My office this morning is my office this morning.
Mea Culpa: I jumped the gun yesterday by listening to Leonard Bernstein rather than Daniel Barenboim.
However, instead of posting Bernstein as if I’d written it today, I kept my mistake intact and so today I’m listening to Argentina-born conductor Daniel Barenboim (1942- ), Staatskapelle Berlin, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor.
If I had skipped Barenboim until the “S” letter of the alphabet (George Szell, for example), and then inserted Barenboim, that would be noticeable.
But who’s going to notice if Barenboim follows Bernstein this one time?
No one.
So on we go!
I first encountered Maestro Barenboim on…
Day 2. Rating: Not “Meh!” but not “Huzzah!”
Day 20. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 38. Rating: Not “Meh!” but not “Huzzah!”
Day 56. Rating: Not “Meh!” but not “Huzzah!”
What will today bring?
From the wonderful booklet’s liner notes about each symphony (written by Andreas Richter, translated by Stewart Spencer) from the CD box set,
What is it that makes the Fifth Symphony so different and yet so popular? The three-quaver motif that launches the work and functions as a motto theme has already been mentioned. Other writers have admre the unity of the material and the symphony’s formal structure. Another innovative feature is the use of the trombones – hitherto they had appeared only in the opera house and in church music, but here they make their debut in the concert hall. Also worth singling out is the oboe solo in the first movement’s recapitulation which, like a solitary human voice, bits the restless action cease for a moment.
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 5 in C minor), from this particular conductor (Barenboim, at age 57) and this particular orchestra (Staatskapelle Berlin), at this particular time in history (May – July 1999) on this particular record label (Warner Classics) is as follows:
I. Allegro con brio (C minor)………………………………………………………7:58
II. Andante con moto (A♭ major)……………………………………………11:11
III. Scherzo: Allegro (C minor)……………………………………………………5:41
IV. Allegro (C major)…………………………………………………………………11:07
Total running time: 35:17
My Rating:
Recording quality: 5 (crisp, clean, dynamic: I’ve always found that Warner Classics releases very fine recordings)
Overall musicianship: 5
CD liner notes: 5 (a nice, meaty booklet; lots of info in several languages)
How does this make me feel: 5 (“Huzzah!”)
This is a wonderful recording of a very fine performance. The instruments ring out, all expertly recorded, and with great passion to boot.
Every movement of the four is beautiful, especially the first and the third. I love the melody of the Scherzo.
This is a performance I’d share with others to say, “See? This is how Beethoven’s Fifth sounds in the hands of experts.”
Highly recommended.
“Huzzah!”