Symphonies on records
Monday, 1 March 2010
Seemingly such a project should not excite any interest. One might ask what another set of the nine Beethoven masterpieces is for, especially after the recordings by Toscanini and Solti, Karajan, Kleiber and Abbado, and in recent decades also by Norrington, Goodman, Gardiner and Immerseel. When you listen to the interpretations by Paavo Järvi, the answer comes easily: to take delight in the fresh and surprisingly vital Beethoven. The individual discs, just like the concert performances of the symphonies, greatly deserve words of recognition and of enthusiastic criticism. A reflection of this may be awarding the first of the albums (Eroica and Symphony No. 8) with the annual Deutsche Schallplattenkritik award in 2007.
Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen went for simple and transparent interpretations, purifying the music of Beethoven from the centuries of residue. The effect is dazzling: finely tuned nuances, and perfected detail. The greatest pleasure is experienced by those who can entertain the luxury of listening to these records with the score in hand. The arches and the articulation, the degrees of the dynamic scale, and changes in the intensity of sound and accents – everything just as Beethoven marked it. The tempos are steadfast yet highly convincing. A deep bow here to the faithfulness to the metronomic timing. Little wonder that these performances surprise with a whole range of exposed solo parts, and that they reveal detail which has frequently been omitted lightheartedly. For example, so far in the performing tradition it has been difficult to find a precedent for such a “realistic quality” to the fluency of the whispering stream in the second part of the “Pastoral” Symphony.
Marcin Majchrowski (Polskie Radio), Beethoven Magazine No. 5