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The last CD release of Bernard Haitink's Beethoven cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra is finally here, and it is the highlight of the series.
Both the Fourth and Eighth symphonies have been dismissed by previous generations as little, insignificant and inadequate.
Admittedly, quite the opposite is true nowadays, but even Lindsay Kemp's programme notes claim that, to appreciate the Eighth, one must remember to "listen to it for what it is instead of what it is not".
Luckily, with Haitink's perfectly judged conducting and the effervescent playing of the LSO, both works sound as vital and profound as anything else in the Beethoven canon. Coming first, the Fourth springs startlingly to life as in few other recordings. The sombre, deathly chords of the opening float mysteriously, seeming more like something out of Don Giovanni than ever, and Haitink's grasp of structure renders the crescendo to the forte explosion impossible to resist.
Throughout the symphony, the snappy yet magisterial approach to crescendi and the exploding landmine-approach to their culminations refute the idea that this is a 'little work'. Indeed, it finally seems an understandable bridge between the towering pillars of the Third and the Fifth. The Adagio is excellently judged, while the third movement Allegro is all the more exciting for being taken at such a barnstorming pace. String articulation in the fourth movement also impresses, and the scrubbing motifs are bowed with supreme confidence and technical flair.
Haitink's command of structure is immense, and his ideas about instrumental balance create vast sonic landscapes. And the second half of the CD comprises a performance of the Eighth symphony that is among the best versions on the market. I may be in a minority to consider the symphony among Beethoven's greatest compositions, but few could doubt its worth after hearing such a viscerally moving performance, and one so brimming with interpretative ideas.
The soaring violins of the symphony's opening could easily have fallen out of a Tchaikovsky ballet, while the lyricism of the entire first movement is only occasionally broken by climaxes of the most vivid colour. The famously metronomic Allegretto is fabulously crisp and rhythmic, while the Menuetto contains fantastically secure brass playing in its central section. One need only listen to the performance from Charles Mackerras and the Liverpool Philharmonic to see how tepid this section can become if the horns are sloppy.
The final Allegro is exquisitely poised between weighty declamation and comic-strip comedy (listen to that popping woodwind) and its grandiose finale is the perfect conclusion to a perfect performance. The LSO are on scintillating form. Woodwind intonation is superb throughout, while the brass find a naturalistic and bright ring without overemphasising their case. And all is made devastatingly clear in a typically vivid CD production by James Mallinson.
One reservation - whoever chose the CD cover should consider a change of career – but musically, this is an outstanding release that should be bought without hesitation.
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