|
Bernard Haitink's Beethoven cycle at the Barbican earlier this year needs no introduction, and for those who missed it, this startlingly mastered CD recording captures Haitink's performances of the First and Fifth Symphonies in intoxicating clarity.
The Fifth is put first, for no obvious reason, and it does start clumsily. Any conductor finds it hard to breathe new insight into the first movement, yet Haitink bizarrely dashes into the drama so fast that the listener is left stranded.
His approach is not so much driven as overly fast, and much of the opening few minutes is insensitive and bitty. The orchestra seems similarly unprepared, and in the so-called Fate motif, the low strings often hang around the edges of the pitch. Meanwhile the violins struggle in the following imitative passages.
Only as the movement progresses does Haitink find a more organic rhythm and draw from the London Symphony Orchestra an enveloping sound. Heftiness is apparent in every instrumental section, with the woodwind given such thrust that their consistency of pitching is a minor miracle.
It is during the Andante that the performance leaps into a higher gear. Haitink's sense of the movement's structure is uncanny and every turn of the score gains an inevitability while never losing an imperative sense of awed reverence. The beefy approach to Forte passages provide moments of dramatic release, while the lyrical strings and woodwind are endlessly refined.
The fugal passage in the Allegro is taken at a velocious pace while the gradual crescendo into the fourth movement is breathtakingly sustained. Haitink's interpretation of the final Allegro gains no points for subtlety, and the CD engineers appear to have turned up the volume to eleven. It also sounds stunning, with the furiously bowing strings, declaiming horns and a timpanist who wishes that he were soloist.
After such an intense rendition, the approach taken with the First Symphony would be bathetic were it not for the once again magical orchestral playing. Charles Mackerras in Edinburgh showed just how intense this early symphony can be, yet Haitink's approach is understated; never underpowered. The opening woodwind and pizzicato strings are brushed off with an exquisite delicacy. Romantic flourishes are framed within a structure of Classical formality.
Haitink makes sure to emphasise each melodic line, and consequently the symphony emerges as one of Beethoven's most lovely. Comedy is equally important, and the cross-rhythms and cheekily questioning violin fragments are prominent. The vivacious dance rhythms of movements three and four are so successfully communicated that the work seems a precursor of the great Seventh.
While neither is an essential performance, this CD captures two great pieces of Beethoven played with understanding and commitment. The exceptional sound quality only provides further confirmation that the LSO Live releases will outlast most others being made today.
 | 
