There is no shortage of fine recordings of Beethoven’s celebrated
Ninth Symphony, but this reissue of a classic version by that
great Beethoven conductor Franz Konwitschny can take a proud place
among them. A few years ago his complete Beethoven symphonies
cycle was issued, and in his review
Rob Barnett made the pertinent observation that ‘for his state
funeral procession the streets of Leipzig were lined deep and
crowded over a ten kilometre route’.
Konwitschny’s relationship with the
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra was enduring and artistically significant,
particularly in Beethoven and Bruckner. This performance of
the Ninth was recorded by Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin in 1960,
with generally successful results. Of course fifty years on
it is possible to raise caveats about the results, such as the
lack of bloom in the violin sound and the lack of depth in the
perspective. Even so this Issue need not be confined to the
‘historical’ drawer. There is atmosphere and there is impact,
and one wonders whether this latest issue has re-mastered the
original. The minimalist supporting documentation – a glaring
weakness since there are neither programme notes nor texts –
reveals nothing.
Theo Adam is the only widely
known international artist among the line-up of soloists. He
is on excellent form, delivering a really arresting initial
recitative to set up Schiller’s Ode. Together the vocal
quartet make an effective team, and the chorus is held in a
suitable perspective, ensuring a powerful culmination.
The first movement sets what
seems an ideal pulse, with great tension generated in the first
subject and a soothing lyricism in the second. The control of
dynamics and of symphonic momentum is impressive, so too the
orchestral playing and discipline, to the extent that the first
movement rates as the highlight of the whole experience.
The second movement scherzo,
so strongly motivic in its rhythmic insistence, has thrilling
entries by the timpani, a galvanizing effect and is particularly
well captured by the recording. Again the tempo feels absolutely
right.
It is in the slow
movement, inevitably, where the quality of the sound comes into
question. The famous EMI recording made two years earlier with
Otto Klemperer (CDC 7471892) is rather more successful sonically.
Even so, Konwitschny’s shaping of the musical line is eloquence
itself, and seldom has Sir George Grove’s observation about the
second subject seemed more true: ‘Guaranteed to bring tears to
the eyes of strong men with whiskers’.
The finale, once again, is admirably
shaped, the introductory drama of orchestral rhetoric giving
way to the eloquent line of the principal theme, so beautifully
shaped.
While this reissue may not leap
to the position of top recommendation, at its budget price it
is well worth acquiring for the experience of hearing a great
symphony brought to life by one if its greatest interpreters.
Terry Barfoot