Today is Thanksgiving Day in America.
On this day, we often make a big meal – usually consisting of turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy and pies of all kinds – and we eat this feast with family and/or friends.
Ostensibly, we take time today to give thanks for whomever or whatever we feel thankful. Often, it’s thanks to God. It could be thanks in general for our many blessings.
However it’s celebrated, it’s a holiday, nonetheless. An actual holiday. With stores closed and the streets nearly deserted and all that.
And yet here I am, typing away while listening to German conductor Gunter Wand (1912-2002), the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major.
Of course, it’s after The Big Meal.
And the inevitable nap.
Because – as the story goes – turkey is famous for its sleep-inducing tryptophan:
Your body uses tryptophan and turns it into a B vitamin called niacin. Niacin plays a key role in creating serotonin, a neurotransmitter that’s associated with sleep and melatonin levels (a hormone that controls your sleep-wake cycles). And that’s where the whole “turkey makes you tired” connection comes in.
But modern science tells us it’s not really the turkey or its tryptophan that makes us sleepy. It’s the amount of food consumed, which – on Thanksgiving Day – is easy to do.
Whatever the cause of my post-feast tiredness, I napped.
And it’s now nearly 5pm and I’m at my office.
I’ve encountered Maestro Wand six times previous to today, on…
Day 17. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 35. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 53. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 71. Rating: “Meh!”
Day 89. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 107. Rating: “Meh!”
Four “Huzzah!” and two “Meh!” ratings is not a bad record. I’ve listened to worse.
So, I’m eager to see what today brings – if for no other reason than I’d love to be woken back up to full alertness. (Damn that tryptophan!)
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 7 in A major), from this particular conductor (Wand, at age 74) and this particular orchestra (North German Radio Symphony Orchestra), at this particular time in history (October & November, 1986) on this particular record label (RCA Victor Red Seal, now owned by Sony) is as follows:
I. Poco sostenuto – Vivace……………………………..15:13
II. Allegretto………………………………………………………7:47
III. Presto – Assai meno presto (trio)……………….10:08
IV. Allegro con brio…………………………………………..8:48
Total running time: 41:16
My Rating:
Recording quality: 3 (a bit of top end missing, sounds flat to me, but – on the bright side – hardly any tape hiss or ambient noises)
Overall musicianship: 4 (adequate; nothing stellar)
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: 3 (“Meh!”)
I was hoping for a lot more than this, to be honest.
This is a nice performance, but not a great one.
Which brings up a question I’ve been asked: Why are there only two review choices: “Meh!”? or “Huzzah!”?
In the first few weeks of my Beethoven project, I tried reviews like: Not “Meh!” But Not “Huzzah!”
But then I realized an important element in all of this: Life is short. What’s the point of listening to a good performance when you can hear a truly great one?
If a performance really excites me – grips me from the start and doesn’t let go, makes me feel as though I’m part of something really special, truly magical, then I’ll give it a “Huzzah!” rating. If not, I won’t. It’s that simple.
So I chose to go with either “Meh!” or “Huzzah!”
When this project is over, I’ll compile the results and listen repeatedly to the box sets and/or individual performances that were rated “Huzzah!”
Given that rationale, this performance by Maestro Wand rates “Meh!”
I wasn’t moved by any of the movements. Not even my beloved Movement II.
The closest I got to being “shaken, not stirred” (anyone know from whence that phrase comes?) was Movement IV when it sounds like the hounds of hell are chasing the musicians. It’s raucous and bouncy and energetic and dynamic. Very entertaining.
But the other three movements were nothing special to me.
They were well played. Well conducted. And fairly well recorded.
But not magical.
Hence, “Meh!”
But “Happy Thanksgiving!” anyway.