Beethoven: The Symphonies [Box set]

I received my set in mid December as I subscribe to the Wiener Philharmoniker, and I was delighted when this Limited Edition set arrived. The presentation is sumptuous, with a beautifully embossed box containing an album full of colour photographs and detailed essays. The most interesting of these is on the formation of the orchestra in 1842-prior to this, incredibly, there was no professional trained orchestra giving orchestral concerts in Vienna, and the main reason for the Court Opera Orchestra commencing in its concert identity as the Philharmonic was to hear Beethoven well played in the concert hall. The first work in their opening concert was the Seventh Symphony-and the link and tradition has remained unbroken since then.
Therefore, it can be said that there is a good deal of authenticity in big band Beethoven from Vienna!
What we have in this set is the "antidote" to the recent superb set from Chailly, and it is even further removed from the interesting and enjoyable set from van Immerseel using a "period" set-up.
Thielemann does not adhere slavishly (or indeed at all!) to the metronome markings, and takes a full blooded Romantic approach to these works using a large orchestra-though not the 100 strong band of a Strauss Tone Poem. The orchestra in the earlier symphonies is smaller, but increases in number-especially strings-as the cycle progresses, This Beethoven has more in common with Schumann than Mozart and Haydn. Throughout the set, Thielemann employs rubato, shaping of phrases and changes of tempo in each movement to match the drama-these symphonies do not run on "auto-pilot". Unlike Rattle in his disappointing set, Thielemann does not try to get the VPO to play differently from their natural style. The strings play with vibrato, with glorious results, the brass are instantly recognisable and the only slight difference from usual is that the timps are played with small headed hammers, delivering more of a sharp "thwack" than the usual rather indistinct rumble typical from this orchestra, with excellent and appropriate results.
Though he is not afraid to take a daringly slow approach to a movement( by modern standards)-the first movement of the 7th is "very relaxed"- tempi are not at all sluggish, and he often whips up the orchestra into a fierce virtuosity.
The Pastoral is warm and relaxed , not at all breathless , the 5th and 3rd are monumentally superb, and the 9th is a superb climax with excellent soloists (unlike Chailly!) and the venerable Wiener Singverein providing a large and resonant chorus, singing totally idiomatically.
A lighter baritone rather than a full bass is adopted in the finale, providing a more lyrical but heroic touch. A word of caution-Thielemann elicits such a ppp response from his players at the first entry of the "Ode to Joy" that I thought the CD was faulty or my equipment had failed-"Do not adjust your set"".
Arguably, the interpretations most likely to cause raised eyebrows are of the 7th and 8th. I have already referred to the opening movement, but the rest of the symphony follows a similar pattern, with tempi not sluggish but not swift either, with the substitution of grandeur for pace especially noticeable in the finale. Similarly, the 8th is not the "perky" and amusing prelude to the 9th-this recording has weight and grandeur, elevating it to the same mood as the 7th.
These are the 2 performances the furthest removed from Chailly, and even from Karajan. They reminded me most of Schmidt-Isserstedt but with a touch more energy and drive.
So, in summary, Symphonies 1&2 are played with a lighter more classical touch, but without the "zing" of say Chailly though the finales of both go at a fair lick, 3,4,5,6 and 9 are simply superb and must surely delight all lovers of these works, and 7 and 8 are perhaps more of an acquired taste, that taste surely acquired if you enjoy Klemperer's approach to these works.
The recordings were made live, and though applause has been excised, there is a palpable audience presence, though not through coughing!
There is no background hiss, and the recordings are warm and very detailed, with balance and perspective beautifully handled. The conductor favours a strong string presence bolstered by woodwind, with brass subdued until needed to rise to prominence, their unison chorales in the 3rd making the hairs on the neck stand up.
In conclusion, this set will delight and enthuse all those who are not hung up on HIP dogma that Beethoven must be performed by an orchestra of 9 with the whole cycle being over in 86 minutes-by which facetiousness I mean the styles of Norrington and Goodman for example.
This is old fashioned music making- in the sense of Klemperer, Karajan and Furtwangler being considered old fashioned and not "authentic".
Each symphony unfolds wonderfully, with drama and beauty expertly juxtaposed, in a big, lush and grand sound world. Is Thielemann's conducting revelatory? Only in the sense that these works are as powerful and moving as ever in the hands of a great conductor at the peak of his form, and played by an orchestra with the music in their blood.
The uncorrected Peters Edition is used, eschewing the recent scholarly additions by Jonathan Del Mar, and there is a bonus DVD about the recording history etc which is quite interesting-once, I suspect!
For me, this IS the Beethoven set for the 21st Century-so far.
Unreservedly recommended to those who are happy to have their Beethoven played in the grand romantic style-to me, a complete joy. 10 Stars. Stewart Crowe.

It is clear to me that anyone who accuses Thielemann of being a dull in this Beethoven cycle has either not listened to the Allegro con brio of the first movement of the Second Symphony, or not listened properly, or has no ears to hear. To get the proper measure of this set, start there. It is one of the most joyous, released and sheerly infectious accounts I have ever heard, full of drive, impish wit and manic ecstasy. The orchestra is obviously having a high old time. As the DVD amply illustrates, they love playing for Thielemann and are clearly of the opinion that anyone who wants etiolated string-tone, vibrato-free whining and clipped phrasing can go and stick his head in a bucket. The fiddles of the Vienna Philharmonic slither around like a greased porker at a hog roast before easing into the ensuing Larghetto with the utmost suavity. It is equally apparent that the paying public seated in the splendidly named Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde knows what it wants to hear, too - and they got it in this series of the complete symphonies recorded in numerical sequence between December 2008 and April 2010.

I find it scandalously incomprehensible that the music critic of a major broadsheet should recently have complained that the clarity of these live recordings "only highlight[s] the swagger and occasional coarseness of the playing of the Vienna Philharmonic, confirming its status as the world's most overrated orchestra." He is clearly in thrall to an entirely different musical aesthetic from the conductor, the orchestra, the audience and all those who have greeted these performances so enthusiastically. We really are at a cultural crossroads if such a glorious interpretation may be derided with impunity by a major commentator.

Yet as the interviews in the accompanying DVD demonstrate, Thielemann is no recidivist dinosaur. He explains that he seeks to find an artistic direction which synthesises the virtues of the HIP movement with the Viennese tradition of interpreting Beethoven. He is thus, in a sense, an open-minded conservative. He rightly points out that by all accounts Beethoven wasn't a very good conductor, certainly never had at his disposal an orchestra like the VPO and was clearly unreliable when it came to those contentious metronome markings. It might well be that convicted HIPsters, on listening to these accounts, will conclude that Thielemann was only paying lip-service to the tenets of their creed but I am in no doubt regarding the sincerity of the conductor, his orchestra and his producers in their desire to honour Beethoven.

So we certainly hear something which is much more indebted to the legacy of Karajan, Cluytens and Klemperer than to Norrington, Goodman or Hogwood, but there is a vibrancy, energy and freedom to Thielemann's which convey a special joie de vivre. Again, the rehearsal clips on the DVD confirm what an acute ear he has for sonic nuance, tonal balance and subtle phrasing; he is especially good at bringing out the lower voices and his agogic finessing, while not as overt or audacious as the now vanished manner of Furtwängler, ensures an extraordinarily satisfying result.

Nor are these performances by any means abnormally slow or marmoreal. To take a random sample from the middle period symphonies, comparing Thielemann's speeds with those of previous recordings from the canon of the accepted greats, we find that Thielemann is only as slow as Kleiber in the Allegro of the Fifth, virtually identical to Maag and Cluytens in the Sixth (except Cluytens doesn't make the repeats in the first movement), takes the Presto in the Seventh faster than Kubelik, Maag, Casals and Kleiber and maintains tempi in the Eighth virtually identical to those of Maag and Cluytens. It is true that HIP conductors are generally faster but one might equally point to Toscanini for an example of thrilling, driven propulsiveness, whereas such as Mackerras sound merely hasty. And there are times when you can hear Thielemann giving almost undue emphasis to the downbeat in every bar, so very few of the generalised accusations hold up under scrutiny. One disgruntled reviewer elsewhere complains that Thielemann's beat in the first movement of the Eroica is excessively slow yet has failed to acknowledge that he actually makes the exposition repeat unlike the supposedly superior version with which he is making comparisons supposedly invidious to Thielemann. It is another, different and possibly valid argument to object that taking the repeat unnecessarily prolongs and mars the progression of the movement, but for the most part too many carpers are hearing what they want to hear instead of examining the facts.

For me, Thielemann's Beethoven sounds consistently fresh and exploratory infused with a genuine desire to rediscover the music as it is being played. This is a set ideally conceived to drive the wedge deeper between those who want the breathless, bright-eyed sparkiness of, say, Mackerras, and those who welcome what they regard as a return to sanity in the form of the great Romantic tradition of Beethoven interpretation. Thielemann plays to his clientele's tastes - not to mention his own and those of his orchestra.

As the second essay in the booklet explains, the VPO's credentials for claiming "authenticity" in their style of Beethoven playing could hardly be stronger, for all that the "authenticists" excoriate their vibrato and ripe sound. The orchestra was specifically formed to play Beethoven and has done so since its first performance of the Seventh on Easter Monday 1842. Thielemann takes the orchestra's famed sonority and builds on it.

These are performances all of a piece; Thielemann has imposed his conception upon the cycle as a whole and the emphasis upon weight and grandeur without excluding excitement. The Pastoral is typifies his approach: warm, lyrical and gently bucolic, redolent of a wise humanism closest to Cluytens rather than the bracing account Karajan delivers in his Moscow performance, yet the peasants' knees-up is sprightly and the storm powerful without ever becoming vulgar - and it builds to a terrific climax. The Fourth is as fine a reading as I have ever heard: the "cat-like tread" of its opening giving promise of a performance which ideally combines rigorous control with thrilling moments of release, especially in the finale. The Third and Fifth are monumental, although Thielemann pulls the tempo about daringly in the first movement of the "Eroica" and the finale of the "Fifth". The Seventh and Eighth are similarly grand in the Klemperer mode. Perhaps predictably, I found the Ninth the least satisfactory, mainly because of the strength of competition and the difficulty in finding modern soloists up to its vocal challenges. Having said that, it's really only the final movement that slightly disappoints: the soprano is the weak link, being rather wobbly and screaming her top B insecurely. Tenor Piotr Beczala has trouble finding the right pitch for his first entry on "Froh" and never sounds very comfortable but is adequate, as is the ever-restrained Fujimura. Georg Zeppenfeld is more baritone than bass but he has a firm, focused voice and declaims dramatically. The Singverein are lusty and committed, their penetration and intonation excellent. Otherwise, the other movements are titanic and I very much like the way Thielemann engineers a rallentando each time before the entry of the Ode, thereby generating real climactic punch.

The recording quality is superb, although the wide dynamic range and Thielemann's insistence upon real pianissimos that undoubtedly carried in the hall present challenges to the engineers and hi-fi equipment. There is very little audience noise - the occasional cough but nothing disturbing and in quality this recording can stand comparison with any. The brass and hard-edged timpani come across with amazing clarity and immediacy but as I remarked earlier, the listener is always aware of the bottom-line harmonies.

The packaging is de luxe: a handsome, off-white cloth-bound case and booklet, with white, purple and gold-stamped, embossed lettering, which has the unfortunate side-effect of making small-font information such as the catalogue number impossible to read. There are rather too many arty, hagiographic photographs of Thielemann reminiscent of the Karajan cult, and excellent essays on "Beethoven's Symphonies in an Age of Revolution" by author Tim Blanning and "Beethoven and the Formation of the Vienna Philharmonic" by Prof. Dr. Clemens Hellsberg, first violinist and president of the orchestra. The discs are contained in cardboard sleeves bound into the booklet. The voice-overs on the DVD documentary work well, except I wish someone had corrected the pronunciation of "timbre" so that it rhymes with "clamber" rather than perpetrating the solecism "tombre".

You probably already know by now whether you are susceptible to the more Olympian interpretative stance adopted here by Thielemann and could hardly complain if you bought them expecting something more lean and lithe of the kind attempted - rather disastrously in my view - by Rattle with the same, I suspect, unwilling, orchestra in 2002. Thielemann has been quoted as seeking "to restore to the Classical and Romantic repertory the sort of musical riches and unprecedented expressivity that we associate with a conductor like Wilhelm Furtwängler". In my judgement, he succeeds admirably without necessarily abandoning some of the lessons period practice has taught over the last generation; this is indeed "Beethoven for the Twenty-first Century".

I'll come right out and say straight away that I'm no expert on the symphonies of the great man, because nowadays I spend far more of my musical hours listening to renaissance and baroque music than to this new-fangled 19th-century stuff. But, as a young chap a few years back, I was brought up on Beethoven, mainly through recordings from such as Furtwängler, Klemperer, Karajan, and later also Carlos Kleiber and Harnoncourt for some of the individual symphonies. So I can't lay claim to the kind of knowledge about the vast range of available recordings enjoyed by some other reviewers, and least of all to any ability to draw comparisons with other recent sets; I simply judge this recording on its merits as I hear them.

That said, I think Thielemann's set is absolutely terrific. I like the conductor's approach to Beethoven, he has plenty to say about the music, and his individual touches and eccentricities - portamenti, rallentandi, dynamic variations and the like - always feel as if they arise naturally from the music itself, rather than being imposed upon it. Gentle, subtle and lyrical where appropriate, he and his players are just as good at conveying the furious energy of the great revolutionary, and there's certainly no way you would get bored listening to this set. The Wiener Philharmoniker are a wonderful orchestra and the sound they make is quite splendid, as is the recording quality. The ambience of these live recordings adds feeling and atmosphere to the proceedings, with ambient noise noticeable before and between movements - musicians shifting and preparing, instruments being positioned, a few chairs creaking, the evident presence of an extremely well-behaved Vienna audience - but with no disturbance or noticeable disadvantages whatever.

Taking the works one by one, I've been especially pleased with those symphonies which I have tended to hear less frequently over the years. The fleetness and agility of the quick movements of numbers 1 and 2 are beautifully captured, with a terrific coda to the last movement of the Second. Again, I particularly enjoyed the Fourth; I never paid it a great deal of attention before, but love its sunlit landscape in this performance. Moving on to (for me) more familiar territory, the Eroica is superb here - the first movement especially fine, with orchestral playing and sound quality both splendid, and a thrilling coda. In the Marcia funebre, the fugato passage at around 8 minutes is quite wonderful. The Fifth symphony is brilliant too, with many fine moments such as the first horn call in the opening movement, the brass wonderful in stating the main subject of the third movement, and likewise the lower strings in the Trio. Altogether this is a fabulous Fifth, one of monumental impetus and excitement.

In the Pastoral, I especially appreciated the lovely instrumental work from the woodwinds. The third movement is splendid, with a terrific peasants' dance, an exciting storm and a lovely transition as it subsides. Overall, I think this is a decent but perhaps unexceptional Sixth, with enough high points and eccentricities to hold the attention. The Seventh is superb; highlights for me are the coda of the first movement, and everything about the Allegretto - wonderful right from the start with full, rich chords from the lower strings and marvellous impetus throughout. The third movement is superbly athletic, with splendid flow and nothing to impede its light-footed energy. The Eighth I found a bit disappointing, somewhat lacking in brio and overall just about OK; but then it's not really one of my favourites.

The Ninth is a great success - inspiring, deeply considered, never at any point routine or pedestrian. The first movement is as exciting as can be, and altogether magnificent. The Adagio is terrific, especially as it nears the end. In the final movement, I love the wonderfully rhetorical opening statements from this orchestra, just as good as any I've ever heard. The soloists are respectable, and the choir of the Wiener Singverein are simply superb, especially from "Seid umschlungen". The Allegro passage from around 18 minutes goes with a tremendous swing, with great joyous calls of "Freude" towards the close. This is an all-embracing and deeply satisfying Ninth.

The accompanying "making of" DVD is a great asset to this set. It's a 44-minute documentary with interviews (with a choice of German or English voice-over), rehearsals and concert excerpts - the switches between the latter two especially entertaining when, for example, we see Thielemann rehearsing his orchestra in a rugby shirt, then cut to the same passage with him conducting the concert in the regulation penguin outfit, and back again. Thielemann has plenty of interest to say in the interview sections, for example about his kind of synthesis between Romantic and HIP approaches with, of course, his own ideas added to the mix; and about the reasons for his scepticism over Ludwig's metronome markings.

Best of all in this DVD, I thought, were the rehearsal scenes - especially impressive for me are the conductor's terrific rapport with the orchestra and his attention to the minutest details. We see the players react as one to a Thielemann look, a raised eyebrow, a change of expression or a slight movement of the hand or finger; and you get the feeling that they can, and will, do just about anything for him. Has this obvious mastery of his orchestra been achieved, as with certain notorious tyrants of musical history, by ruthless means of intimidation, humiliation and deprivation which, of course, we're not allowed to see? Or is it a result of the genuine admiration, commitment and devotion of his musicians? Well, he seems like a nice enough bloke, and the players who are interviewed have only good things to say about their conductor; so, unless the video producers have perpetrated an outrageously cunning deception upon us, I'm guessing it's very much the latter rather than the former explanation. But altogether it's gripping and impressive stuff, especially revealing in demonstrating the calm, reflective sincerity of Thielemann's approach to his own task and to the master's music.

In addition to the fascinating insights of the DVD, then, the distinctive assets of this Beethoven set for me are the quality and ambience of the live recordings, the superb sound and playing of the Wiener Philharmoniker, the compact and attractive presentation of the CDs, and above all Christian Thielemann's wholly convincing vision of the master's symphonies.