In the past two weeks, I've seen two excellent performances of Beethoven symphonies in two extremely different styles.
On January 15th, I saw Daniel Barenboim conduct Beethoven's 6th, the Pastorale. Although Barenboim has never been either my favorite conductor or pianist, I have to give him a lot of credit here. His was the classic approach, nuanced and unrushed, and it worked perfectly. At intermission, I heard favorable comparisons to Otto Klemperer, known for his slow tempos. It was flawless performance by the Vienna Philharmonic. And they showed again, after intermission, what an awe inspiring orchestra they were with Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan.
On January 24th, I saw James Levine conduct the Met Opera Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's 5th. It was actually the last piece in a very long concert -- 2 1/2 hours including intermission -- that started strongly with Schubert's 8th, the Unfinished, and continued with lieder and an aria by R. Strauss. The soprano, Diana Damrau, was excellent and called back for an encore, a second aria from Ariadne auf Naxos. Levine's conducting of the 5th was crisp and totally controlled. As far as I could tell, he was working with the original metronome markings. The fast tempo gave the work an explosive character. Despite the total length of the concert, it's safe to say no one fell asleep during that piece.
On February 21st I'm going to Carnegie Hall again to see Roger Norrington conduct Beethoven's 9th, the Ode to Joy, with St. Luke's Orchestra. I vividly remember Norrington's performance of Beethoven's 3rd, the Eroica, with this same orchestra in early 1987. It too was played at the original metronome markings and was so idiosyncratic that it was almost as if there were the sound of fireworks. I'm really intrigued to hear Norrington's interpretation of the 9th.
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