Paavo Jarvi's Beethoven Symphonies

I read about the cycle of Beethoven Symphonies recorded by Paavo Jarvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (RCA Red Seal) as they were being issued but, despite the sometimes ecstatic reviews, had not bothered to explore them, as I was intent on collecting the cycle by Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra.  Then Jarvi & Co. appeared as guest artists earlier this month at the Mostly Mozart Festival, and I was stunned by their performances, most especially their encore: the finale of Beethoven's First Symphony.  I knew then that I had to hear this cycle.

RCA has not gotten around to collecting the cycle and issuing it as a boxed set, but I was able to track down the five individual releases. Each disc contains two symphonies except the one with the 9th, which stands alone.  And herewith one of my few gripes about this set: In light of Jarvi's fleet tempi, there is plenty of room on these discs for more Beethoven.  Each disc, including that carrying the 9th, could easily accommodate an overture.  On the other hand, RCA has released these at midprice rather than full price, so acquiring the entire cycle, especially on a sale, is quite economical and much less expensive than most of the competing cycles.

What makes Jarvi's performance with this orchestra so distinctive?  I was familiar with his recorded work with the Cincinnati Symphony and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (a terrific recording of Grieg's incidental music for Peer Gynt), but those experiences had not prepared me for the unusual sound and style that Jarvi brings to Beethoven with this very gifted chamber orchestra.  I was also familiar with the orchestra, having heard them play live at the Concertgebouw during my Amsterdam sojourn several summers ago and having many of their recordings.  But somehow the combination of Jarvi and these players has produced a kind of combustion that transforms the sound and style of playing.

Simply put, this modern-instrument chamber orchestra has thoroughly absorbed the lessons of period style and put them to intensive use in this performance of the new critical edition of the symphonies.  The care and meticulousness of phrasing, bowing, accents, dynamic markings, and unanimity of playing are stunning.  Jarvi's tempi are on the faster side of the contemporary norm (his 9th, for example, takes just under 64 minutes), but it is more the attitude than the tempi that marks these performances.  What we get is extraordinary intensity - to the point where some might find inadequate relaxation at appropriate moments - a sort of grim determination at times, and a delight in bringing out details that are normally hidden when a full symphonic string section is present.  The chamber-sized string body never sounds scrawny, and can even sound sumptuous, especially in the slower movements, but the balance between winds and strings is definitely affected by the numbers of players and how the microphones are set up, so there is a real wind-band emphasis, especially in the big tutti moments.

This is not a Beethoven cycle for all tastes.  There is little humor -- my favorite 8th, by Monteux and the Vienna Philharmonic, for example, is the polar opposite of Jarvi's straightforward classicism in that symphony -- but no lack of lyricism, even at fast tempi.  Those whose ideal in Beethoven is represented by such as Furtwangler, Barenboim, or Bernstein, may find this set too brisk and even "cool" in its approach. It is more akin to Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, but with more polish and the slightly smaller scale of a chamber orchestra.  I am delighted to have heard them, and expect to come back to these recordings frequently.

Comments

[Petr Olmer]

I highly recommend these symphonies on DVD. It's a different (more recent) Järvi and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen performance than CDs, and it's amazing.

[Art Leonard]

For a time I was buying occasional DVDs of concert performances, but ultimately I find it an uncongenial format for taking in a concert. I am stuck looking at what the director of the filming thinks is interesting, rather than what I think is interesting, and the picture distracts from concentrating on the music. The DVDs I purchased in the initial burst of enthusiasm for the new medium have been viewed once and not again.

I find that with an audio recording, which lacks the distractions of a picture, I am more likely to want to expose myself to repeat playing, as there is not the boredom of seeing the same old visual element.