Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra :: Beethoven: The Symphonies

Surprisingly better than its reputation, and the CSO is glor

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 05/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Solti recorded this Beethoven cycle from Chicago between 1972 and 1975. The first thing to say in its favor is that the sonics are up to Decca's analog standards, with lots of detail, dynamic range, and punch. That suits Solti's style in Beethoven, because although he reins in his trademark fierce attacks and driving tempos, he's still aggressive. It's not so much that he sides with Toscanini against Furtwangler, but that he performs Beethoven from the outside, marshalling all the externals while revealing almost nothing of his own feelings for the music. Millions of CD buyers clearly like his style, and since I hadn't heard all his Beethoven symphonies, I thought I'd survey them.



CD1 contains the 5th and 2nd symphonies, which sound much the same under Solti's direction. He pulls Beethoven forcefully out of the classical world of Haydn, an effect amplified by using a full modern orchestra. The lovely slow movement of the Second is bulked up beyond what we hear nowadays, and the Scherzo proceeds with startling sfozando accent that stab at the rhythm. The finale is fast and efficient. Strangely, the Fifth could use more of this propulsion. After a biting attck at the famous motto, the strings become almost mechanical. Solti needs to supply vitality form the inside, but he doesn't. As a result, all the movements sound proficient and impersonal. The CSO brass dominate the finale, as you'd expect, but Solti's tempo lags a bit behind Beethoven's Allegro con brio.



CD 2 is devoted to the Eroica and two overtures, Egmont and Coriolan. The opening movement of the symphony is surprisingly old-fashioned and measured, but accents are strong. In its broad, forthright way it's convincing, despite moments when vitality lapses. The funeral march is serious, dignified and well-paced. If only Solti could find it in himself to be moved, because without that, we won't be. The Scherzo is exemplary and the horn trio a thrill (it's taken at tempo but not fast). The impression of a traditional Eroica is underscored in the finale, which is more respectful than abandoned. The two overtures are in the same vein, their chief virtue being the orchestra and the recorded sound. Still, this is one of the more successful CDs in the set.



CD 3 brings a fairly familiar pairing, the Pastorale and 8th symphonies. Solti would seem to be ill-suited to the gentler, bucolic side of Beethoven, but he is never less than skillful and respectful. The Pastorale finds him in a relaxed mood--I'm not sure I'd call it genial--and frankly the results are more successful than Karajan's over-poolished, emotionally frigid accounts. The Chicago strings remain sweet and almost Viennese throughout. After a proficient Scherzo in the style of Szell (no actual peasants allowed) and with excellent wind solos, the storm proceeds without undue shocks. In other words, it doesn't inspire Solti to brutality. The finale needs more joy and reverence, but it is robust and direct. In all, one of Solti's best efforts in Beethoven.



The 8th opens with a too-heavy Allegro vivace, but Solti is in good humor and doesn't drag things down. To me, this symphony requires the kind of wit, delicacy, and effervescence as Mendelssohn, and since Solti only gives us a traditional Germanic account, with sharper than usual accents, I am not ovelry enthusiastic. But as a filler to the Sixth this is more than adequate, and one can always fall back upon the gorgeous playing.



CD 4 gathers the 7th and 1st Symphonies, an odd pairing. The 7th requires an exceptional reading to efface memories of Kleiber and Karajan, specialists in this work. Solti isn't inspired, but the CSO plays with blazing commitment, which counts for a lot (they were just as good for Reiner in his classic account on RCA Living Stereo). LIsteners who want to hear lots of horns in the mix will be more than satisfied. Solti's rhythm could be crisper in the first movement; the Allegretto is taken a bit faster than the norm in German readings but isn't light-footed. The Scerzo is alert, speedy, and totally successful. I always hear Karajan's searing finale in my ears, but Solti comes fairly close. In all, a good Seventh keeping up with the Eroica and Pastoral.



The 1st Sym. copies the style of the 2nd in being ig-boned, forceful, and romantic. The recording is especially good, giving us lots of woodwind detail and impact in the orchestra's wide dynamic range. There's not a puny note here, which is a mized blessing in a work that cries out for delicacy and wit. Of its overblown kind, however, this is a good reading that never sags.



CD 5 contains the Leonore Over. #3, the 4th Sym., and the first movement of the Ninth. Splitting the 9th on to two discs isn't a sin, but Decca has been stingy with timings: most Beethoven cycles fit on 5 CDs without overtures, or perhaps one. Solti's Fourth is in the same traditional style as his Eighth; it's given weight and iportance but ddoesn't sag. Despite a fairly impersonal slow movement, the other movements are satisfying. The Leonore #3 is forceful and dramatic, lacking only what it must have: blazing inspiration. But if you have hung in this long, I think you will find Solti better--and more traditional--at Beethoven than his take-no-prisoners reputation would lead us to believe.



CD 6 completes the 9th Sym., whose first movement on the preceding CD, was forthright and dramatic but lacking in mystery. If you just want to hear a first-rate orchestra playing in excellent sound, this certainly fits the bill. If you want to hear a new or individual take on a masterpiece, it doesn't. The Scherzo proceeds very well, with Solti keeping the rhythm alive and alert. The Adagio, at 19 min., is one of the slower ones; this tempo requires the conductor to keep an unwavering conentration. Solti certainly controls his forces well--even Karajan doesn't give us a better played rendition. But by trying for a hushed, reverent atmosphere, Solti misses the music's spsiritual intensity. This is one movement you must conduct form the inside, from your own deep emotions, and Solti doesn't.



The theatricality of the choral finale is more up his alley. He's ore involved, and the exciting parts are very exciting, with the CSO lower strings outdoing all rivals for richness and accuracy. Solti's apaproach is too straightforward, however, missing much in terms of real eloquence and emotional depth. Marti Talvela makes a stunning, sonorous bass soloist, and the rest of the quartet is fine. The Chicago chorus is world-class, of course, and far exceeds the woolly, wobbly Vienna Singverein that Karajan used three times on DG. Several reviewers have called this 9th the high point of Solti's cycle, and I tend to agree.



In sum, a more satisfying Beethoven set than I expected, with excellent sonics and great playing from the CSO. Solti isn't profound, but his other virtues shine through.





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You say tomatoe, I say Beethoven!

PrivoDJ | Perth, WA | 01/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I believe one of the dissenting reviewers remarked that Beethoven was not a romantic period composer and was in fact a member of the late classical, possibly squeezing into the early romantic, period. As such Solti's readings of the symphonies are "too loud and too slow." I will not dwell too long on just how reductionist and completely alien to the composers themselves the whole notion of 'periods' and 'phases' really is. It is simply our all too human obsession with ordering and categorising things - forcing that which we are unable to, or incapable of completely comprehending into nice, easily digestable portions. But in the typically blunt words of Marx, "Valery is a petit bourgeois but a petit bourgeois is not Valery".



Whilst several viewers are citing Solti's intrepretation of the first movement of the 'Eroica', celebrating Napoleon and the French Revolution (a dedication he unhesitatingly withdrew) as a detractor from this set, I must say that for me this is one of the sets many highlights. The seventh from start to finish is revelatory, the ninth, in particular the beautiful slow third movement, forces you to stop what you are doing and listen. Sure it would be nice to have the ninth all on one disc but then it would be nice to get this set for free - point being that it is at most a pedantic annoyance, technology shouldn't get in the way. Go buy an mp3 player and you won't look back on this score.



Where some say slow I say majestic, where some say loud, I say intense and inspired. This is intentional music-making; there is nothing passive or accidental here and those after a more filigreed reading, those shop owners seeking after mere elevator music and infoline filler, music that won't stop your customers dead in their tracks, then avoid this set like the plague."