My office this morning is my office this morning.
On a Saturday, no less.
Yet, here I am – with Whitesnake’s Slip of the Tongue album playing as background, a fresh-brewed cup o’ Joe beside me, and all the time I want, and all the time I need (shades of “Time Enough At Last”!) to listen to…
Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989), Berliner Philharmoniker, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F major.
I have encountered Maestro Karajan five times previously, on…
Day 10. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 28. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 46. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 64. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 82. Rating: “Meh!”
Given all those “Huzzah!” ratings, and my love for this symphony, I’m eager to see what today brings.
First, though, a short excerpt from the superb liner notes by Richard Obsborne:
Beethoven summed all this up when he wrote, in a famous sentence, “more a matter of feeling that of painting in sounds.” In other words, it was the spontaneous activity of mind and imagination in which Beethoven was interested; and in this he was at one with his exact and eminent contemporary, William Wordsworth. When Wordsworth revised his long autobiographical poem The Prelude he clearly saw in retrospect what Beethoven, writing his Pastoral symphony, was immediately aware of: that his art was charting, not landscape as an end in itself, but the interrelationship between landscape and the conscious mind. Thus Wordsworth’s revised poem is stripped of narrative filling – more feeling than painting.
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 6 in F major), from this particular conductor (Karajan, at age 54) and this particular orchestra (Berliner Philharmoniker), at this particular time in history (February, 1962) on this particular record label (Deutsche Grammophon) is as follows:
I. Allegro ma non troppo………………………………………..8:57
“Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the country”
II. Andante molto mosso………………………………………..11:32
“Scene by the brook”
III. Allegro…………………………………………………………………3:02
“Merry gathering of country folk”
IV. Allegro…………………………………………………………………..3:25
“Thunderstorm”
V. Allegretto……………………………………………………………..8:46
“Shepherd’s song: Happy and thankful feelings after the storm”
Total running time: 35:02
My Rating:
Recording quality: 3 (noticeable tape hiss and ambient sounds throughout; a decent recording despite its 50+-years age, typically good DG-label quality – except for the digital file corruption at the end of the Finale, which rendered the performance unlistenable from 5:41 – 6:18 and again at the very end…I’m hoping this was corrupted in my laptop somehow, and not on the CD itself)
Overall musicianship: 5 (lively, lyrical, inspired)
CD liner notes: 5 (Nice, thick 54-page booklet with lengthy essays by Richard Osborne about each symphony, translated into English, German, and French, and all pertinent technical info)
How does this make me feel: 5 (“Huzzah!”)
Very short performance, nearly 10 minutes shorter than others I’ve heard to date. Yet, it’s not rushed. The tempo is ordinary, enjoyable, not too fast, not too slow.
There are highlights in every movement:
Movement I: 7:37- 7:50, that gorgeous melody that sneaks up without warning and surprises me,
Movement II: 4:55-5:20, the flute and oboe “duet” which is delightful, that then because an oboe and flute “duet” at 5:45 – 6:18,
Movement III: 1:44-2:10, the lively Highland Reel-sounding passage of sheer exuberance
Movement IV: :25-50, the thunderclap and downpour,
Movement V: Just a wonderfully dynamic movement both lyrical and exuberance…until the aforementioned digital file corruption starting at 5:41, which I hope is not in the music on my CD. I’ll know when I get home. (I’ll update this review once I find out where the problem lies.)
I think Karajan captures the spirit of Beethoven’s nature-inspired Sixth in the same way Cluytens did, the way Jochum – only with a crisper, more top-end (treble) enhancement than Jochum’s performance offered.
This is a terrific performance, with lots of nicely recorded solos and an overall lush, powerful feeling to the entire orchestra.
Highly recommended.
“Huzzah!”
Someone on YouTube uploaded what is, ostensibly, the same performance I just heard – only in a different edition. My CD cover is different from this. But it’s the 1963 cycle with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
The problem with YouTube, though, is that the uploads are usually very low-res. In this case, the top end is missing and it sounds a bit flat, too mid-range.
But this is what I just heard.
Enjoy!