Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

 

 

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4 in B
flat major Op. 60

Orfeo C 100 841 B

Symphony No. 4 in B flat major Op. 60

1. Adagio - Allegro vivace
2. Adagio
3. Menuetto.  Allegro vivace
4. Allegro ma non troppo
5. Applaus

  

 

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 in F
flat major Op. 68
"Pastoral"

Orfeo C 600 031 B

Symphony No. 6 in F flat major Op. 68
"Pastoral"

1 . Allegro ma non troppo
2. Andante molto mosso
3. Allegro
4. Allegro
5. Allegretto

 

 


by Constantine Soo

 

September 28, 2004

 

 

 

 

Carlos  Kleiber  (1930 - 2004) fans don’t need my opinion to buy any of his
releases;  and  non-fans  won’t  buy  it  just because I insist.  So, here I go
anyway:  Beethoven’s  middle  symphonies  hold  a special place in Carlos
Kleiber’s heart.   

For  decades, his  DG Viennese  sessions of No. 5 and 7 have been his only
authorized  Beethoven  Symphonies  in  circulation  on this planet.  “Only
when his freezer was empty did he deign to pick up the baton,”  Herbert
von Karajan once opined.   With a faster tempo in certain movements, his
reading of them  are  nonetheless  substantially more focused in continuity
than  any  other  of  his  colleagues, including  von  Karajan‘s.   In terms of
releasing  the  spark  of  spontaneity  from  the  symphonies he graced, no
conductor  in  his  days  could  rival  him.  Yet, in the end,  Kleiber  never
chose  to  share  his  inner  soul  on  the  great  Eroica  or the monumental
Choral with us.  

His  rare  ongoing  concert  engagement with the Bavarian Opera between
1978  and  1983  spawned  a   Munich  May/1983  live  concert   release  of
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4,  which again, dwarfs von Karajan’s versions
in   its  appropriately  energetic  pacing  in  portrayal  of  the  composer’s
outlook on love and passion.   In  the  ensuing  decades, this Orfeo release
gradually  disappeared  from  the  catalog  and  became  one  of  the most
sought after Kleiber discs among collectors and connoisseurs alike.

Classical  fans  worldwide  remember  the  event with fondness, and envy
those who bought the limited and overpriced  1984 Orfeo  disc.  I was but
an ignorant teenage playboy  in  those  years who didn‘t know better, and
bought the disc under intensely good-natured pressure from a friend,  who
was  the  manager  of  a  neglected, small,  back-of-the-store  classical CD
section in a sizable record store.  

Now,  Kleiber  is  dead, officially  lowering  the world  curtain  on the last
generation of towering conductors we have had the good fortune of living
among us.  But months before his death on July 12, 2004  at the age of 74,
Bavarian  State  Orchestra, by  way  of the Orfeo label again, reissued the
pristine-sounding Fourth in another limited circulation (Orfeo C100 841 B),
followed  by  another  live  recording  that  Kleiber  shared  with  them  6
months after the Fourth, on November 7, 1983: the quintessential Pastoral
(Orfeo C600 031B)!  

With the  Pastoral, we  are now blessed with four of Beethoven’s central
Symphonies conducted by Carlos Kleiber, with the  No. 4 and  6 on Orfeo,
and No. 5 and 7 on Deutsche Grammophon.

Is this what  Beethoven had envisioned when he committed Pastoral onto
paper?  It must be.  While  the  CD  booklet  tells  us  Kleiber  is  the  first
conductor  to  fully  observe  the  First  Movemen’ts original, faster pacing
intent,  the  fact  that  he  also  succeeded  in  thoroughly  conveying  and
preserving  the  work’s  inner  orchestral  colors  at  such  brisk pace is an
absolute  wonder.    Above  all,  we  are  told  that    “Carlos  Kleiber  has
conducted  the  work  only  once  in  his  career,  performing  it  with the
Bavarian State Orchestra on 7 November 1983.”  

There is not a single moment of indiscretion in BSO’s playing,  nor is there
a  fleeing  moment  of  negligence  in  Kleiber’s  reading,  rendering  each
phrasing  vital and irrepressible  in its force to  convey  messages of sorts,
conjuring up the most surreal Pastoral in existence.

For  example,  the First Movement,  “Awakening of Cheerful Feelings on
Arriving in the Country”, sounds decidedly merrier in Kleiber’s hands and
– more direct.   Bruno  Walter  and  Vladimir  Ashkenazy, to  name  a  few
other world-class  conductors having attempted the score,  had  not given
carelessness  and  mindlessness  a  moment’s  chance  to  surface  in  their
readings,   and   though   as   fine   and   universally   acclaimed   as  their
interpretations are, theirs are not as involving as Kleiber’s.

Next, the  “Andante molto mosso” 2nd Movement, “Scene by the Brook”,
is   not   deprived  of  liveliness   in  its  depiction  of  a  lazy  afternoon’s
gathering  by  the  brook, contrasting  all  other  readings that sound much
mundane  and  spiritless.   This  is   where  you  realize  that  Kleiber  was
perhaps   the   first   conductor   capable   of  reconstructing  Beethoven’s
thoughts in the  most  faithful  state, and he really did not conduct  per se
insomuch as he simply “fine-tuned”  the Bavaria State Orchestra to do the
job  as  Beethoven  envisioned.  What  an empowering experience it must
have been for the musicians.

Many  consider  the  Six’s most appealing passages to be the uninterrupted
3rd,  4th  and 5th Movements,  namely, “Merry Gathering of the Country
Folk”,   “Thunderstorm”,   and      “Shepherd‘s Song -- Happy, Thankful
Feelings after the Storm.’  Undoubtedly the high points of the score, the
music summons the most  refined  sensitivity  from  the players and draws
from their  virtuosic  excellence  simultaneously,  luring  the audience into
the Beethovenian landscape.  

With the playing of this Pastoral so  unprecedentedly  communicative  and
definitive,  one  wonders  how  much  farther the BSO could have gone in
the  world  scene  had  it  been  able  to  secure a Kleiber directorship for
another  decade or so.   I believe that everyone is equal everywhere.   In
the ways of the classical music,  ethnicity  then  speaks  volume  of how a
music  will  sound.    Just  as  it  generally  takes  Russians  to  recreate  an
authentic Tchaikovsky sound, it sometimes takes a German to reveal to us
the world of Beethoven.

At the conclusion of the last note, only a handful of applause were initially
produced by the audience, and  even  that  was not fast enough.  Then, it
halted  in  hesitance,  as if the early clappers realized the majority of the
audience  would  blame  them  for  an  inevitable bidding of farewell.  An
uproar ensued sure enough,  permeated  by elated shouts and words in the
native tongue.

According  to  Stewart  Spencer’s  translation of Lillian Kleiber’s text from
the CD’s booklet,  “Even though the  Pastoral  must have been intimately
familiar  to  the  majority  of  the audience, applause was slow in coming:
this excursion  into  the  country  had  been so beautiful and so enthralling
that   listeners  simply  refused   to  believe  that   it  was  over.   A   few
concertgoers  began  hesitantly  to  applaud,  but the rest of the audience
continued to sit there as though under a spell.   Only  when  Carlos Kleiber
brought  the  orchestra  to  their  feet  a  few  moments later did jubilant
applause  break  loose.  All  wh o were  there on that occasion will concur
with  Hans Gohl  when  he  wrote  in the  Munchner Merkur that it was ‘an
evening of the greatest musical fulfillment’.


 On Sound

Although  I consider myself extremely lucky in being able to play  Kleiber’s
Beethoven Fourth  through  all  these years, I wasn’t lucky enough like the
audience and BSO to have breathed the same air with Kleiber.  

More  unfortunate  is  the  fact  that  BSO  weren’t  able  to  preserve the
Pastoral  master  tape  as  properly  as  it did with the Fourth, and had to
resort to  an  audio  cassette  recording  of the same event to provide for
this release.   Audiophiles  with  Genesis I.I  will  immediately protest the
dynamically  compressed  and  tonally  dull  Pastoral; but  Kleiber fans and
Beethoven enthusiasts will happily  look  beyond  the sonic deficiency and
derive tremendous joy from it.

Also, one  would  think  that  any  orchestra  would  give  a  Carlos Kleiber
master tape the best care for it’s own sake,  if  not  also  for  the  sake of
posterity.   Adding  to  my  agony  is  a copy controlled scheme embedded
into the  Pastoral,  which  not  only  is potentially disruptive in sound, but
also  negates  playback  in  a  PC.  Talk  about  putting  a final nail into the
coffin.

The  reissued   Kleiber  Beethoven  Fourth,  then,   provides   a  dramatic
contrast  in  its  clearer   and more  dynamic  sound to the original release
(Orfeo C100 841 A)  from twenty-one years ago.  Though expensive in any
period’s standard, the  twenty-some  minute  long  symphony  is not to be
missed again this time around.

In  a  day  when  even the revered DG would couple Beethoven’s massive
Fifth  and the comparable  Seventh  by Kleiber into one single disc, Orfeo
can  use  every  competitive  edge   it   can  muster  to  stay  in  business.
Throwing the  sub optimal  sounding  Pastoral  into the marketplace is not
exactly a sound marketing move.

 

 

 

 

Review System:

47 Laboratory 4704 PiTracer CD transport with two Power Humpties
Audio Note DAC 5 Special (upgraded)
Harmonix Reimyo CAT-777 preamplifier
Linn Klimax Twin stereo power amplifier
Audio Note AN-E SEC Silver loudspeaker


Via Audio Note Sogon digital cable, Sogon interconnects, AN-Vx
interconnects, Sogon speaker cable, Harmonix Reimyo Studio
Master AC cords.

 

 

 

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