All of Hans Pfitzner’s contributions to German Grammophon’s
anniversary collection of Beethoven’s symphonies are now available on
Naxos – as indeed is the entire cycle. Pfitzner took the bulk of the
recordings – five of the symphonies – and the others went to Erich Kleiber,
Richard Strauss and Oscar Fried. A subjectivist romantic Pfitzner’s
conducting career was well established by the time he came to make this
unusually protracted cycle between 1929 and 1933. And if at times he
could appear somewhat enervated – the First Symphony is a distinct case
in point – he could equally be a dedicated and flexible exponent of
the central repertoire. The Eroica is here a case in point.
He establishes his aesthetic in the opening movement
right from the start with subjective rhythmic pulling of the line, generating
tension through rubati and rallentandos (he doesn’t play the exposition
repeat). Characteristically he expands the tempo for the second subject
imbuing the music with a constant series of fluctuations and a sense
of genuine malleability. In the Funeral March he cultivates velvet
black bass sonorities and still broadens at lyrical points whilst lightening
the string texture where apposite. The fugato section is animated with
booming basses and some searing string playing (the Berlin Philharmonic
are on notably good form throughout) and the coda shaped with genuine
sensitivity and assurance, supported by supple wind choirs and chording.
Maybe the balance is a little dim in the Scherzo but the scampering
and splendidly reduced and terraced dynamics are laudable with an adept
timpanist sharing the limelight. Phrasing in the Finale is elegant
and alert, fugal episodes alert and entries on the beat, and Pfitzner
maintaining pulse and direction to the very end.
In the case of the Eighth Symphony once more, though
perhaps to a lesser degree, we can feel the weight of Pfitzner’s romantic
affiliations. Rubati feature powerfully, of course, as ever a flexible
component of his expressive armoury though his rallentandos less so
in this work. His occasional italicisation of developmental passages
adds its own personalised profile to the recording as well. There is
some fine, taut yet flexible phrasing in the Allegro vivace e con
brio, some significant deadpan humour in the second movement - resilient
wit relished entirely musically, with those violin pizzicati and arco
bass lines conveying all with mordant effectiveness. The rustic horns
of the Minuetto are matched in style by the chirpy rhythm of
the lower strings and the finale – at a very steady tempo – is full
of clear-eyed optimism.
Pfitzner’s part in the Beethoven cycle was a considerable
one so it’s good to have all the symphonies now available at super budget
price in such recommendable transfers. However idiosyncratic he may
be – metrically, in terms of expressive device and all the other components
of approach – these are seldom less than fascinating documents of a
distinguished composer’s interpretative approach to a great one.
Jonathan Woolf
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Hans
Pfitzner 
