Anton REICHA (1770-1836)
Grande Symphonie de Salon No. 1 for nine instruments in D major [34.41]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Septet for violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, horn and bassoon in E flat major Op. 20 [40.07]
Le Concert de la Loge
rec. 2019, Singer-Polignac Foundation, Paris
APARTÉ AP211 [74.48]
Beethoven’s Septet has always been popular – too popular, as far as he was concerned. In later life he got somewhat tetchy when asked to compose something similar. “In those days, I didn’t know how to compose,” he’s reported to have said. The world begs to differ.
This performance is by Le Concert de la Loge, formed in 2015 to revive an orchestra of 1783, Le Concert de la Loge Olympique. That group was originally formed to play the symphonies of Haydn.
This is a fine version of the Beethoven, stylish, lively and played on instruments of the time; the horn rasps, the bassoon burbles and the violin of leader Julien Chauvin pulls it all together and keeps it moving. I’m familiar with the Nash Ensemble version, now 30 years old but still available from Presto as a download (Erato 5221262) , which is more svelte but perhaps less lively.
On the other hand, you may well never have heard of Reicha’s Grand Symphony de Salon for nine instruments in D major, since nobody’s heard it for almost 200 years. Julien Chauvin found it in 2017 in a box in an uncatalogued section of Music Department of the Bibliothéque Nationale de France, where it and two other symphonies had been transferred from the former library of the Conservatoire de Paris. It must have been quite an emotional moment when the musicians of the Concert de la Loge sat down in the reading room of the Bibliothèque and brought these works back to life.
The booklet tells us they chose to record the first of the chamber symphonies because it was “perhaps the most theatrical of the three.” It starts with a flourish which seems stolen from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and follows this with some intriguing syncopated rhythms. The second movement is a melodic adagio; this is followed by a minuet featuring the horn, and an allegro vivace finale which keeps on threatening to turn into something more minor and more interesting.
Next year is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, and big boxes of his works are appearing everywhere. But it’s also the 250th anniversary of the birth of Anton Reicha; they were both born in 1770 though Reicha outlived Beethoven by 10 years. The two men knew each other – Reicha played flute in the Bonn Theatre alongside Beethoven, who played viola. They met again later in Vienna, though Reicha seems to have been page turner and dogsbody while Beethoven played the piano.
Let’s hope the fuss around Beethoven doesn’t eclipse the celebration of his contemporary Reicha. For instance, let’s hear soon the other two rediscovered grandes symphonies de salon.
Chris Ramsden
