BEETHOVEN Symphonies: No. 1; No. 5 • Jan Willem de Vriend, cond; Netherlands SO • CHALLENGE CC72364 (SACD: 56:19)


This is Volume 2 of a cycle-in-progress of the Beethoven symphonies, Volume 1 of which I reviewed in Fanfare 34:4. I was, on the whole, quite positive, though I reserved judgment until further volumes were issued. Vriend, like Herreweghe and Järvi before him, has benefited from the research and recordings of the period-instrument movement; what’s different is a less dogmatic approach than those of the earlier pioneers or of more recent antiques-only cycles. This orchestra can summon the kind of power we associate with modern ensembles, and Vriend isn’t loath to take a more leisurely stroll around this familiar scenery.


That said, those familiar with, and appreciative of, the kind of performances produced by the conductors named above will have no qualms about these new ones. The performance of the First Symphony is exuberant, playful, and full-bodied (and the Menuetto is uncut). Compared to Järvi (with an identical program, RCA), the acoustic is more reverberant, resulting in a sound that is more atmospheric and resonant than RCA’s drier production. Järvi is unflinchingly fleet while Vriend allows the music more room to breathe; otherwise, they are very similar performances, though I prefer Vriend’s recorded sound.


The first movement of the Fifth Symphony is urgent and peremptory while the second is very much con moto , though its more powerful characteristics tend to over-balance the songlike qualities. The spirited third movement Allegro is an interesting amalgam of fluidity and discontinuity: the variant of the Scherzo theme becomes atomized almost to the exclusion of the melody—it’s all a bit too analytical, at least until the lead-in to the finale. The powerful forward momentum of that movement robs the music of some of its grandeur. Gardiner (Archiv), at a similarly brisk tempo, manages to make the movement sound less harried and more triumphant. A measure of elegance returns with the echo of the Scherzo, and then the performance plays out to the end in bumptious exuberance.


I like the fullness of the orchestral sound of these performances, and Vriend’s combination of period and modern instrumentation and practice is quite successful. This is a cycle to watch, and it may ultimately be the benchmark for the new “third stream” in Beethoven recordings.


FANFARE: Christopher Abbot


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On first acquaintance, a listener familiar only with the "popular" Beethoven symphonies would hardly recognize Symphony No. 1 as a work by the same composer (instead probably thinking of Haydn, or perhaps Mozart). Yet Jan Willem de Vriend and the Netherlands Symphony succeed in bringing out the nascent "Beethovenian" elements of the score--especially in the finale (which, interestingly, de Vriend takes slower than you would expect from his quick tempos in the first movement and scherzo). De Vriend achieves this by emphasizing the music's dynamic contrasts, underlined by pointed and powerful timpani playing.

Winds and brass are also prominent (including "watery" sounding horns), which is all to the good. However, the period-styled strings slightly annoy in Symphony No. 5, where the players' apparent inability to sustain long notes undercuts some of Beethoven's effects--most notably the dramatic held G at the end of the first statement. Here it wimps out quickly, requiring de Vriend to rush to the next phrase.

But this is the only flaw in an otherwise enthralling performance, a rendition that, especially in juxtaposition to the First symphony, reveals the work's revolutionary nature. The first movement blazes, the Andante glides, the scherzo stalks, and the finale becomes a euphoric release of all the previously accumulated tension. The recording's narrow-focused acoustic (albeit with a solid sense of depth) projects the power of the playing. Despite the above concerns, this is a Beethoven symphony disc that had every good reason to be made. You really should hear it.

--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

This the second volume in a series of the complete Beethoven symphonies being undertaken by the independent, Stuttgart-based company TACET. I found the first disc (of Symphonies 7 and 8) revelatory (see review at Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 - Rajski), and this new coupling is no less exciting. The works are smaller in scale and scope, of course, but the performances of conductor Wojciech Rajski and his excellent Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra are no less lean, supple and punchy than in Volume 1. Rajski has the gift, surprisingly rare in Beethoven, of finding the tempo giusto", injecting the music with plenty of youthful vigour and spirit without pushing it uncomfortably into overdrive in an attempt to prove some spurious (and anyway largely self-evident) point about the dynamic, driving nature of Beethoven's composerly personality. Regular readers of this website will probably be aware that the distinctive thing about the TACET label is not, however, the quality of the performances (though these are very high quality indeed), but the way in which chief engineer and company owner Andreas Spreer presents the sonic information. Put briefly, Spreer makes full use of the two rear speakers - rather than, as with most multichannel classical recordings, mainly utilising them to fill out hall ambience, with most of the raw musical signal still emanating from the front speakers. Thus, for instance, in this present recording, first and second violins are located about halfway down your listening space, and divided left and right across the sonic spectrum, so that you can hear the often very important (and witty) interchanges between firsts and seconds much more clearly than in "normal" 5.1, 5.0 or 4.0 recordings, or in stereo. Lower strings are placed slightly further towards the rear, woodwinds more towards the front speakers. The two horns (plus timpani) are well towards the front, the two trumpets well towards the rear, both divided left and right antiphonally. This type of arrangement is what TACET calls "Real Surround Sound", in the sense, I guess, that the sound does really and genuinely surround you while you're listening. There are those who bridle at this kind of arrangement, dubbing it artificial or even gimmicky, and some of these critics have expressed their opinions forcefully elsewhere on this website. That's fine (though I suspect that in several cases at least they have never actually listened to a TACET product). My own opinion is that what I hear on this disc is neither "artificial" nor "gimmicky", but a beautifully integrated, uniquely transparent recording giving a special insight into the soundworld of these symphonies, how they work, the many interactions of instruments, and how they're put together in the composing process. I must stress that, despite the unprecedentedly high levels of detail available to the multichannel listener, the overwhelming effect of the recording is one of homogeneity and unity. There is assuredly much greater separation of instrumental strands and individual instruments than usual, but never at the expense of the overall sonic picture, which is unified and warmly enveloping, decidely not a collection of fascinating little titbits of spot-miked information patched together in a willy-nilly fashion. You are, as it were, "in media res", but in no sense in an oppressive or intimidating fashion. Quite the opposite - it's a warmly enveloping and inviting sound-picture, one that uniquely facilitates active engagement with and reaction to the music. The interplay between the different string parts in the finale of Symphony 1, and the rousing call and response sequence between horns and trumpets in the powerful development section of Symphony 2's opening movement, are but two examples among many of the special insights and enjoyments offered by TACET's multichannel presentation of this music. I'll conclude by saying that I've never enjoyed these symphonies more, heard more of the subtleties of what is going on in them instrumentally, or had a more intimate insight into Beethoven's creative thought processes in making them. Andreas Spreer is a uniquely imaginative, uniquely skilful "Tonmeister" who brings immense care and musicality to his recordings, and has already, in terms of the possibilities of multichannel sound for classical music, long since left the point at which most other companies have not yet even considered arriving. I am confident that in due course of time Spreer will be hailed as one of the key innovators in sound recording history, and bracketed with the likes of Walter Legge, John Culshaw, and Wilma Cozart Fine as a member of that small, exclusive band of pioneers who have moved the classical recording industry forward in a genuinely new, exciting direction." Terence Blain total playing time: 56'56

This selection is a Hybrid Multichannel Super Audio CD. The Stereo Hybrid SACD program can be played on any standard compact disc player. The DSD Surround programs require an SACD player for playback.

These excellent performances date from 1970, before Neville Marriner embarked on possibly the dullest complete Beethoven symphony cycle in history, and they have all of the qualities of elegance and verve that made the conductor and his Academy of St. Martin in the Fields the greatest chamber orchestra of the 1960s and '70s. There's simply nothing to quibble with from a musical standpoint: the allegros move along smartly, wind parts are clearly audible (particularly in the Second Symphony), and trumpets and drums cut through the texture without blasting. The two slow movements sing and the strings play beautifully. Of course, period groups have made Marriner's approach sound a bit tame in comparison, but whatever the performances lack in rawness and edge they more than make up for in polish. It's a perfectly legitimate view of the music, and one that has aged not a bit.


Sonically, these multichannel remasterings convey an excellent sense of the orchestra in a warm acoustic space, without emphasizing the rear channels to distracting effect. Unfortunately, there is a huge amount of ambient noise (in other words, hiss) that comes as quite a surprise given the silent backgrounds that we have become used to in this digital (or even Dolby) age. Whether or not this will bother you is very much a matter of personal preference, but be warned: audiophile sound this certainly is not. However, the musical values remain first rate and certainly justify making this pair of performances available again.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Also available on Blu-ray

The Beethoven cycle of the 21st century!
Christian Thielemann joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker in a unique and monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, their first-ever recording of all 9 Symphonies in full high definition and Surround Sound. This recording from the Golden Hall of Vienna´s Musikverein is accompanied by nine(!) hour-long documentaries, one on each symphony, featuring Christian Thielemann and Germany´s most eminent music critic, Prof. Joachim Kaiser. From insights into Beethoven´s musical thinking to interpretational comparisons, including excerpts form legendary performances by Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc., to historical perpsectives – no aspect of Beethoven´s symphonic oeuvre will remain untreated! This 3 DVD-set contains Beethoven Symphonies 7, 8 & 9 and the Documentaries about Symphonies 7, 8 & 9.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 and 9

Annette Dasch, soprano
Mihoko Fujimura, mezzo-soprano
Piotr Beczala, tenor
Georg Zeppenfeld, bass

Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Recorded live at the Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna
including:
Discovering Beethoven
with Joachim Keiser and Christian Thielemann
one-hour long documentary for each symphony

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0 (Documentaries, PCM Stereo)
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese
Running time: 157 mins (concert) + 169 mins (documentaries)
No. of DVDs: 3

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

A refreshing new recording of the Beethoven symphonies (volume 1), through the eyes of conductor Jan Willem de Vriend and his orchestra. De Vriend's name as a symphonic conductor is emerging fast now in the music world, and this first volume of the Beethoven series is a fine musical signature, with which he and his musicians perpetuate themselves.

Also available on Blu-ray

The Beethoven cycle of the 21st century! Christian Thielemann joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker in a unique and monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, their first-ever recording of all 9 Symphonies in full high definition and Surround Sound. This recording from the Golden Hall of Vienna´s Musikverein is accompanied by nine(!) hour-long documentaries, one on each symphony, featuring Christian Thielemann and Germany´s most eminent music critic, Prof. Joachim Kaiser. From insights into Beethoven´s musical thinking to interpretational comparisons, including excerpts form legendary performances by Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc., to historical perpsectives – no aspect of Beethoven´s symphonic oeuvre will remain untreated! This 2 DVD-set or Blu-ray contains Beethoven Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 and the Documentaries about Symphonies 4, 5 & 6.

Recorded live at the Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna

including:
Discovering Beethoven
with Joachim Keiser and Christian Thielemann
one-hour long documentary for each symphony

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0 (Documentaries, PCM Stereo)
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese
Running time: 133 mins (performances)

Oct. 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique’s founding. 20 years after their acclaimed Beethoven Symphony recordings for DG, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the orchestra continue to revisit this repertoire. The Second’s life-affirming energy is at times romantically tender and at other times ferociously determined. Beethoven’s adventurous spirit can be heard in the Eighth, which is buoyant and energetic with a spirit of wit and playfulness. The album’s 28 pg. booklet contains original notes by BBC presenter and music journalist Stephen Johnson.

At what point does a recording become ‘historic’? Anyone remembering some of the very earliest and sometimes highly dodgy period instrument recordings with young Harnoncourt and others in the 1960s and 1970s might approach this kind of early authentic instrument project with some trepidation. The 1980s was a boom period for period performance recordings, and the symphonies of Beethoven were and still are something of a pinnacle for any orchestra. The Hanover Band was one of if not the earliest to record a complete cycle on authentic instruments, alongside Roger Norrington’s Beethoven cycle with the London Classical Players originally on EMI Classics Reflexe from 1987-1989 and now available on Virgin Classics (see review). Also from the 1980s comes Christopher Hogwood with The Academy of Ancient Music on Decca’s L’Oiseau Lyre label. In fact, the experience with these and Roy Goodman’s Hanover Band is by no means the hair-shirt one you might expect. We’ve come a long way since 1983, but this pioneering bunch of musicians can still speak to us even from all those years back in the 20^th century.
 
Criticism has been levelled at these recordings in the past for their excess of resonance, and indeed the church acoustic used is a major feature in each. The Nimbus label used ‘ambisonic’ recording techniques, and these CDs are labelled as being UHJ encoded. I’ve become something of a fan of SACD of late, but have seldom heard any of the Nimbus releases actually de-coded and presumably heard as they were originally intended. The stereo effect is always good enough, and I must admit to having a soft spot for the old Nimbus releases with their single ‘soundfield’ microphone technique. These Beethoven symphonies are quite a rich listening experience, but the first disc with Symphonies 1 and 2 suffers most from acoustic ‘smoke’ around the sound, and the timpani are also rather boomy compared to the rest of the recordings, which were made in All Saints Tooting rather than St. Giles, Cripplegate. What you do notice almost immediately is the relative softness of the winds against the strings. True, period winds are softer than modern instruments where string instruments are still almost exactly the same, metal as opposed to gut strings aside. The beginning of the Symphony No. 1 does immediately show up this contrast though, the needle sharp daring of Beethoven’s pizzicato opening in the strings accompanied by a mellow band of woodwinds and horns who are somewhere ‘way over there’.
 
The quirky qualities in the recording are something you can get used to, and one has to accept that you just won’t hear absolutely everything. Having tried to get used to John Eliot Gardiner’s Archiv recording from the 1990s with the Orchestre Révolutionaire et Romantique I can also report that being able to hear absolutely everything is not necessarily always the Holy Grail when it comes to Beethoven symphonies. Gardiner is pretty much the reference in these works when it comes to period instrument recordings, but these can also be something of a rough ride as well – rather uncompromising in some ways, to the extent that I’ve not played them much, and certainly haven’t trawled them out when referencing modern instrument recordings. Goodman’s Hanover Band is a little softer edged, not so much in the performances but certainly in recordings which you can listen to for longer periods without feeling you are constantly having to feel ‘impressed’. I’m afraid the first two symphonies are a bit too ‘far out’ as recordings to be regarded as truly successful, Listen to those upward scales in the winds in the final section of the last movement of the Symphony No. 1 and you have to strain sometimes to make out what’s going on. The opening of the Symphony No. 2 also reveals some strain in intonation in some wind sections, and the strings can be shown to be a bit scrappy when exposed. There is a great deal of verve and excitement in the performances and I can find much to enjoy in them, but in isolation they wouldn’t receive much of a recommendation.
 
A few years later, a different location, and everything snaps into crisper focus with the Symphony No. 3. The drums are played with harder sticks and are much better in proportion, the winds and brass are still backed up a bit, but cut through the strings more effectively and have a better definition. This is the kind of recording which brought the value of period instruments to the fore, with lither textures, a more chamber-music footprint on the score when compared to the likes of the Berlin Philharmonic, and a set of timbres which revealed the music in unexpected and refreshing ways. Not everything is perfect, but the sense of expectancy and discovery outweigh occasional weaknesses and the mild foibles of the recording. There are delights everywhere, from the weight of the Marcia funebre to the squirty natural horns in the Scherzo and massive tumult mixed with big holes of Haydnesque strangeness of the Finale, you can imagine something of what the crowds must made of it all the first time it was played. An attack of newness had indeed broken out, and the Symphony No. 3 is magnificent and extraordinary in this recording. The Symphony No. 4 is more neo-classical and optimistic in its outlook, but this performances scholarly examination of dynamics, tempo and articulation makes it another bracing listen. The Adagio in particular is something of a trot with a long-legged steed than a real slow movement, but I like it, and the musical narrative of all of these movements is a path to savour. Some slightly sour violin moments on occasion take a little away from good wind solos, but again the sum is greater than the parts, and this is a performance which would hopefully still grab wild applause even today.
 
The Symphony No. 5 is always going to be a crucial work, and I’m not entirely convinced by the opening here in this, another one of the earliest recorded in the set. Sustained notes in the strings are undecided whether to vibrato or not, and the lead violin is distractingly up-front. If you can stand back from this a bit, there are good horn moments and the pace and drama are all there, but that string mix is troubling throughout. The extreme contrast between really quite close and fairly distant instruments also makes ensemble coherence that much more difficult. There is still plenty of good playing here and some remarkable moments, such as the hushed and surreal opening to the final Allegro, but real enjoyment is something of an uphill struggle in this case. The Symphony No. 6 is a good deal more entertaining though the generalised sound and large acoustic fights against the detail and chamber-music aspect of the playing in the tuttis. This is a strange set of contradictions, but what I mean is that it sounds more symphonic and grander than it needs to or perhaps even should be. This is however not a small-scale performance, and the dynamic shading is as well observed and constructed as one could hope for, with the antiphonally placed violins a nice touch which adds to the sense of openness in the music, if making headphone listening a tad disorientating at times. The muted strings in the Szene am Bach are lovely, and those exquisite harmonic changes later on are very nicely turned. Lyrical expressiveness turns out to be a strong feature of the Hanover Band as well as their punchy rhythmic drive as the peasant’s merrymaking moves into a fearsomely potent Sturm. The joyful song is gorgeous, though the accompanying figures in the strings are sometimes a bit over-present. In all, this is a Pastoral which can be relished.
 
The last three symphonies are all from 1988, the last phase of recording, and less prone to the troublesome sense of danger which inhabits some of the earliest. The lyrical against dramatic qualities in this symphony work very well in this case, with the wind sonorities having sufficient impact to steer the harmonic pace. That funeral-march Allegretto moves forward with a satisfying momentum, and builds towards some tremendous sonorities. The swiftly urgent Presto crackles with energy, and has to be topped by the Allegro con brio and is, though the greater extremes of volume result in some less usual acoustic effects, some of the wind notes being heard more through their reflection than from the original attack. The Symphony No. 8 is also very good, with plenty of theatricality through its lighter textures. Roy Goodman manages some nice moments of ritardando as well, heightening certain expressive corners to great effect. This is sunny but also seriously weighty music making, creating an eighth which is imposing as well as generously warm hearted and boisterous.
 
If I appear to skim a little over these last symphonies it is only because they are less problematic in terms of performance and recording quality than some of the others. Not without their usual minor momentary problems, I’m still happy to endorse them without going into minute detail. The monster Symphony No. 9 does however demand greater attention. Ambitious music demands scale and stature, and the recording here does rise to the challenge, providing decent enough balance and filling the acoustic better than in some cases. There does appear to be some spot miking now, so for instance the horns pop up in your left ear more closely than previous experience would lead you to expect. The bass section is less powerful in the balance which is a shame, as a firm bottom is something you really need to carry this work properly. The first movement is good enough, though its vast canvas sometimes lacks clear direction – perhaps as much an artefact of Beethoven’s deafness as Goodman’s leadership. The Molto vivace second movement extends a vaguely unsettling feeling that we’re hearing a product of encroaching madness as well as genius. The music is driven on with a consistency of pace and within fairly narrow expressive parameters, giving the mind little chance to hook itself onto moments which are normally pointed out with greater expressive contrast. I remember one of my lecturers at the RAM pointing out what a ‘bad’ piece of music the 9^th Symphony was, and I think hearing this version makes me realise what he meant for the first time. It’s truly eccentric and not less than crazy, but all done so gloriously and with such daring panache that we’re all left agape with a kind of awe of disbelief – we can’t really ‘get’ it, so it must be wonderful.
 
Well, there are wonderful things about Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, but this is one of those recordings which challenges preconceptions and forces a re-evaluation. The final Presto-Allegro assai throws down the gauntlet one last time, making the low strings ‘sing’ that recitatief before the vocal entry, and this is done with great declamatory style here. With a relatively hectic pace established, the first quiet entry of that famous tune takes us more by surprise. It pops out like a sketchy doodle. We all know what it’s going to grow into, but in this case it has a good deal of work needed before achieving adulthood – an effect I admire. As for the singers, Michael George is a bit jowly in tone colour in the solo but is a fine bass, and the members of the quartet blend well enough together. The choir is very fine, but perhaps a little recessed in the sound. More recent research has the Allegro assai vivace a good deal swifter than we get it here, and it sounds bizarre now to go back to that now discredited tempo of one beat per half bar rather than one beat per bar – twice as fast in effect. Being used to John Eliot Gardiner’s generally faster tempi makes the first choral Freude, schöner, Götterfunken sound a bit clunky by comparison, and the rhythmic emphases enhance the vertical rather than the horizontal, although there are some remarkable moments. The brass in general tends to sound a bit isolated, and doesn’t mould too well into the general orchestral picture, but this is still a performance which leaves an exhaustingly intense and powerful impression.
 
This is indeed a ‘historical’ recording, in the sense of its being a milestone – or at the very least part of a significant moment in recording history, when the period instrument movement came of age and proved itself capable of challenging the old order of symphonic orchestras. There is much to be enjoyed in this cycle, and much which frustrates. I don’t think by any standard it can make a claim to be anyone’s first choice for a set of Beethoven’s symphonies, but that’s no longer the point with this recording and probably never was. This is a version which can live next to your box sets by Karajan or anyone else, and be brought out when you feel the need for a change of sonority and a different angle on familiar music. To be frank, I hadn’t expected it to have stood the test of time as well as it has. We have indeed moved on, and performance techniques, instruments and aspects of interpretation have all been refined and adjusted as the years have progressed. Just as with modern instrument recordings, there is no one option with period instrument versions of these symphonies. Roy Goodman/Monica Huggett and The Hanover Band can however still make a splash.
 
-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International [11/2011]

REVIEW:

Beethoven on period instruments is no longer as remarkable as it was even in the not-so-distant past. Several complete sets of the symphonies and individual recordings are readily available.

It helps that these are live recordings, dating from May and September 2013, with very realistic, vibrant sound. We can’t hear the audience, but we can hear its effect on the musicians. These truly are performances, conceived and played along a broad, long line, and not cobbled together from a short take here and a short take there. Excitement and (apparent) spontaneity are the order of the day, and even if these works are within our collective DNA.

— Fanfare

Also available on Blu-ray

The Beethoven cycle of the 21st century!
Christian Thielemann joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker in a unique and monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, their first-ever recording of all 9 Symphonies in full high definition and Surround Sound. This recording from the Golden Hall of Vienna´s Musikverein is accompanied by nine(!) hour-long documentaries, one on each symphony, featuring Christian Thielemann and Germany´s most eminent music critic, Prof. Joachim Kaiser. From insights into Beethoven´s musical thinking to interpretational comparisons, including excerpts form legendary performances by Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc., to historical perpsectives – no aspect of Beethoven´s symphonic oeuvre will remain untreated! This 3 DVD-set contains Beethoven Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 and the Documentaries about Symphonies 1, 2 & 3.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 3
Coriolan Overture
Egmont Overture, Op. 84
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Recorded live at the Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna

including:
Discovering Beethoven
with Joachim Keiser and Christian Thielemann
one-hour long documentary for each symphony
Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese Running time: 155 mins (symphonies) + 170 mins (documentaries)
No. of DVDs: 3

BEETHOVEN String Trios, op. 9: Nos. 1–3 • Attila Falvay (vn); János Fejérvári (va); György Éder (vc) • NAXOS 8.572377 (73:41)


This completes Naxos’s survey of Beethoven’s string trios performed by members of the Kodály Quartet. The first volume, containing the op. 3 Trio and the op. 8 Serenade, received a positive review from Bart Verhaeghe in Fanfare 30:5. This second installment, recorded in 2008, seems a bit late in coming, but is no less welcome for that. It’s not unknown for Naxos to sit on new recordings, sometimes for years, before releasing them, and this one is no exception; it wasn’t released until January of this year.


Surprisingly, competition in this arena is not that strong. Back in 2006 (29:3) I dismissed as “decaffeinated” the Zurich String Trio’s performances on Brilliant Classics. And while I’ve enjoyed the Kandinsky Trio’s recording of the op. 9 trios on Arte Nova, the set I reach for most often when I’m in the mood for Beethoven’s string trios is the Leopold String Trio’s two-disc set on Hyperion.


The truth is I don’t find myself that often in the mood for Beethoven’s string trios, which is why on those occasions when I do listen to them I’m amazed all over again at what a radical departure they are from earlier models and at how they must have shocked their first hearers. Of course, in saying that these works pose a radical departure from earlier models, one must ask what models Beethoven is departing from. It’s not as if the string trios before Beethoven litter the landscape like so much confetti after New Year’s Eve. Yes, Boccherini wrote a whole bunch (about 65 of them), but they’re not all for the standard complement of violin, viola, and cello. Haydn wrote even more, something like 125, but they’re for viola, cello, and baryton, and of his other string trios (35 or more), most, as far as I know, are written for two violins and cello. I’m sure there are other composers from around this time who thought a violin, viola, and cello made for a satisfying ensemble, but mainly we’re left with Mozart and his one exceptional contribution to the genre, the Divertimento in E?-Major, K 563.


Mozart’s trio becomes the point of departure for Beethoven’s first trio, the E?-Major, op. 3. It’s not only the same key it shares with Mozart’s piece but the divertimento-like format of six movements with two menuettos, one of them with two trio sections. Four years separate this first of Beethoven’s string trios (1794) from the set of three op. 9 trios of 1798. The intervening Serenade, op. 8, of a year earlier, is also a six-movement, divertimento-styled work. But the contrasts between these two previous efforts and the op. 9 set are palpable.


The Sturm und Drang shock of the C-Minor work in the group is remarkable. Listen to the slashing chords in the first movement and the ferocious accents and off-the-beat rhythms in the second strain of the scherzo. This is music of a primal, visceral force, and there’s no precedent for it, not Boccherini, not Haydn, and not Mozart. It comes out of nowhere, and it’s hard to imagine the reaction of those who first heard it.


Yet it’s not just the C-Minor Trio, subversive as it is of the established norms of late 18th-century chamber music, that is so amazing. Take the run off the harmonic rails that occurs at the outset of the development section in the first movement of the G-Major Trio. We’ve ended the exposition, according to Hoyle, in D Major. Then, suddenly, without preparation, we find ourselves hovering somewhere between B?- and E?-Major. But that’s just a forewarning of the harmonic train wreck in the making. Each of the next 40 or so chromatic bars is like another car in a seemingly endless convoy careening off the tracks. It’s as if what it actually sounded like didn’t matter to Beethoven, and he wasn’t even deaf yet. The aim was not to write music that was pretty, but to deliberately jar and jolt.


Generally, it’s accepted that Beethoven’s string trios laid the groundwork for the op. 18 quartets that followed not long after. To the extent that the trios provided the composer with valuable experience in writing for strings, I would agree. But I don’t agree that we ought to dismiss the trios as little more than preparatory exercises for the quartets. Not only do the trios already exhibit Beethoven’s breakaway from the classical tradition of Haydn and Mozart, considering what he was able to accomplish with only three instruments, I think these trios are really quite extraordinary works.


The performances here by three members of the famed Kodály Quartet are excellent and very satisfying. In a direct A-B comparison with the Leopold Trio, I’d have to give a slight edge to the latter, especially in the C-Minor Trio, for the speed and hairpin accuracy of cross-rhythm accenting in the scherzo movement. But Attila Falvay, János Fejérvári, and György Éder play with real bite and, where appropriate, pratfall humor, as in the first movement of the D-Major Trio. I also prefer Naxos’s ever-so-slightly reverberant acoustic to the somewhat dry, airless sound Hyperion gives the Leopold ensemble. So, on balance, I’d say you can’t go wrong with this very fine release. Together with its companion volume containing the op. 3 and op. 8 trios, this earns a winning and strong recommendation.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins


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Beethoven's string trios stand among his earliest masterpieces, fully the equal of his early quartets. They are the greatest works in their medium after Mozart's great Divertimento K. 563, and they are boldly and excitingly performed here by three members of the Kodály Quartet. One of the best aspects of the playing is the fact that the music sounds like Beethoven--that is, gutsy and even a touch rough (try the opening Allegro con brio of the G major trio), but never coarse. You just know that this isn't a pale imitation of Mozart, but a vibrant new musical voice.

Then, in the cantabile adagio of the same work, or in the Adagio con espressione of the C minor trio, the players allow the music's lyricism to blossom. Thank God there's none of that ugly, "authentic" string timbre, with squeezed sustained notes and clipped phrasing. In short, if you're in the market for this repertoire, then you should seriously consider acquiring this disc. The engineering, it's worth adding, is very good too: warm, clear, and well balanced.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

BEETHOVEN String Quintets: op. 4; op. 29 • Leipzig Qrt; Barbara Buntrock (va) • MDG GOLD 1715 (67:35)


What magical performances these are! Certainly, far better than the recording of op. 29 by the Fine Arts Quartet with Gil Sharon on second viola (Naxos 8.57221), which for some reason is a preferred version of some other reviewer on ArkivMusic, but even finer than this same pairing by musicians from the Nash Ensemble on Hyperion 67693. Indeed, one would have to acquire the 10-CD set of the complete string music by the Endellion Quartet (Warner 517450) to find performances that could equal or better these.


As my colleague Jerry Dubins said in reviewing the Nash Ensemble CD in Fanfare 32:5, the edge comes from a quartet that has been together for years, knowing the style and finding effective ways of presenting the music. The Leipzig Quartet has been around since 1988, so the players are veterans at this, and it shows. Both quintets are played in a style I would call masterly but relaxed, very similar to one of my favorite but lesser-known chamber groups, the Lindsay Quartet. This shows not only in the early op. 4 quintet, which they manage to make sound playful and almost tongue-in-cheek (which some of it probably was), but also in op. 29, which they invest with a drive in the outer movements and an almost mysterious quality in the long Adagio. Irmlind Capelle, in the liner notes, says that the op. 29 quintet is all about “sound” and the tonal possibilities of a string quintet, “not concise themes and their elaboration.” But concise or not, the Leipzig Quartet makes something genuinely interesting, noble, even occasionally dramatic of this quintet. This is the first time I have ever heard it in a way that makes me feel that it does indeed belong somewhere near the quality of his middle string quartets. Bravo, Leipzig!


I should make some comment, I suppose, about violist Barbara Buntrock, but really, the highest compliment I can pay this young woman is to say that her playing fits right in with the Leipzig musicians. That is no small feat, to play with an established quartet and become a part of it; it requires great ears, good musical instincts, and lots of practice. I would also like to say that although I have had occasion to complain of MDG’s sometimes goopy sound quality in other releases, the Leipzig Quartet is recorded with a splendid acoustic, slightly resonant but not unduly so, which makes the string playing sound neat and crisp when it should be. A bravo to engineer Friedrich Wilhelm Rödding.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

One of the best-kept secrets of chamber music, Beethoven’s String Quintet in C major, Op. 29, was written between the well-known ‘early’ and ‘middle’ string quartets. This strangely neglected masterpiece of startling originality is coupled here with Beethoven’s own transcription for string quintet of his early Piano Trio in C minor and the Fugue in D major, a musical curiosity written as an inducement to his publisher to make fewer printing errors. The Fine Arts Quartet has made many highly acclaimed Naxos recordings.

With their expressive timbre and the technical excellence of the recording, the Auryn Quartet need not fear the competition, even though there is already a multitude of recordings in existence. Hartmut Leck, Klassik-heute There is no shortage of great and famous Beethoven Cycles, but there are no performances such as these. For me, this is now the set to beat. (Laurence Vittes)