This morning, sitting on the porch sans flowers (they’ve been ripped out and the pots made ready for winter storage), I listen to Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink (1929- ), the London Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor.
October is my favorite month. It’s the most colorful (at least, here in Michigan), the crispest weather-wise, and the one with the most delicious food – apples! We make apple pie, apple crisp, apple dumplings, apple sauce, caramel apples…often from apples we picked ourselves only a few days before.
Plus, I read Ray Bradbury’s classic book Something Wicked This Way Comes every day leading up to Halloween.
But I digress.
This morning, it’s Haitink – not Bradbury – occupying my time.
I’ve encountered Maestro Haitink four times previously, on…
Day 8. Rating:”Meh!”
Day 26. Rating:”Huzzah!”
Day 44. Rating:”Huzzah!”
Day 62. Rating: “Meh!”
The results have been mixed.
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 (Haitink, at age 77) and this particular orchestra (London Symphony Orchestra), at this particular time in history (April 24-25, 2006) on this particular record label (LSO Live) is as follows:
I. Allegro con brio (C minor)………………………………………………………7:35
II. Andante con moto (A♭ major)…………………………………………..8:36
III. Scherzo: Allegro (C minor)……………………………………………………4:53
IV. Allegro (C major)………………………………………………………………..10:18
Total running time: 30:42
My Rating:
Recording quality: 4 (SACD 5.1 multi-channel recording, rich, lush…but lacking excitement)
Overall musicianship: 3 (a noticeably hurried performance)
CD liner notes: 5 (big booklet with lots of pertinent information and essays)
How does this make me feel: 3 (hated it – “Meh!”)
This is the quickest rendition of Symphony No. 5 in C minor I’ve heard to date.
Seriously. It is. The most lengthy is Blomstedt’s at 36:31. The shortest is the one from Cluytens at 32:07. Given that, this performance from Maestro Haintink is six minutes faster than the longest and two minutes faster than the shortest.
Because of that, all the life has been sucked out of Beethoven’s Fifth.
I’m not sure if the entire orchestra was hopped up on caffeine, or if Haitink was dared to see how fast he could race through what is arguably the most well known symphony of all time.
Either way, this performance is at a breakneck tempo that leaves all grandeur and power in the dust.
I don’t even know what else to say about this. It’s just way too fast. No movement was allowed to accentuate the symphony, or even breath on its own.
I listened to this 4-5 times through and it got more irritating every time.
“Meh!” and…
Next!