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
Masterwork Index: Symphony 5 ~~ Symphony
7
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/Sir John Eliot Gardiner
