As the decade draws to a close, many of us choose to gather with people we love so that together we can celebrate and give thanks for our blessings. In that spirit, I offer a new hybrid SACD/Download of a perennial favorite, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor. Op. 125 “Choral” (BIS 2451), whose memorable finale celebrates the joy of oneness with humanity and the divine.
Although Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan have previously recorded Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, he is not a conductor one commonly associates with Beethoven’s music–not that there is anything common about this performance, on period-instrument forces usually heard in the music of Bach, paying particular attention to clarity of line. Auditioned in its native format of 24/96, this recording finds Suzuki’s 53-piece orchestra playing with impressive weight and fullness but with no trace of romantic excess. Suzuki’s ear for color, detail, and movement delivers a rousing, vital performance whose clarity of vision has the power to seize listeners from the start.
After countless recordings with huge choruses, it’s refreshing to discover how full and clean a 30-person chorus–eight sopranos, eight altos, 7 tenors, and 7 basses–can sound in this music. Occasionally, the tenors seem to be pushing their limits, but those moments quickly cede to the glorious, big-boned voices of soloists Ann-Helen Moen, Marianne Beate Kielland, Neal Davies, and Allan Clayton. Despite a couple of obvious errors–Clayton's indulgence in an unfortunate downward portamento at a point in his opening declamation; Moen’s decision to lighten a bit too soon at the end of the final quartet–this group can stand with the best.
Suzuki's Beethoven 9 does not seem to be on YouTube, but I did find its antithesis: this recent live big-boned performance from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Muti.
You may occasionally miss the grandeur that Furtwängler, Karajan, Walter, and others brought to Beethoven, but the precision, fleetness, verve, and sheer beauty of Suzuki’s performance are thrilling. It is also closer than the usual fare to what Beethoven would have heard in his time–if he had been able to hear anything.
To bid farewell to the old and create space for the new, I can think of no finer music–unless your taste turns more toward Bach, in which case I can recommend two other, streamable performances: From Suzuki and his forces, the solo Cantata BWV 51, “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!” (Praise God in all Lands) with the wonderful soprano Carolyn Sampson. For something less ecclesiastic, here's Sampson again: her joyful performance of the solo Wedding Cantata, BWV 202, “Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten” (Begone now, gloomy shadows) with Freiburger Barockorchester conducted by Petra Müllejans.
Happy New Year, everyone.
