RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR

Februar y

‘You can almost feel the rosin flying in the fiercer attacks, the double basses scrabbling desperately to escape the storm’s downpour’

Mark Pullinger is thrilled by the conclusion of an exhilarating cycle of Beethoven symphonies on period instruments from Jordi Savall – a triumph over challenging circumstances

Beethoven ‘Révolution, Vol 2’ Symphonies – No 6, ‘Pastoral’, Op 68; No 7, Op 92; No 8, Op 93; No 9, ‘Choral, Op 125a a Sara Gouzy sop aSalome Fischer contr aMingjie Lei ten aManuel Walser bar aLa Capella Nacional de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations / Jordi Savall Alia Vox M c Í AVSA9946 (170’ • DDD/DSD)

Chapeau to Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations. The pandemic delayed the completion of their Beethoven symphony cycle but they came out fighting. As soon as conditions in Spain permitted, the orchestra – 35 players from Le Concert des Nations, including some long-serving members, plus around 20 young players from across Europe – reconvened their ‘Akademies’, intense six-day periods of rehearsals, concerts and recording sessions, nailing the Sixth and Seventh in July 2020. The Eighth was taped in Wrocław in October 2020 but the Ninth there was scuppered when four members of the choir tested positive for Covid on the very day they were due to record the final movement. Several other performers, including Savall himself, then caught it, which forced the cancellation of the rest of their scheduled European tour (‘an artistic and financial catastrophe’, the conductor writes). Undeterred, they reattempted the Ninth again in autumn 2021, enabling the cycle’s completion. As Savall argues in his eight-page booklet note – with, one senses, a wry smile – as Beethoven was born in December 1770, his 250th anniversary must logically run from December 2020 until December 2021 … so they did complete their project in time.

It was titled ‘Beethoven Révolution’, but how revolutionary do these recordings actually sound, given the period-instrument charge into performing Beethoven was led by the likes of Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood and Frans Brüggen four decades ago? Indeed, it’s been a while since I acquired a new cycle on period instruments – Jos van Immerseel (2005‑07), Emmanuel Krivine (2009‑10) and Brüggen (2011) were all recorded over 10 years ago now. But in his essay ‘Beethoven versus Beethoven’, charting the revolution in performing the cycle, Luca Chiantore makes an excellent point that, for Savall, Beethoven is a ‘frontier’; all his work and recordings (except his 1994 Eroica – 7/97) are of music prior to the early 19th century.

This certainly gives a freshness and energy that are thoroughly invigorating, although that wasn’t evident from the very start of my listening. Beginning with the Pastoral was a bit of a red herring, though, as it’s the most relaxed symphony of the nine and Savall’s tempos in the first two movements are decidedly unhurried. The ‘Scene by the Brook’ flows amiably with winsome bird calls, particularly flautist Marc Hantaï’s teasing nightingale. But then we arrive at the peasant dance and the tempest, and the floodgates open. What is immediately noticeable is that the strings have a really sinewy, almost abrasive quality; there are 33 of them in the Sixth and Seventh (39 in the Eighth and Ninth) but they are recorded very closely, meaning you can almost feel the rosin flying off their bows in the fiercer attacks, the double basses scrabbling desperately to escape the storm’s downpour.

There’s a gritty Sturm und Drang quality to the opening of the Seventh and I like the way Savall keeps the Allegretto moving yet still retains its nobility. The punchy Allegro con brio finale is hardly Wagner’s ‘apotheosis of the dance’ but is instead full of vigour and it really stings, taken at the same tempo as Norrington and John Eliot Gardiner, but the playing feels more alive, more vital. (Krivine is a whole minute faster, surely too hectic – a rare miscalculation.) Watch their

6 GRAMOPHONE GRAMOPHONE RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR 2022

gramophone.co.uk