This is volume 3 of Jan Willem de Vriend’s complete cycle of
the Beethoven symphonies, of which volume 1 is reviewed here.
I greatly enjoyed what this team did with the Beethoven Violin
Concerto (see review),
so needed no second bidding to investigate some of this new
symphonic work.
The booklet notes are nicely written though somewhat subjective,
and there is nothing about De Vriend’s approach to interpreting
Beethoven other than the rather coy final sentence, “As always,
they delve into the depths of the symphonies and from these
depths, they elevate themselves to a higher level... in their
understanding of Ludwig van Beethoven” Come on people:
that’s not content, that’s worthless column filler fluff. Left
to the evidence of what we hear, I agree with John Sheppard’s
summary of these being “essentially clean, well recorded performances,
combining many aspects of the modern trend towards historically
informed performance.” With their SACD recording as a potentially
important selling point, they immediately run into an already
complete cycle and one of my favourites, that with Osmo Vänskä
on the BIS label (see review).
I don’t dislike Jan Willem de Vriend’s Beethoven at all. His
Symphony No.7 has a spring and a drive which tops Vänskä
for urgency in most of the faster movements, while not sounding
over impetuous or rushed. The final Allegro con brio reaches
fever pitch for example, and is remarkably exciting. The recorded
balance is brighter on the whole, but this might have something
to do with the string balance, which is a tad fuller and a good
deal warmer from the BIS label, or is it the orchestra? My impression
is that there is sometimes not quite enough weight in the string
sound during tuttis with the NSO, or at least when the brass
is in full flow. This is by no means always the case, but there
are moments where the string counterweight to the brass interjections
seems to struggle a little. See if you agree at 10:10 in the
first movement of the Symphony No.7 where the melodic
shape from the strings is actually quite hard to track. Intonation
isn’t always perfect either, and the little flute solo at 10:50
in the same movement sounds plain sharp. There is plenty of
detail in the recording though, and no really substantial complaints
on a technical level.
The character of the brass in the Symphony No.7 is rather
special in this recording, with some nicely growling horns creating
a sense of drama at numerous points. The period nature of the
performance of course means little or no vibrato in the strings,
so there will no doubt be comments about their thinness of sound.
I’m rather used to this now, but it’s worth bearing in mind
if you have an allergy to this practice. The famous funereal
Allegretto starts fairly urbanely but builds convincingly,
and the timpani thwacks here and elsewhere are allowed free
rein.
The pairing of the 7th and 8th symphonies
is a good one, with the brooding and theatrical drama of the
one contrasting with the frequently good natured sunlight of
the other. Once again, this Symphony No.8 is very good,
though while the lyrical touches in the winds are nicely phrased
the legato from the strings is a little less clean. De Vriend
moves everything along with a light touch and everyone at ease
with his driving tempo and wide dynamics in the opening Allegro
e vivace con brio. Timpani played with harder sticks tell
in favour for De Vriend and against Vänskä here, whose
fatter sounding drums rumble more like a storm in the background
rather than being a real part of the ensemble, though that quiet
ending is so tight from the Minnesota band it ends up
having the last and best word. De Vriend’s Allegretto scherzando
is a bit ‘twixt and between – neither really light and refined
nor filled with the surprise and variety we have from Vänskä.
His touch is also a mite heavy with the Tempo di Menuetto,
coming from a baseline soft dynamic which isn’t really that
soft. Vänskä gets his players almost down to nothing
where he wants; allowing plenty of space for dynamics without
having to raise the roof each time there’s a forte. There
are plenty of good things here though, and certainly enough
testosterone-filled meatiness to go around if you like your
Beethoven assertive and masculine. Funnily enough, after so
many hard-driven fast movements it is in the finale of the Symphony
No.8 that De Vriend eases his foot off the pedal just a
little. This allows all those late Beethoven inner voices to
speak with that much more clarity, which I rather enjoy. The
little off-beat timpani strokes at 2:22 are a delight, and there
is plenty of colour and texture to relish, as well as a fine
feel of quasi-descriptive narrative in De Vriend’s almost operatic
response to this movement.
This is a fine recording and a brace of performances which has
much to recommend it. There are one or two mild and mostly minor
qualitative issues with the playing, and if you are looking
for the most refined of Beethoven then Vänskä is still
your man. Jan Willem de Vriend does have a way of making these
symphonies sound fresh and exciting however, even a little dangerous
– in a different and good way. These don’t quite knock the best
recommendations off the top, but as a SACD choice I would certainly
choose De Vriend over the heavier Philippe Herreweghe (see review).
Dominy Clements
The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra/Jan Willem de Vriend 
[65:57] 
