Beethoven: Symphony nr. 2 - CPE Bach: Sinfonia

Following upon the audition of Giovanni Antonini's take on Beethoven's Seventh, I was intrigued to find him back in similar repertoire in the Berliner Philharmoniker's Digital Concert Hall. An interesting programme featuring an orchestral suite by Bach, a sinfonia by CPE Bach and Beethoven 2. I didn't listen to the Bach suite, but took the sinfonia as a delightfully vivid aperitif. There's a waywardness in the piece that is quite attractive. This composer merits more of my attention. Antonini's approach to the Beethoven is fully in line with the reading captured by the Klara live recording: clearly etched, dynamic, hard driven. As with the CD, I listened with considerable pleasure. And it is great to see a slimmed down Berliner digging so impassionately into the music. It's really a living, pulsating organism, not a bureaucracy that is making music there. In one way or another they are always able to create a genuine sense of occasion. On the other hand, I wonder to what extent we can really talk of an 'interpretation' here given that Antonini had at the most a single rehearsal to work with the orchestra through the symphony (I learned that from the accompanying interview). Reminds me about Berganza's remark on the quality of the music making being better 40 years ago when orchestras and singers still had several weeks to prepare an opera production. Eventually you end up with quite extraordinary situations such as the one documented on a video here where Maria Joao Pires discovers during a live concert at the Concertgebouw that she has prepared the wrong Mozart concerto. Clearly, rehearsal was not deemed necessary at all!

Anyway I certainly enjoyed this Beethoven Second. As with the Seventh I sometimes wondered whether it is really necessary to drive the orchestra to the point of near-paroxysm. There are a few shots where you can witness the amazing dexterity of the double bass players working themselves at breakneck speed through the score. Inevitably, the sound thickens and becomes less 'beautiful'. Antonini tells in the interview this is quite justified. Beauty of sound does not have to respected at all times, he thinks (referring to Karajan as someone who upheld the opposite paradigm). Sometimes the orchestra is allowed to sound ugly, as long as the unpleasantness serves the spirit of the music. Hmmm, maybe.

This week I was driving (rather lurching) with the car towards Brussels and exceptionally I had the radio on. There was the opening movement of Beethoven's Fourth. It was amazing. The orchestra sounded like a period band. What was remarkable was the beautiful ebb and flow that breathed through the music. And the effortless suppleness with which the lines where shaped. I was surprised (and yet I wasn't!) to hear about the performers: Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Now that seemed like great Beethoven ...