Commenced in 1800, Beethoven’s epic cycle of nine symphonies
is revered as the composer’s greatest legacy to music culture with
each symphony inhabiting its own individual world. Daniel Barenboim
maintains “It’s one of the greatest adventures in music that we
play the same pieces again and again - and that, despite their constant
repetition, they sound different every time.” Barenboim was
specifically referring to the pair of Chopin piano concertos but he could
have equally well have been describing the Beethoven nine. I have a number
of complete cycles and also hear individual symphonies often in concert
performance. I remain astonished at the number of new things I hear.
In addition to containing the complete Beethoven cycle this release,
in the year of Mariss Jansons’s seventieth birthday, is supplemented
by six new orchestral works, all commissioned by the Symphonieorchester des
Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra). The six composers
- Johannes Maria Staud, Misato Mochizuki, Rodion Shchedrin, Raminta
šerkšnytė, Giya Kancheli and Jörg Widmann - were each
commissioned to write a score lasting around ten minutes which should refer
to a particular Beethoven symphony in terms of its form, its concept or the
material used.
With such an outstanding choice of complete Beethoven cycles it is
difficult to settle on one specific set. There are a few conductors who have
recorded more than one cycle with Karajan having recorded four. The complete
sets that I currently play most often are from the Berliner
Philharmoniker/Claudio Abbado/Deutsche Grammophon; Berliner
Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan/Deutsche Grammophon (cycle 1961/62);
Wiener Philharmoniker/Sir Simon Rattle/EMI; Berliner
Philharmoniker/André Cluytens/EMI and the Tonhalle Orchestra
Zurich/David Zinman/Arte Nova. Time doesn’t allow any serious
comparisons with various rival sets of recordings so whilst working my way
through this BR Klassic box set I have noted my opinions about the
performances. Here the Munich-based Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen
Rundfunks is conducted by Mariss Jansons who has been the orchestra’s
chief conductor since the 2003/04 season. Having attended some half dozen
performances in the last couple of years from this partnership I hold the
opinion that their integrity of performing excellence is guaranteed.
Throughout this live cycle one senses an elevated level of musical
intelligence. My principal impressions are the impressive structural
coherence of the Beethoven interpretations and the weighty robust sound that
Jansons obtains from his players. These are compelling performances that are
buoyantly rhythmic with plenty of thrust when required. I was struck by the
penetrating lyricism and intensity of emotion they bring. Notable throughout
is the glorious, full-bodied tone of the brass. Also remarkable are the
unified strength and range of the strings especially the rich timbre of the
cellos and basses so crucial in providing a rock-steady foundation.
Recorded on tour at the Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Jansons and his
Bavarian players get off to a flying start with the often overlooked
Symphony No. 1. Completed in 1800 the score bears a dedication to
Baron Gottfried van Swieten, Beethoven’s early patron. The highly
spirited playing of the opening
Allegro establishes Jansons’
determined mood and contrasts with the calm and rather refined feel of the
appealing
Andante.
A score mainly composed in 1802 during Beethoven’s stay at
Heiligenstadt, the
Symphony No. 2 is dedicated to benefactor Prince
Karl Alois Lichnowsky. Also recorded at the Suntory Hall, Tokyo the
beautiful playing of the
Second Symphony is striking with the
enchanting
Larghetto sounding highly agreeable. It is in the compact
Scherzo that Jansons adopts broad dynamic contrasts. The orchestra
play with clean precision.
A frequently heard work in the concert hall it is well known that
Beethoven originally dedicated his
Symphony No. 3 to Napoleon
Bonaparte before tearing up the page and replacing it with the title
Eroica. It is clear from this Herkulessaal, Munich recording that
Jansons fully appreciates that this progressive score from 1803 is music of
considerable concentration and as the designation might suggest heroic
power. Fresh and invigorating, the Bavarians’ performance of the
Allegro conveys a sense of defiance in the face of adversity. The
pulse given to the celebrated
Marche funèbre by Jansons
is unerring. This is certainly no mere funeral dirge - it is sombre and
respectful yet the playing is bold and resolute. It feels as if the spirit
of life has broken free in the
Finale with Jansons’ fiery power
making a compelling impact.
Written during the summer of 1806 the
Symphony No. 4 is
dedicated to Count Franz von Oppersdorff, a Silesian nobleman who
commissioned the work. Beethoven actually stopped work on the
Fifth
Symphony to compose this score. Jansons clearly revels in
Beethoven’s glorious melodies. The fresh and sweeping account of the
opening
Adagio - Allegro Vivace feels evocative of cool and verdant
Alpine vistas. Delightfully lyrical, the
Adagio contains vividly
bright playing ensuring a disarming feeling of contentment.
The
Symphony No. 5 was completed in 1808 and the manuscript
is inscribed with a dedication to both Prince Lobkowitz and Count
Rasumovsky. I’m unsure just how many times Jansons and his Munich
players must have performed this enduringly popular symphony but in this
Tokyo recording they bring a newly minted feeling to the table. Marked
Allegro con brio,
in the dynamic opening movement the players
give a bold and powerful performance of biting intensity. One of my
favourite movements in all Beethoven’s symphonies is the
Andante
con moto to which Jansons applies splendid rhythmic control. He paints a
beautiful tender mood revealing a slight undertow of sorrow. Although
Jansons comes close here no recording I have heard achieves the same level
of spine-tingling intensity that Karajan and his Berlin players bring to the
Andante con moto with their 1962 Berlin account on Deutsche
Grammophon.
It was very rare for Beethoven to journey into programme music but he
did this with his
Symphony No. 6. Also completed in 1808 this score
of Beethoven’s “
expressions of feelings” suggesting
a walk through rustic scenes is constructed in five movements. It too is
dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz and Count Rasumovsky. This much loved work is
given a compelling reading of real penetration. Especially impressive is the
opening movement an ‘Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in
the country’ with stunning playing that paints a vivid nature scene. I
also relish the orchestra’s uplifting playing of the
Scherzo a
‘Happy gathering of country folk’. The rhythms are delightfully
sprung evoking rustic dancing and merriment, like a scene from a Pieter
Bruegel painting.
Both the
Symphonies Nos. 7 and
8 were completed in 1812
yet they differ widely in character. Dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries the
Seventh enjoyed great success at its première in Vienna. It
was Wagner who famously described the symphony as the “apotheosis of
the dance”. Here the extended opening movement marked
Poco
sostenuto - Vivace is irresistible for its vigorous heroic power. The
austere beauty of the much admired
Allegretto is striking as is the
joy and merriment that Jansons achieves in the
Scherzo. Magnificently
uplifting, the
Finale is played here with strength and breathtaking
energy. No matter how much potency they give to this performance I have yet
to hear one to equal the intensity that Furtwängler and the Berliner
Philharmoniker gave to their live recording from October/November 1943 at
the (alte) Philharmonie, Berlin.
The shortest in length of the cycle of nine symphonies, Beethoven
warmly described the
Symphony No. 8 as “My little Symphony in
F.” Beethoven didn’t provide a dedication to the
Eighth
Symphony,
a work overshadowed by the immensity of his
Seventh and
Ninth. Without forfeiting precision there is a
strong sense of spontaneity in Jansons’ warm reading. It sports an
especially attractive and stately
Menuetto and a keen bucolic feel.
The Bavarian players rise with conviction to the challenges of the brilliant
Finale:
Allegro vivace - a movement containing seemingly
unlimited and sudden variations of rhythms, tempi and capacious imagination.
Dedicated to King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia,
Beethoven’s colossal
Ninth is one of the most magnificent and
familiar works in the entire classical music repertoire. Composed in 1823-24
it’s unusual for its massive choral
finale a setting of
Friedrich Schiller’s poem ‘Ode to Joy’. It’s
astonishing to think that by the time of its première in Vienna in
1824 Beethoven was profoundly deaf. Throughout this outstanding account
Jansons and his Bavarian players display their remarkable stamina with a
capacity to maintain an elevated level of controlled intensity. In the
opening movement
I was struck by Jansons’ urgent forward
momentum and his ability to convey a sense of torment and even anger. In the
great
Scherzo the reading is searingly powerful generating incredible
anguish while the low strings ruminate darkly. With Jansons moving the music
forward, a sense of spirituality pervades the beautiful slow movement.
Remarkably fine playing from the woodwind choir and the sonorous strings all
serve to underscore the atmosphere of profuntity. The crowning glory is the
closing movement with its famous choral setting. It generates a robust
sensation of awe under Jansons’ decisive control. The superbly
controlled climaxes are remarkable as is the dark menace produced by the low
strings, sending a shiver down the spine. In the choral section, we have
rich-toned and secure baritone Michael Volle, tenor Michael Schade taut and
expressive with fluid-toned soprano Christiane Karg and characterful alto
Mihoko Fujimura. The quartet is nicely contrasted. The exceptional Chor des
Bayerischen Rundfunks are ardently incisive and perform with splendid unity
and focus. They are marvellously fiery in the stormier moments. After such a
dramatically engaging performance at the close of the score the feeling of
exultation is absolute. As recently as 2010 Maestro Jansons and his Bavarian
forces released an excellent live
Choral Symphony on BR Klassik. That
account commemorates a special occasion having been recorded in 2007 in
honour of and in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI. It was set down at the
Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall that holds a massive 6,300 people.
Jansons’ four splendid soloists on that occasion were Krassimira
Stoyanova (soprano), Lioba Braun (mezzo), Michael Schade (tenor) and Michael
Volle (bass). No account I know quite holds a candle to Furtwängler in
his legendary March 1942 (alte) Philharmonie, Berlin account with the
Berliner Philharmoniker. Others fall short of that level of sheer ferocity,
propulsive climaxes, torment and anger. Furtwängler’s quartet is
Tilla Briem (soprano), Elisabeth Höngen (mezzo), Peter Anders
(tenor)
and Rudolf Watzke (bass) with the renowned Bruno Kittel
Choir.
Of the especially commissioned works the first is Austrian composer
Johannes Maria Staud’s
Maniai for large orchestra. It was
Beethoven’s
First Symphony that inspired Staud to write
Maniai - a title in Greek that refers to the three Furies. Cast in
two continuously played sections the first is marked
Furioso and the
second
Grazioso. Staud said of the work “I chose a fast tempo
as the basic one… This time, although the rhythmic variety is
relatively limited, the result is actually a very targeted impulse in a fast
tempo.” Staud’s score is highly unsettling and unremitting, not
permitting any sense of peace. At times the
Furioso section feels
suggestive of the dangerous and sweltering atmosphere of an Iron Age
foundry. The
Grazioso is disconcerting with an incessant momentum
that evokes a perilous subterranean scene with poisonous serpents slithering
and sliding around.
Misato Mochizuki’s
Nirai is subtitled ‘intermezzo
for Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 2 and No. 6’ (2012). Now residing
in Paris, the Tokyo-born Mochizuki blends music of a Western and Asian
tradition and creates an array of fascinating rhythms and vivid colours. For
her source material Mochizuki has selected and employs “eight
noticeable changed notes from the end of the last movement of
Beethoven’s Second Symphony”. She was “attracted to the
fact that it involves a minor second - the interval favoured in contemporary
music.” This music is full of stormy climaxes and grinds its way
forward using a variety of techniques noticeably
glissandi and
quarter-tones. There is also an array of percussive effects.
I always find the music of Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin highly
stimulating. Now a Munich resident, Shchedrin’s commission, entitled
‘Beethoven's Heiligenstädter Testament’ is a symphonic
fragment, completed in 2008. Although Shchedrin uses the
Third
Symphony as his reference work the torment Beethoven experienced on
account of his deafness was the defining factor. The famous
‘Heiligenstädter Testament’ is a letter that Beethoven
wrote to his brothers Carl and Johann in 1802. It reflects the
composer’s deep depressive state provoked by the loss of his hearing
and maybe exacerbated by a failed love affair. Shchedrin uses the
‘Heiligenstädter Testament’ as a starting point for his
concert overture marked
Maestoso con grave conveying the message
through his symphonic fragment
From darkness to light. Less quirky
than some of Shchedrin’s more recent scores this twelve minute piece
is more like a conventional tone poem. The aggressive opening chords are
striking but are quickly replaced by mysterious music. What we hear suggests
a muscular straining at every sinew to release reserves of pent-up energy.
This is a quite remarkable work, weighty, powerful and highly accessible. It
is splendidly performed.
Lithuanian composer Raminta šerkšnytė is represented
here by her 2010 composition
Fires for orchestra. It’s a work
inspired by her love, since a child, of Beethoven’s
Fifth
Symphony. šerkšnytė remembers attending a concert of the
symphony aged ten or eleven that left her “in a kind of trance”.
Lasting ten and a half minutes,
Fires is cast in two distinct
sections. In this performance the first section marked
Misterioso has
a shadowy and eerily windswept mood. This gradually gains in weight and
impact with potently energetic climaxes. Section two, marked
Con
brio,
opens with a tremendous, uncomfortably grinding and angry
orchestral outburst which is sustained for virtually the whole length.
Con brio feels like a depiction of a savage land battle too
indescribably horrific for mere words. Referring back to the original
reference point,
Fires ends with the famous four-note motif that
opens the
Fifth Symphony.
Giya Kancheli born in Tbilisi, Georgia bases his 2009 score
Dixi on the
Ninth Symphony and emulates the work by using a
mixed choir with orchestra. For some reason
Dixi,
at over
twenty-one minutes lasts twice the length of the intended commission. The
choir sing fragments of Latin text seemingly arranged in a random manner,
for example the phrases ‘Mortuos plango’, ‘Ad se
ipsum’ and ‘Ora et labora’. This work follows a general
plan of building up to an orchestral and choral climax of swirling tension
and tremendous weight and power then sustaining it before suddenly changing
to a mood of calm mystical reflection. Although
Dixi is at times
compelling and often fascinating I found it hard to sustain my concentration
throughout its considerable length.
Munich born and bred composer Jörg Widmann responded to the
commission by writing in 2008 his
Con brio concert overture. His
inspiration was Beethoven’s
Seventh and
Eight Symphonies
the scoring of which is here emulated by Widmann. Approaching twelve minutes
in length the composer utilises “block-composition” technique
that “develops and furthers the composer’s tonal and idiomatic
language while interacting with 19th-century music.” In this
work’s constantly shifting sound-world the writing typically employs
sudden and audacious transitions and breaks. Of all the six commissions this
score is the most contemporary. I also felt that it was the least
accessible.
The sound engineers have done a splendid job throughout these six
discs. Overall the satisfyingly warm sound is clean rather than crystal
clear and an excellent balance has been achieved. Applause has been retained
in each case. The accompanying booklet is interesting and reasonably
informative but sadly no sung texts are provided.
Jansons and his orchestra are in stunning form throughout. These are
performances of elevated quality. Outstandingly performed and well recorded
this highly desirable box is more than a match for any of the competing
complete sets.
Michael Cookson
Masterwork Index:
Beethoven
symphonies
Disc contents
CD 1
[76:02]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op.21 (1800) [24:45]
Johannes Maria STAUD (b. 1974)
Maniai for orchestra (2011) [11:13]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 (1801) [30:40]
Misato MOCHIZUKI (b. 1969)
Nirai intermezzo to Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 2 and No. 6
(2012) [9:00]
CD 2 [60:00]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 3 in E Flat major, Op. 55
Eroica (1803) [47:43]
Rodion SHCHEDRIN (b. 1932)
Beethoven’s Heiligenstädter Testament symphonic
fragment for orchestra (2008) [12:09]
CD 3 [75:14]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 4 in B Flat major, Op. 60 (1806) [33:00]
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (1807) [31:25]
Raminta ŠERKŠNYTĖ (b. 1975)
Fires for orchestra (2010) [10:34]
CD 4 [64:23]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68
Pastoral (1808) [42:28]
Giya KANCHELI (b. 1935)
Dixi for mixed choir and orchestra (2009) [21:47]
CD 5 [78:06]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 (1812) [40:00]
Jörg WIDMANN (b. 1973)
Con brio concert overture for orchestra (2008) [11:50]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 (1812) [26:00]
CD 6 [63:23]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Choral (1824) [63:23]
Performance details
27 Nov 2012, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan (1, 2, 5)
18-19 Oct 2012,
Herkulessaal, Residenz, Munich, Germany (Sym 3)
26 Nov 2012, Suntory
Hall, Tokyo, Japan (Sym 4)
8-9 Nov 2012, Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany
(Sym 6)
30 Nov 2012, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan (Sym 7)
1 Dec 2012,
Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan (Syms 8, 9)
9-10 Feb 2012, Herkulessaal,
Munich, Germany (Staud)
8-9 Nov 2012, Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany
(Mochizuki)
18-19 Oct 2008, Philharmonie, Munich, Germany
(Shchedrin)
17-18 May 2012 Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany
(Šerkšnytė)
29-30 Oct 2009, Herkulessaal, Munich, Germany
(Kancheli)
25-26 Sept 2008, Philharmonie, Munich, Germany (Widmann)
