Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No 7 in A major, Op. 92 (1811-12) [39:10]
Symphony No 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (1804-08) [33:11]
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/Sir John Eliot Gardiner
rec. live, 16 November 2011, Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall,
New York City
SOLI DEO GLORIA SDG 717 [72:21]
Sir John Eliot Gardiner recorded a complete Beethoven symphony cycle with
his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in the early 1990s. However,
those were studio recordings and, to the best of my knowledge, only the Ninth
from that cycle is available as a single release though currently you can
buy the complete cycle as a five-disc set at a pretty modest price (DG 4778643).
These performances of the Fifth and Seventh symphonies were broadcast by radio
station WQXR and it’s their recording that SDG have now issued.
These are thrusting, dynamic performances and I suspect that some, especially
those who have an aversion to the sound of period instruments, will dislike
them. With one caveat, which I’ll come to shortly, I find them stimulating
and bracing.
The Seventh sounds as if it opens untidily in that each of the four forte
string chords in the first seven bars is slightly spread. This doesn’t
happen on Gardiner’s studio recording but since it happens here each
time the strings play these chords it may well be a deliberate effect; if
it’s not then it’s one of the very few instances of any fallibility
in the playing of either symphony. There’s a real sense of anticipation
and purpose in the introduction and the astringency of the wind instruments
is ear-catching. The vivace, when it arrives, is full of life and vigour
and at cue B (4:22) the horns sound brazenly jubilant, as they do each time
they play this particular figure. The exposition repeat is taken - every repeat
is observed in both symphonies - and in the development section the music
really surges along; Gardiner imparts exuberance and drive. My one slight
regret is that the string bass line isn’t a bit more pronounced both
here and elsewhere on the disc - it’s much more prominent in his studio
recordings. I notice that Gardiner employs the same number of string payers
as he did for the studio recordings so the fact that the bass line isn’t
quite as pronounced here may be an interpretative decision by the conductor
or it may be to do with the acoustic of Carnegie Hall and WQXR’s recording.
All that said, this difference between the two recordings didn’t spoil
my enjoyment of the newcomer.
In the second movement Gardiner adopts a good, flowing tempo; it can sometimes
seem a bit of a trudge but not in his hands. Apart from anything else this
means that the dolce lyrical sections just flow seamlessly out of the
music that has preceded them. I admired the work of the ORR’s wind section
in this movement. The scherzo really goes at a lick; this is a genuine presto
and it’s exhilarating. The playing here is very agile and the players
use dynamics and accents to excellent effect.
Gardiner launches into the finale with scarcely a moment’s hesitation.
His reading of this movement has marvellous impetus and drive. The horns make
another telling contribution in this movement, as does the timpanist who plays
with hard sticks. The pace is fast and furious, though it’s not relentless:
on the admittedly rare occasions when Beethoven relaxes momentarily, so does
Gardiner. The trumpets cut through nicely when they’re supposed to do
without ever being too dominant. All in all, this reading of the finale is
something of a tour de force. In conception and pace it’s pretty
similar to Carlos Kleiber’s white-hot VPO recording (DG, 1976); indeed,
it’s perhaps a fraction quicker and the greater leanness of the ORR’s
sound makes their playing seem even more vital than that of the Kleiber-inspired
VPO. By comparison Gardiner’s earlier recording, despite its merits,
sounds a little tame: the pace is steadier for one thing. Despite observing
every repeat in this New York performance, Gardiner’s energy is such
that the movement seems to be over in a flash; it’s tremendously exciting
and sets the seal on an invigorating account of the symphony. As usual with
SDG recordings, there is no applause.
With the Fifth we come to the caveat which I mentioned near the start of this
review. For me the problem lies in Gardiner’s pacing of the second movement.
I was never comfortable with this in his studio recording and his view hasn’t
altered. Admittedly the marking is Andante con moto but there’s
too much “moto” for my taste. The start of the movement sounds
jaunty but where I feel the swift pacing becomes a real problem is sixteen
bars before Cue C (track 6, 3:30) where the violas have a running figure in
demi-semiquavers, and even more so when the violins take this up a few bars
later. It all sounds too fleet and at Cue C itself the music just sounds breathless.
No wonder Gardiner gets through the movement in 8:36. By contrast Carlos Kleiber,
in his great VPO recording (DG1975), seems to me to set a much more judicious
tempo at which he can impart a sense of repose in the lyrical stretches and
yet achieve grandeur in the louder passages: he takes 10:00.
Otherwise, there’s a great deal to admire in Gardiner’s reading
of the symphony. The first movement is fast, urgent and unsettling. The movement
fairly races by and if you like Klemperer-like weight then probably this is
not for you, though the drive behind the music making means that the reading
sounds to me just as trenchant, though in a different way, to those by conductors
like Klemperer who adopt a more rugged approach. And we should be clear: though
the music is played very speedily there’s no skating over Beethoven’s
drama and argument.
I also like Gardiner’s way with the third movement. The period celli
and basses produce a properly spectral sound and throughout this movement
the ORR excels in the use of dynamic contrasts and accents, as they did in
the scherzo of the Seventh. The ghostly transition to the finale is very well
done, achieving a splendid feeling of suspense so that the start of the finale
itself is a truly joyous outburst. We are treated to a superbly vital performance
of the finale - I love the incisive contributions of the trumpets and the
timpanist. My only slight regret is that I didn’t find it easy to pick
out the contrabassoon nor, until the very end, the piccolo. I’m sure
the New York audience must have found this performance to be a tremendous
experience. As is usual with SDG the booklet contains comments by some of
the participating musicians and it’s evident that they felt there was
something special about this concert.
SDG’s documentation is, as usual, very good, including an interesting
essay by Stephen Johnson, who is always worth hearing or, in this case, reading.
One very small point: the track timings are slightly wrong - in both cases
the length of the finale is overstated. I’ve shown in the header to
this review what I believe to be the correct times. The recorded sound is
good, despite my slight cavil about the string bass presence. The engineers
have achieved great clarity and thanks to them - and to Gardiner and his players
- all the orchestral parts register with clarity.
If you already have Gardiner’s studio recordings you’ll find that
there isn’t much interpretative difference between the performances
in that set and these newcomers, except that I think the later account of
the finale of the Seventh is more exciting because it’s faster and leaner.
However, even if you have the earlier recordings I think this new disc, with
the added electricity of live performance, is an important appendix to the
DG cycle. And if you’ve not previously sampled Gardiner’s characteristically
thoughtful and sometimes provocative way with Beethoven this disc is an excellent
starting point.
John Quinn
Stimulating and bracing Beethoven: an important appendix to Gardiner’s
DG cycle.