Going by timings alone
this is Barenboim at the slower extremes
of the tempo range. That said, the ear
perceives an approach that is flexible
and instinct with teeming life. For
the most part there is little drowsy
about this set. Quite how this can be
I am not sure but the fact that the
audio image is one of the most realistic
and vigorous I have come across must
help. The sound is vivid without the
appearance of spotlighting; natural
without blandness. This is a tribute
to producer Martin Sauer and engineer
Tobias Lehmann.
Of course the French
horns are ‘make or break’ in these symphonies
and they register here as if they were
underpinned with Wagner tubas such is
their lustrous golden roar (listen at
4.30 tr.1, 0.48, 2.20 tr.5 The
Rhenish). This makes me want
to hear Barenboim in Bruckner 4 and
8 with the same orchestra. In the Third
there is both exhilaration and mercurial
flight. Try the finale (tr. 5 1.38;
2.50). The counter-voices float
freely from textures that can, in other
hands, seem muddied and opaque. Not
all is perfection, however. There is
a bass emphasis that unnaturally favours
the pounding drums in the Third. It
is a shame that it wasn’t toned down
a shade. Then again you get wonderfully
calculated and stable warm diminuendos
as at the end of the fourth movement.
The galloping accelerations in the final
pages of the Third and First Symphonies
are breathtakingly exciting as they
are also in the finale of the Fourth
at 9.02.
The Rhenish
and the Fourth Symphony share
similar qualities; solo ‘voices’ are
captured with admirable definition in
the quieter moments. As with the Third
Symphony the grand drama is projected
as a Beethovenian conflagration shuddering
to volcanic proportions in the finale
(1.30 tr. 9) and veering into the territory
occupied by Beethoven’s Seventh in its
stamping rhythmic sovereignty (8.52
tr. 9 CD2). In the First Symphony
things can turn ponderous as they
do in the Scherzo which is marked
molto vivace. If you like the
accentuated and emphatic you will love
this; if not you might find it disorientating.
There are some delicious things here
including the carefree flute decoration
emerging from the calls of ‘waldweben’
French horns at 5.52 tr. 4 CD1. It is
presumably Barenboim’s awe-struck groans
that can be heard at 8.50 in the finale
of the First and at 8.01 in the regal
finale of the Second. Nothing to worry
about and these are certainly not the
sort of whooping guffaws you hear from
Beecham in his live recording of the
Sibelius Second Symphony (EMI Classics
nla). The Barenboim treatment of the
Second Symphony is of a piece
with the other symphonies. In his hands
the work finds a Beethovenian storminess
and when the writing turns to idylls
it is the affable pictorialism of the
Pastoral that comes to mind.
Accelerations and decelerations, dynamic
changes made on the instant, changing
from moment to moment pepper the delicate
second movement of the Second making
us think of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.
Wonderful silvery contrapuntal effects
flow and surge in the finale; the violins
are divided right and left (1.02).
There are plenty of
alternative cycles. I have compared
this set with the series by Kubelik
(both Sony
and DG-Eloquence)
and Marriner (Capriccio and
Brilliant). Kubelik on Sony offers
playing that is affable, good mannered,
modestly unassuming and well recorded.
The performances are warm and rich,
possibly a little laid-back; as much
to do with the South German temperament
as with Kubelik's perspective on Schumann.
His Rhenish is grandly Brahmsian,
stately in the Sehr mäßig
and his French Horns roll and halloo
as if through a mist of golden wine.
Kubelik's early 1960s recordings with
the Berlin Phil have yet greater vitality
but the sound does not have the depth
and breadth of colour found in the Sony
or the Teldec. There is also the Marriner
set with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
(Brilliant Classics but originally Capriccio)
although his lickety-split élan
gives the symphonies a decidedly Mendelssohn-like
flight.
If you seek even more
fire in the belly then try Solti (Decca),
Hans Vonk (EMI Red Line) or Sawallisch
(EMI). I have heard parts of the Solti
and Sawallisch sets in the past but
must still go by favourable reports
on the Vonk. Franz Konwitschny is also
highly recommendable on Edel-Berlin
Classics unless you have non-negotiable
objections to mono.
I note that Daniel
Barenboim is now billed simply as ‘Barenboim’
on the cover and rear card. Still at
least we are spared the self-absorbed
portraits with which Karajan used to
adorn his DG LPs. And Barenboim does
turn in a remarkable set which, apart
from some misgivings about doctrinaire
extremes of tempo in the First, is uniformly
the stuff of which rediscovered joys
are made.
Rob Barnett
Comparison review links
THIELEMANN
BOSTOCK
NORRINGTON
SAWALLISCH
KUBELIK SONY
KUBELIK DG
FURTWÄNGLER
KONWITSCHNY
MARRINER
BARENBOIM
CHICAGO
Staatskapelle Berlin/Daniel Barenboim 