My office this afternoon is on the balcony overlooking the lake.
It’s a lovely fall day: sunny skies, winds at 9 miles per hour from the north, and a temperature of 61 degrees Fahrenheit.
I’d be a fool if I did not carpe diem.
Since my Momma didn’t raise no fools, here I am – both carpe-ing and diem-ing…
…and listening to Swiss-American conductor Herbert Blomstedt (1927- ), Staatskapelle Dresden, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor.
The only way I could be considered a fool is if one considers watching the horror movie The Conjuring early this morning when I couldn’t sleep foolish.
My wife would consider that quite foolish, indeed. She hates horror movies.
Be that as it may, I encountered Maestro Blomstedt four times before in my Beethoven project, on…
Day 4. Rating: Almost “Huzzah!”
Day 22. Rating: “Meh!”
Day 40. Rating: Not “Meh!” but it’s not “Huzzah!”
Day 58. Rating: Almost “Huzzah!”
On the first day (Day 4) of listening to Blomstedt, I wrote this:
A couple of years ago (April 15, 2014 – July 9, 2014, to be exact), I listened to everything Beethoven composed as part of a (failed) three-year exploration of great works that I called 1095 Days With The Masters And Me. (You can read about why my three-year project failed on the My Year-Long Project page.)
Then, the box set was the Beethoven Complete Edition, the conductor for the symphonies was Herbert Blomstedt (1927- ), and the label was Brilliant Classics, what I consider to be one of the best Classical music labels in the world.
So what will I think of Maestro Blomstedt today?
Let’s 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. 5 in C minor), from this particular conductor (Blomstedt, at age 50) and this particular orchestra (Staatskapelle Dresden), at this particular time in history (1977) on this particular record label (Brilliant Classics) is as follows:
I. Allegro con brio (C minor)………………………………………………………8:05
II. Andante con moto (A♭ major)……………………………………………11:21
III. Scherzo: Allegro (C minor)……………………………………………………8:53
IV. Allegro (C major)………………………………………………………………..8:52
Total running time: 36:31
My Rating:
Recording quality: 5 (crystal clear; Brilliant Classics does exceptional work finding the best recordings)
Overall musicianship: 5
CD liner notes: 0 (no liner notes in this budget-priced box set – boo! hiss! – but an extensive set of notes can be downloaded from the Brilliant Classics site covering their complete Beethoven box set; however, although extensive, the notes are not exhaustive; no information at all is provided about the conductors, the players, the orchestras, etc.)
How does this make me feel: 5 (instant “Huzzah!”)
This is what I’m talkin’ about!!!
This performance is why I was so enamored with Brilliant Classics and Herbert Blomstedt a couple of years ago.
The Scherzo to this symphony, alone, is worth the price of admission. It’s exquisite. Perfectly realized, The compelling, almost magical, melody in Blomstedt’s performance is the second longest of the four movements, giving the Scherzo the weight I believe it deserves.
The clarity of this recording is remarkable.
The first movement is so perfectly paced, and so well recorded, that it’s a joy to behold. Each instrument sings out in what sounds like either a cavernous venue or else a tasteful amount of reverb on the recording.
I wholeheartedly recommend this performance. To my ears, it is the gold standard, the best I’ve yet heard – and possibly the best I will hear for the next 14 days.
“Huzzah!”
“Huzzah!”