This morning, I find myself listening to German conductor Gunter Wand (1912-2002) and the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B flat Major.
I first encountered Maestro Wand in my Beethoven project on…
Day 17. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 35. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 53. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Three “Huzzah!” ratings in a row. So far, Maestro Wand is batting .1000 with me.
What will today bring?
I’ll soon find out.
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 4 in B flat Major), from this particular conductor (Wand, at age 76) and this particular orchestra (North German Radio Symphony Orchestra), at this particular time in history (October 10-15, 1998) on this particular record label (RCA Victor Red Seal, now owned by Sony) is as follows:
I. Adagio – Allegro vivace……………………………………………………………….12:04
II. Adagio………………………………………………………………………………………..9:47
III. Allegro molto e vivace – Trio. Un poco meno allegro………………..5:54
IV. Allegro ma non troppo………………………………………………………………..6:55
Total running time: 33:60
My Rating:
Recording quality: 4 (a bit of top end missing, but hardly any tape hiss or ambient sounds)
Overall musicianship: 5
CD liner notes: 4 (a booklet in each CD jewel case; the essays on Symphonies 2 and 4 are brief but informative. In addition, the bulk of the text is in German, although the essays are also translated into English and French )
How does this make me feel: 4
Hmmm.
I listened to Maestro Wand’s performance twice through.
Nothing really jumped out at me.
I could hear that it lacks top end, which is bothersome because I love a crisp, treble-heavy recording.
I could hear the musicians playing their asses off.
I could hear the same symphony to which I’ve listened the previous 17 days.
But, in this performance, I wasn’t hearing magic. It just didn’t sound inspired to me.
I have to rate this “Meh!”
And so breaks a perfect string of “Huzzah!”- worthy performances.
I hate it when that happens.