This pairing of Beethoven symphonies brings to a conclusion the
cycle Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra have been working
on since 2005. The previous releases can all be found reviewed
on these pages, and in general the response has been positive.
There always has to be an element of swings and roundabouts in
evaluating re-recordings of repertoire which has been manifest
in myriad guises for as long as music has been preserved for posterity,
and while I’ve been listening to and greatly enjoying this disc
over the last few weeks I was glad to have a second opinion.
Long car drives
for performances in obscure corners on Europe are invariably
helped along with small wobbly heaps of discs one has yet to
hear from beginning to end. I have to admit to the system in
my car being less than ideal, but having a passenger who also
happened to be the compiler of Dutch radio’s ‘Composer of the
Week’ programme was too good an opportunity to let slip. With
this CD already tucked into the player, I let the music take
effect. It took a while – the compiler of Dutch radio’s ‘Composer
of the Week’ programme is an energetic character, and so it
was a good 20 minutes or so when she suddenly sat forward and
said, “hey this is really good!” Surprised and pleased to see
it was an American orchestra and enjoying the individual nature
of the cover design, we discussed the Nordic origins of the
conductor and one or two other points, but the mission was accomplished:
my own positive opinion had been vindicated in a blind listening
test through a dodgy car stereo in a noisy Nissan, and can now
truly report that this release is really good.
Potential purchasers
can of course relish the sumptuous SACD sound, and this may
indeed be a good enough reason to prefer this set over some
others. Glorious sonics are no substitute for excellent performance
however, and Osmo Vänskä has made of his Minnesota Orchestra
a genuinely crack team of musicians. There is indeed a breadth
and depth to the sound which is the equal of and better than
most, but the ensemble and sonority in the strings is also a
real plus. The sense of chamber-music making is strong in the
lighter movements, such as the shorter scherzo Allegro third
movement of the Symphony No.2. Vänskä works the contrasts
of the music to their reasonable limits, and the dynamics go
a long way to making these performances a revival of why we
find these pieces so inspiring in the first place. There is
a freshness of spirit at work here which makes these symphonies
sound new – not ‘modern’ in the sense of any kind of avant-garde
wilfulness, just an openness that combination of lyricism, energy
and drama which keeps bringing us back for more.
As far as timings
go, Vänskä tends to be more measured than 1960s vintage Karajan,
coming in a good 8 minutes longer overall in the Symphony
No.7. He is closer to Abbado’s Berlin timings, being almost
identical in the Symphony No.2. A peek at Pletnev shows
a few real extremes of divergence in the opening movements of
both symphonies, and Pletnev is generally faster throughout.
Yes, there are differences, but timings are of academic interest
without a sense of where a conductor is leading us. What Vänskä
does is allow the music to breathe where he feels it needs that
extra bit of space. His orchestra is well up to the multiple
climaxes in the complicated first movement of the Symphony
No.7, and the gorgeous Orchestra Hall acoustic also helps
carry this kind of performance: showing the drama inherent in
the score, rather than treating the music as an opportunity
to promote orchestral virtuosity. There is however a forward
momentum in the music which is unstoppable, and an accuracy
in the articulation and observance of dynamics which is almost
forensic. This keenness to follow Beethoven’s instructions results
in warmth and care in peformance, but also allows the musicians
to let rip where the score allows – the horns peals forth with
tremendous penetration in their calls during the final Allegro
con brio of this symphony. The essential second movement
Allegretto is as it should be: one of the great emotional
centres of the piece, but light in texture – unencumbered by
externally imposed funereal associations.
Colour, weight and
balance are all given an equality of importance in these performances,
but I do have one small criticism. Especially in the Symphony
No.7 there is a good deal of repetition of one kind or another,
and while the music has its own onward flow and sense of urgency
I do have the feeling of ‘sticking’ rather in these repetitions.
I was always taught that these cyclic passages have to have
meaning both implied and imposed in some way. Their function
is of course one of Beethoven’s elemental building blocks for
the development of material, but, however subtle, there should
at least be the ‘feeling’ of some sense of change or variety
in repetitions both micro and macro, and despite all the well
measured dynamic rises and falls there are some moments where
I couldn’t help feeling myself being in a kind of rut, watching
a procession of musical-fragment clones. Taking an opposite
extreme and listening to Pletnev’s recording with the Russian
national Orchestra on DG, and the effect is that of driving
faster over a certain kind of bumpy road: the sense of any kind
of static hanging around is smoothed over by the sheer tumult
of the journey. This is probably quite subjective and I don’t
want to labour the point, but the side-effects of Vänskä’s kind
of perfectionist performing can in some ways distil the music
into an over-abundance of clarity – if you can understand what
I mean... at least, that’s the way it seems to me.
If the other releases
in this cycle are as good as this one then I can recommend the
whole set with virtually no reservations. Both the recording
quality and performance are second to none, and I find the restrained
use of vibrato in the woodwinds entirely to my taste: there
is more than one classic performance which is spoiled by wobbly
flutes and oboes, or flat clarinets, and this is most certainly
not one of these. Intonation is also luxuriantly stable – and
what a bonus this is in reality. The character of the
whole production can be viewed in a broad sense, as being one
which holds no dangers and few surprises, but being one which
will grow on you, allowing your appreciation of Beethoven to
deepen with each session, rather than that of any one ‘special’
conductor or orchestra. It can also take close examination and
aural scrutiny at every moment throughout, and this means all
your favourite moments will be every bit up to scratch. This
combination of qualities is special enough, but best of all
it allows the great composer’s musical utterance the freedom
it demands without any kind of artificiality of interpretation
– if perhaps missing that last nth of excitement and risk which
can be found elsewhere.
Dominy Clements
Minnesota Orchestra/Osmo
Vänskä 
[75:49]
