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Beethoven: Symphony Nos. 3 & 8 [Hybrid SACD]
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Customer Reviews
High Performance Machine
This orchestra as lead by one Osmo Vanska is upon first impressions on mean, lean fighting machine that performs this music much like a Ferrari would handle the road...with the utmost grace, flair and precision to be found anywhere. Technically, these folks nailed it; however there is a degree of warmth that I find myself longing for and can be found in the cycles of Blomstedt or Barenboim. I found those cycles to be transcendent and almost spiritual affairs if such a comment can be said about these proceedings. I put on the Barenboim, Blomstedt and now my Vanska in quick succession to compare and I found myself moved to a greater degree by the Barenboim and Blomstedt readings. That being said, and yes I do find these readings to be emotionally on the cool side, and a little too much for my tastes, these performances are incredibly exciting and will thrill the listener. I am sure that seeing these performances live under Vanska's baton must have been intense and exhilarating. I would like to have taken adrenaline levels immediately following the performance. But I do need my Beethoven to possess deeper undercurrents that are subliminal in their presence and are hinted at through the overall shape of the sound. Meaning that all the details are there with these performances but the shake your soul to the core experience is not. If you do have an SACD player, as do I, and you have some extra-money to burn then take a look at these readings because they are impressive, and the sound is absolutely superb. Just listen to the low strings in the mix. Incredible. Otherwise I would recommend dropping the money on Barenboim's complete cycle, which is absolutely, knock it out of the park, stunning.
Very Refreshing
Anyone criticizing this recording because it doesn't have the fire or intensity of a Karajan or Furtwangler or whatever conductor is missing the point. Osmo Vanska was initially reluctant to put out a Beethoven cycle precisely because there were already so many great recordings out there and those recordings pretty much said it all. He only agreed to do his own Beethoven because he felt he could bring a fresh perspective to it. In that regard, he is highly successful, and the praise these recordings have earned is well-deserved.
The sound Vanska favors here is much leaner and technically clean than many other performances, and the dynamics seem to leap out at you when you least expect it. The musicality of these performances is helped immensely by a total commitment by the musicians of the excellent Minnesota Orchestra. The intensity in these recordings comes from within the sound rather from everyone just playing with a lush and romantic tone.
That being said, however, I have to admit I do miss some of the sonic weight and drive of other performances. Perhaps it has something to do with the recording - the winds usually sound kind of muted to me, which is not very characteristic of Orchestra Hall in which all the sections of the orchestra come through loud and clear.
In any case, if you're just looking for another version of these symphonies that sounds like everything else you're used to then you might as well not bother with this. But a more thoughtful and committed performance you'll not find.
Is this radical new Beethoven? I don't hear it.
The New York Times and various scattered critics have praised Osmo Vanska as a committed musical radical, an intense, take-no-prisoners conductor who demands that Beethoven be heard completely new and without compromise. I got excited. But is this recording what they were talking about? The playing on the whole is brisk, clipped, and lacking in tension. You'd think from the "light up the sky" reviews at Amazon that Vanska was providing visceral thrills--the Eroica is the perfect vehicle for that. In reality he is precise but cautious, and he limits Beethoven to a narrow emotional scope. The funeral march is timid the scherzo tepid except for a moment or two of sudden climax. The Eighth is more bigorous and gets a performance that generates a modicum of excitement.
I can only scratch my head. Either a lot of people haven't heard enough great Beethoven or the classical music business is so desperate for something, anything, new that Vanska and his good but hardly great Minnesota Orch. were the right people at the right time. I suspect the latter.
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