all 7.48 of
it [Pfitzner 10.51 for example] is as concrete an example as one could
find of aspiration and direction co-existing in a symphonic movement.
This is the logical culmination of the work from the first bars and
like it or not the drive and curve leads inexorably to the almost curt
final chords that end the work.
As a bonus there are the light hearted Viennese Dances
played with finesse and affectionate authority by the conductor with
the 1938 LPO in fine form. Mark Obert-Thorn’s transfers are excellent
revealing depth and clarity. This cycle is a cornerstone in Beethoven
Symphony cycles – the first and still one of the most authoritative.
Jonathan Woolf
Felix Weingartner