My office today is the D&W Foods store and cafeteria.
I had wanted to go see the movie Blaze. But thanks to construction at the mall, there are no places to park even close to the movie theater.
So I aborted and drove here to listen to American conductor David Zinman (1936- ), Tonhalle Orchster Zurich, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B flat Major.
Oh, and I ordered a Starbucks Grande Blonde Roast (“That’s gonna be a pour over. Will that be okay?”), and a blueberry scone.
So here I sit. The temperature outside is 46 degrees and it’s been raining all day. The perfect day to stay inside.
But will it be the perfect day to listen to this performance?
I’ve encountered Maestro Zinman three times before, on day…
Day 18. Rating: “Meh!”
Day 36. Rating: Almost “Huzzah!”
Day 54. Rating: “Huzzah!”
What will this cold, rainy day bring?
I’ll soon find out.
From the liner notes (written by Martina Hochreiter, translated by Anne Heritage),
Symphony No. 4 in B flat major appears simple, even the size of the orchestra is kept to a minimum. And the beginning of the slow introduction presents the most limited musical material imaginable: just the tone B-flat played in unison.
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 (Zinman, at age 62) and this particular orchestra (Tonhalle Orchster Zurich), at this particular time in history (May, 1998) on this particular record label (Arte Nova Classics – no web site or Wiki entry available) is as follows:
I. Adagio – Allegro vivace………………………………………………………………..9:59
II. Adagio………………………………………………………………………………………..8:14
III. Allegro molto e vivace – Trio. Un poco meno allegro………………..5:20
IV. Allegro ma non troppo………………………………………………………………..6:27
Total running time: 29:20
My Rating:
Recording quality: 5 (sounds flawless, if a bit dry; could be the all-digital recording, and some of the ambient sounds are jarring)
Overall musicianship: 5 (energetic, if a bit quick of tempo)
CD liner notes: 3 (a booklet in each CD jewel case; however, the information is a hodgepodge that lacks even running times for each track, as well as total running time for each symphony)
How does this make me feel: 3
Once again, I’m not sure what to make of Maestro Zinman’s performance.
It certainly is brisk.
Clocking in at a little over 29 minutes, this is one of the shortest performances of Beethoven’s Second I’ve yet heard.
And therein may lie its problem.
Movement I – when it kicks in and gets really energetic – needs a little room to breathe, to develop, especially around the 5:53 to 6:05 mark. There’s something that feels too rushed about that passage, as well as much of the rest of the first movement.
There’s no doubting the performance is energetic. It’s practically breakneck. But it doesn’t feel right. It just feels hurried.
I think I listened to this performance 4-5 times. I’m not kidding. I let it play as I wrote this blog as well as posted in other places.
Not even the pizzicato of Movement II could put a smile on my face. That’s because the strings weren’t recorded prominently enough. The fun plucky sound wasn’t featured clearly enough.
This isn’t a horrible performance. But it’s not “Huzzah!” either.
Two performances ago (Day 36), I turned the not “Meh!” but not “Huzzah!” into “Almost Huzzah!”
This time, I have to turn it into “Meh!”
This performance was too quick. It lacked depth and dynamic passion.
NOTE: Tomorrow starts a new symphony (yay!), Beethoven’s famous Fifth. Can’t wait!