Plays and Players

Notes on culture from London and New York

[playsandplayers]

Recording Review: Tchaikovsky Symphonies No. 4 & 5

By James Norris

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 4; Gurzenich Orchestra Köln, Dmitrij Kitajenko, conductor (OEHMS CLASSICS 12424)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 5; Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, Christian Lindberg, conductor (BIS 2018)

I have always thought of the fourth symphony as being closest to what Tchaikovsky was like as a person – moments of romantic yearning coupled with near points of hysteria and dramatic mood swings make this one of the most popular works in the repertoire. Karajan and Szell recorded high voltage performances during the 1960’s with the BPO and LSO respectively which are amongst my favourites to this day and Stowkovski always maintained that the tempo changes have to be carefully observed in order to bring it off well. His recording with the American Symphony in 1972 on Vanguard has some eye watering tempo changes. Barbirolli with the Halle also recorded a fine version in early stereo which is worth a listen.

So were does this leave Kitajenko in the scope of things?

He follows closely along the lines of Mavrinsky in his famous 1960 account with the Leningrad Philharmonic ( his timings are nearly identical) and adopts slightly slower tempos laying out the climaxes with less hysteria but using the orchestral sound as a wall of power which rolls over you like a wave.

He benefits from having SACD sound which gives great clarity to the textures and serves his interpretation well showing the Gurzenich Orchestra in fine form.

For the sound alone it’s worth adding to your collection of this most dramatic of symphonies.

Just to emphasise that the Arctic Philharmonic are the most northerly based orchestra in the world, they are shown standing on a Norwegian Ice Cap in full concert dress, I hope no instruments suffered during the taking of the photograph!

Lindberg conducts a fine no nonsense reading of the symphony bringing out some interesting detail and letting the musical phrasing speak for itself whilst allowing the orchestra to pack plenty of punch in the brass when needed. He also benefits from SACD sound which shows the orchestra off well.

I would have preferred just a little more warmth in the upper strings but perhaps it was a cold day. Worth a listen and ideal if you have a good surround sound system.

[playsandplayers]

Recording Review: George Frideric Handel's Water Music

By James Norris

George Frederic Handel, Water Music; Haydn Sinfonietta Wien, Manfred Huss, conductor (BIS -2027)

  If Handel returned to London today he would no doubt be pleased that his house on Brook Street in Mayfair is still very much in existence and his reputation as a British composer unparalleled

.He would be shocked however to find that the River Thames once the lifeblood of the city is a very different place today than when he wrote his Water Music for King George the first in 1717.

The Thames was as today a strong tidal river, however without the modern fortifications on the embankment to hold it in place the river bank was very marshy and without the roar of the traffic and twenty first century noise it was easy to float a barge full of musicians to accompany the Kings journey to Chelsea. 

The resulting work that Handel wrote is amongst the most well known in the world and the Haydn Sinfonietta led by Simon Standish give it a fresh coat of paint and a very agreeable one at that.

Handel was the master of the good tune and these movements abound with good tunes expertly played and delivered with a flourish that will brighten any dull day and put a spring in your step. Fresh research has been done and the movements are given a new order as befits the original performance schedule.

A good way to while away an hour with a good bottle of wine!.

[playsandplayers]

Recording Review: Shostakovich, Symphony No 4

By James Norris

Dmitry Shostakovich, Symphon No. 4; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko, conductor (Naxos 8.573188)

In the last forty years concertgoers have been drawn increasingly to the large scale orchestral works of not only Mahler but also Bruckner and most importantly perhaps Shostakovich. I remember performances of the symphonies in the 1970’s which were hailed as breakthroughs which finally nailed the coffin of the twelve tone serialists and left audiences wanting more of these large scale pragmatic orchestral works with their sense of unknown outcomes.

The fourth symphony of Shostakovich is the most dense outpouring of his creative thoughts and doubts and led the composer to withdraw it from performance on the very day of it’s proposed premier due to the prevailing Russian political scene and it was only during the Khrushchev era that it finally saw the light of day with Kondrashin and the Moscow Philharmonic on the 30th December 1961. Performances followed around the world and although sparsely recorded in comparison with the other symphonies it is now considered probably his finest work in the canon.

Petrenko and the RLPO have recorded a dazzling performance that gets to the very heart of the piece, he has a sure feel for the composer and whilst driving the music on he brings out the ethereal quality and quirkiness of the rhythms to stunning effect.

The recorded sound is superb and the orchestra are on top form throughout with transparent textures even in the most explosive moments.

A must have performance to add to the other fine interpretations in this cycle.

[playsandplayers]

Recording Review: Richard Strauss's Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, & Till Eulenspeigel’s Merry Pranks

By James Norris

Richard Strauss: Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspeigel’s Merry Pranks; Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck, conductor (FR-707SACD)

Strauss commented to a friend on his deathbed that dying was just as he imagined it when he wrote Death and Transfiguration. His idea was of a noble death with the dying man reliving his life’s achievements as he lay waiting for the final call in the spirit of 19th century literature. What we get from Manfred Honeck and his Pittsburgh players is a rather more 21st century death (he mentions that the Trombones are depicting cardiac arrhythmia in the liner notes .) To achieve this he stretches the orchestral texture and highlights the orchestration to paint a picture that Strauss has already mapped out for us and makes the work seem disjointed and over fussy in the detail. There is no doubt that the orchestral playing is very fine but the overall picture that emerges loses the final flourish of victory over death which is the main statement that Strauss tries to make and gives the impression of being overly fussy in it’s execution.

The other works receive much more successful performances with Don Juan having a sweep and sense of virility that is infectious and Till Eulenspiegel is portrayed very successfully as a lusty lad out to do no harm but paying the ultimate price for his jokes with fine flourishes from the orchestra and a forward sweep which suits the emotion of the work very well.

There are finer performances of Death and Transfiguration available on many labels but the if you want to showcase your Audio equipment then the 5.1 sound is impressive on all accounts.

[playsandplayers]

Recording Review: Bruckner Symphony No. 1

By James Norris

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No 1 in C minor; Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Marek Janowski, conductor (Pentatone Classics, PTC 5186 447)

Regular readers of Audiophilia will know that the publisher and myself leave no stone unturned to bring you the best in Bruckner performances on CD and this release is no exception.

Janowski is well known for his fine performances of Wagner so it comes as no surprise that his reading of Bruckner’s first symphony is equally dramatic. The key to conducting Bruckner lies in the conductors ability to handle the structure and harmonic progression of these large scale symphonies without them sounding stilted or ungainly and Janowski solves these dilemmas by presenting a high energy account which takes no prisoners and piles on the drama with no sense of a rallentando. The climaxes roll and blaze and you are left feeling breathless at the end as the Suisse Romande orchestra give him everything they’ve got.

He uses the revised Novak edition of the 1866 score which simplifies some of the orchestration and listeners may be interested in listening to the original unedited version performed by George Tintner and the RSNO on Naxos 8.554430. Tintner adopts slower speeds in all the movements and invites you to view and enjoy the peaks of the work by slightly pulling back the tempo at key points. This however is another fine performance of a much neglected work and both performances leave you wanting to listen again and again to what is surely one of the most assured first symphonies ever written.

Both versions are worth having in any Bruckner collection and if you already have the Tintner it’s still worth getting Janowski for his energy and sense of drama.

[playsandplayers]

Recording Review: Recent Releases of British Classical Music

By James Norris

Review of:

E.J.Moeran: Sinfonietta, Symphony in G minor, Masque Overture (London Philharmonic, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult, cond. Lyrita SRCD.247)

E.J. Moeran: Sketches for the 2nd Symphony, Overture for a Festival; and John Ireland: Sarnia: Island sequence for Orchestra (Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Martin Yates, cond. Dutton Epoch CDLX 7281)

Richard Arnell: Symphony No 1, Symphony No 6, Sinfonia quasi Variazioni (Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Martin Yate, conds. Dutton Epoch CDLX7217)

Boult Conducts Holst: Fugal Overture, Somerset Rhapsody, Beni Mora, Hammersmith Prelude, Japanese Suite (L.P.O., L.S.O., Sir Adrian Boult, cond. Lyrita SRCD.222)

I’ve linked these recordings together because they provide a wonderful snapshot of what is so good about the best of English music which hasn’t been written by Elgar or Britten and as a tribute to one of the finest conductors of the 20th century Sir Adrian Boult who died thirty years ago this year in 1983.

Boult championed much of the music written in Europe during the 20th century and was responsible at the BBC for keeping most of the major British composers in front of audiences for over seventy years.

Ernest Moeran occupies a strange position in British music, written off by many as a wayward soul who succumbed to drink and never showed his full potential, his reputation of late has been enhanced by fine performances of his G minor symphony and the Sinfonietta on various labels but it is the recording by Boult on Lyrita which still stands out as the supreme performance of this fine work. The recording from 1975 is spacious and warm and retains much of the analogue depth that the original LP contained. Audiophiles will find much to enjoy in these performances.

The real reason for Moeran’s meagre output was more tragic. He sustained a serious head wound during the First World War and lived with shrapnel in his skull for the rest of his life. He struggled with concentration and died of a brain haemorrhage in 1950 whilst struggling to complete his second symphony.

From the surviving music Martin Yates has created a very persuasive case for hearing Moeran’s thoughts which show what a fine work this could have been.

The composer Richard Arnell suggested to Yates that he should orchestrate a work by John Ireland written during 1940-41 whilst living and trying to escape from the Nazi threat on Guernsey. The result is a strong addition to Ireland’s orchestral music and both Moeran and Ireland are finely played by the Scottish orchestra.

[playsandplayers]

Concert Review: Emanuele Arciuli at Columbia University

By John Coyne

Last night (Feb. 12, 2014) I attended a recital by Italian pianist Emanuele Arciuli at the Teatro of Columbia University's Italian Academy. The Teatro’s impeccably appointed neo-Renaissance interior, illuminated by a half-dozen or so opulent chandeliers, is acoustically ideal for just this kind of solo recital.

Arciuli began with Haydn’s Andante and variations in f minor (Hob. XVII: 6), the dense ornamentation of which he tossed off with easy precision. This sad, lonely composition, which Haydn wrote in Vienna in 1793 between London tours, is said to have been a dirge to his close friend (and possibly lover), Maria Anna von Genzinger. Among the handful of things we know about Haydn the man was that he was quite lonesome, estranged from his wife and cooped up in Eszterháza some 100 kilometers away from Vienna, the thrumming pastel heart of 18th century Europe. Although Haydn had since left Eszterháza for Vienna when these variations were composed, to my ears this is very much the melody of a man alone in a room by himself, longingly looking on as human society moves past without him.

When the f minor theme returned towards the end of the piece, Arciuli attempted an expressive liberty and discreetly stretched the tempo, but it came off sounding halting and awkward, resulting in an odd sense lack of finality at the end.

Next up was Liszt’s Hymne à la nuit. Where Haydn dealt in discreet, hermetic musical chunks confined to a tight musical space, Liszt splays himself across the keyboard, slowly assembling the hymn in broad gestures atop a low, lumbering pedal point in the bass. Here Arciuli displayed a keen sensitivity for color and balance, giving the lower, middle, and upper registers each a distinctive sound. The result was a vivid ensemble effect. The climax, which he built up in a controlled, organic fashion, felt restrained when it arrived, as if Arciuli were easing off the throttle too soon. His reticence was not entirely unpleasant, though, and I think if a concert circuit virtuoso were up there hamming it up to the max I’d probably have rolled my eyes. 

Bartok’s Out of Doors suite wrapped up the first half. This collection of five brief, dissonant, rhythmic pieces played to Arciuli’s strengths: rhythmic precision, vivid coloration, and distinct voicing. In the more brutalist percussive pieces, however, it felt as though he couldn’t quite bring himself to summon the deliberate ugliness Bartok had in mind. Instead, Arciuli lent a kind of satiny elegance to Bartok’s maniacal primitivism. It was strange but pleasant. 

It was during the second half of the concert, however, which consisted of works by living American composers, that Arciuli seemed to enter fully into his element. While his rendition of older the repertoire works was solid and even excellent at times, it did not compare to the energy and plain-old fun he exuded in the performances of the latter half. Arciuli clearly loves contemporary American piano music. He even wrote a book about it.

Two of the three works in the second half had been written especially for Arciuli, and were specifically based on Native American themes (a topic of fascination for Arciuli). Last night was their New York premiere.

The first, Kyle Gann’s Earth-Preserving Chant, features a meditative diatonic two-chord cadence over a restlessly reiterating bass drone. The repetition of these two chords, which are clearly based on Native American chant, creates a powerful musical gravity to which Gann then applies pressure. As the piece augments and develops, an increasingly complex vein of tonal pathways insert themselves between the two chords until the listener looses all sense of connection between the piece's two basic tonal centers. It succeeds not only as music but as metaphor, aurally depicting human kind's increasing disconnection from the Earth. Arciuli played with a subdued rigor that highlighted the work's meditative groove. 

The second of the works written especially for Arciuli was Martin Bresnick's Ishi's Song. It is a bright, danceful work that, like the Haydn, concentrates mostly on a narrow range of the keyboard to showcase the intricacy of its surface detail. Like the Gann, its Native American roots were immediately audible. But where the rhythmic rigor of Gann's piece was subducted by the work's strong, overarching harmonic relationship, Ishi's Song takes a simple melodic figure and uses it as raw material for an ostentatious display of rhythmic and metrical development. Arciuli has a percussionist's sensibility for rhythm, and a light, suave touch that made this piece sparkle. 

Arciuli ended the concert with a high energy performance of John Adams's Phrygian Gates. Arciuli's energy and keen rhythmic sensibilities accentuated the vibrant drama of this hypnotic work. Of all the evening's compositions this one was clearly most firmly in his fingers, and he carried the audience confidently through the work's numerous, kaleidoscopically shifting musical geometries.

For an encore, Arciuli played Chopin's Raindrop prelude in A flat, Op. 28, No. 15. It was bright and songful, but the same awkward, over-controlled rubato that briefly stymied the Haydn was on full display here. The result was an odd, not-quite-right-feeling ambulation through this otherwise fluid, soulful piece. It's almost as if, after three intensively rhythmic compositions that demand strict adherence to tempo, Arciuli could not simply switch off his inner metronome and allow himself the supple bending of tempo Chopin demands. 

Which was fine by me. There are enough high-profile pianists out there who can do a convincing Chopin prelude. There are not nearly enough who are willing to program composers like Gann and Bresnick (and even Adams), and perform them with such energy and color.

[playsandplayers]

Opera Review: Billy Budd at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

By John Coyne

This past Sunday (Feb. 9, 2013) I braved the snow to see the Glyndebourne Festival’s revival production of Billy Budd at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. They brought the London Philharmonic Orchestra with them across the pond, along with conductor Mark Elder, who led the ensemble in a stupendous performance of one of Britten's most fraught operas.

It was nice to see an opera in Brooklyn again. Not only is it convenient, and not only is the BAM Gilman a warm, intimate venue, but it’s also nice to be able to schlep into an opera house from a snowstorm wearing jeans, a UNIQLO sweater and slushy snow boots and know even before looking that I will blend right in.

Billy Budd, despite its straightforward story of a bright-eyed, press-ganged sailor coming to a poor end, is a complex three-way tragedy. First, and most straightforwardly tragic, is Billy himself. The beautiful young seaman with a stutter, beloved by the crew, who strikes and kills his accuser when falsely charged with mutiny, and is hanged as a result.

Then there’s his accuser, Master at Arms John Claggart, one of opera’s most brutal closet cases. Mean, domineering, and reviled equally by his shipmates and the audience, Claggart is by no means a classically tragic figure, though I think he is this opera’s most complex character. He falls hard for Billy (whom he describes as “A beauty. A jewel. The pearl of great price.”). But because Claggart cannot possess Billy his love transmutes to violence (“I will mutilate and silence the body where you dwell.”).

But Claggart possesses a powerful self-awareness, and in his aria near the end of Act I (one of the most famous bass arias in the repertoire, and one of the most blood curdling arias you’ll ever hear) he shows an almost painful understanding of the mechanisms of his repression:

Would that I lived in my own world always,  in that depravity to which I was born.  There I found peace of a sort, there I established   an order such as reigns in Hell. But alas, alas!   The lights shines in the darkness comprehends   it and suffers. O beauty, o handsomeness, goodness Would that I had never seen you!

When Claggart’s corpse rests at Billy’s feet in the second scene of Act II there is a palpable sense of relief, not just for the crew now freed from his sadism, but for Claggart himself.

Finally there’s Captain Vere, an airy intellectual in command of a ship full of brawlsome sailors. In the climactic scene he has the power to save Billy’s life, but doesn’t, a fact that haunts him into his dotage. Vere is our narrator, his older self bookending the opera with a self-flagellating prologue and epilogue where he bemoans his guilt.

In this spirit, the Glyndebourne production at BAM opened with Captain Vere, sung by Mark Padmore, hunched and ghostly behind a scrim. Under dim lights, Padmore’s limpid but piercing tenor floated above the eerie violin motif of the prologue, and within seconds, the trademark Brittenesque unease suffused the house.

Unease graduates to barely suppressed menace as the prologue segues into Act I, which puts us on the deck of H.M.S. Indomitable as a chorus of swabbies scrub the deck. Their chant, “O heave! O heave away, heave! O heave!”, doubled in the strings, repeatedly jumps up and down a fifth, then up to the minor sixth and back down, all in a sweeping, staggered rhythm that conveys the rocking of the ship so well it can induce vertigo in lesser stomachs queasy (especially if they, like I, were seated in the upper balcony).

In some of the ensemble pieces that followed I had trouble with some of the articulation. Despite being in English, BAM provided subtitles, and I found myself having to rely on them more than I thought I would. Part of this is a structural issue with the opera: set aboard a Royal Navy vessel in 1797, the cast is, of course, all men, leaving a limited vocal range within which multiple voices can get mucked up. Compounding this is the score’s frequent (albeit thrilling) brassyness, which, especially in a smaller venue such as BAM, can obscure the singers when the orchestra breeches forte (as it often does).

As a result, and with the exception of Padmore and on other I’ll get to in a moment, it only was during the more scaled-down scenes where the vocal talent really stood out. This was most apparent for Mr. Flint, the master of sails, sung by bass-baritone David Soars. During his early ensemble scenes, his voice, to my ears, was all but lost. But below decks, in scene 2, when it is just him and Redburn (sung by the charismatic Stephen Gadd) talking down the French to Captain Vere over a sparse orchestral recitative, Soars’s velvety, powerful timbre nearly made the walls hum.

Billy Budd himself, sung by Jacques Imbrailo, fared well enough in this regard. Imbrailo’s baritone was suitable but often characterless, especially in comparison to some of his fellow cast members. But he carried the part exceptionally well in every other respect: his dynamism, his kinetic vaulting about the stage and his gamely, fluid body language (not to mention his wide, boyishly innocent face) has probably lodged him in my brain as the default Billy Budd for a long time to come.

For my money, though, Brindley Sherratt, as Master-at-arms John Claggart, stood above an otherwise fine-borderline-exceptional cast. From his first appearance at the press gang in scene 1 Sherratt dominated the stage every moment he occupied it, even if he only silently loomed in the background. Here's the Glyndebourne publicity photo of Sherratt's Claggart:

Handsomely done, my lad. Handsome indeed...

Even from the lowest region of his range his voice punched through the orchestra as if fired from a cannon. His body language, which saw his shaved head bent over a rigid torso and carried by a seemingly unwilling pair of bowed legs, conveyed some measure of the character’s private conflict. It was a stupendous performance. I was really surprised when, during intermission, I read Sherratt’s bio and didn’t see an Alberich anywhere in it. I hope that changes soon.

Christopher Oram's stage set effectively conveyed the claustrophobic, socially constrained environment aboard the Indomitable. The set was a concave, three-level  wood construction that functioned well both as below-decks and as the ship's main deck and forecastle. Tom Roden's movement direction made maximal use of this impressive construction, as Billy and company rush up and down the deck and, in the fight scene towards the end, lurch and sway throughout it in chaotic anger.

In all, this was one of the best operas to grace Brooklyn in a long time. I hope BAM sets its sights similarly high in future seasons.

[playsandplayers]

Sibelius Symphonies No. 1 & 4: Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska, conductor

By James Norris

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) was a colossus who strode the symphonic landscape for well over half of the 20th century and yet today only his 2nd, 5th and 7th symphonies receive a regular airing in the world’s concert halls.

The two works here are very much under the shadow of the 2nd and 5th symphonies and yet listening to these superb performances it is difficult to see why.

The 1st symphony premiered in 1899 is one of the most assured first symphonies ever written and Sibelius immediately shows that he is a master of melody, harmonic structure and development. The Minnesota Orchestra play these works with a sweep and commitment under Osmo Vanska which immediately puts this disc in my top ten Sibeluis performances and the super audio CD sound is superb and will give Audiophiles many hours of pleasure.

The 4th symphony has always been controversial, one critic called it “Cubist” at its first performance but listening to this performance I was immediately drawn to play it again to enjoy the dark rich colouring that Sibelius brings to the work. He was suffering from Cancer when he wrote it but beat the disease and lived another forty eight years during which time he cemented his claim to be the centuries finest symphonist.

It is sadly impossible to review these performances without mentioning the current problems that the orchestra has with its management and I can only say that it would be a tragedy if the partnership with Vanska was destroyed as a result of this.

Buy and enjoy a fine Sibelian in his core repertoire.

[playsandplayers]

BEETHOVEN – COMPLETE SYMPHONIES : Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Andre Cluytens, conductor

By James Norris

This complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies has been around in some form for most of the last fifty five years since they were recorded and the reason is simple – they are very good indeed!

EMI have rereleased them as a box set with no frills packaging and a booklet only printed in French so those that want further information about the music will have to look on the internet but at less than the cost of one full price CD they are well worth it.

This was the first complete stereo cycle recorded by the BPO between 1957 and 1960 and shows us what a fine, warm and disciplined orchestra the Berliners were and what a fine job Furtwangler did in rebuilding them after the Second World War. There is only one word of warning about the performances and I have never read this anywhere else – Cluytens misses out the exposition repeats of a number of these symphonies as was the custom of some conductors in those days, probably in order to fit the symphonies to the space available on an LP record.  This is not a major problem if you don’t mind a slightly truncated performance but if you are a purist and want every marking observed like the holy grail then this might annoy you .I have to say however that the quality of these performances far outweighs any other consideration and they are well worth getting for your collection at such a modest price. The Great conductors release provides us with further evidence of just how good Cluytens could be in the right repertoire. Here is a blistering account of the Fantastic Symphony given on tour in Japan in 1964 by the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra of which Cluytens was principal conductor during the 1950’s together with rare Philharmonia recordings of French music that EMI and Cluytens recorded in the late 1950’s in London. Interesting  to note that Cluytens only appeared once at the Royal Festival Hall conducting the Philharmonia and despite recording concertos with Solomon did not have a huge following this side  of  the English Channel. Cluytens career was cut short by Cancer and he died at the age of 62 in 1967.

These performances are getting more difficult to find in the CD market and will soon I am sure, only be available as downloads, so probably worth picking up these discs while you can. They won’t disappoint.

[playsandplayers]

Beethoven: 9 Symphonies

THE REAL BEETHOVEN REVEALED

By James Norris

The name Norman Del Mar will be instantly recognisable to concert goers in the 1970’s and 80’s. He was a former Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra as well as appearing with all the regional orchestras and also conducting the Last Night of the Proms on TV in the late 70’s.

He also wrote a very fine biography of composer Richard Strauss and was an authority on his music and it is interesting to note that his son Jonathan Del Mar has been hailed for his new editions of the Beethoven Symphonies. These are quite revelatory in restoring notes and markings previously ignored by Beethoven’s publishers in the 19th century.

It appears that once Beethoven had sold his manuscripts to whichever publisher offered the highest fee he seldom bothered to check the proofs and if he did, his comments were often ignored by the publishing house and the plates used over the last 200 years contain a multitude of errors.

Claudio Abbado was the first major conductor to start using Del Mar’s editions and the results can be heard on his Beethoven recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic recorded in the late 90’s.

However it is the Australian conductor Sir Charles Mackerras who has grabed the initiative with both hands and not only given us the new versions but also performed them at Beethovens original metronome markings.

It is another old wives tale that Beethoven’s metronome was faulty and that his actual speeds indicated are not what he meant!

The first recording featuring the correct tempo speeds was the 9th symphony recorded in Liverpool with the RLPO and Choir featuring Bryn Terfel as the Baritone soloist and what a revelation it is.

This is a finely played, taut performance in which all the tempo changes are scruposly followed particular in the choral finale and reveal a masterpiece even more splendid than the sometimes slow versions we have been fed for the last century at least.

But more goodies are to come, Mackerrs went on to record all the symphonies with the Liverpool Philharmonic over the last decade and the results are very impressive.

My favourites include the 6th Symphony known as the “Pastoral “ which flows like the Brook Beethoven tries to describe in the music of the 2nd movement.

The 8th Symphony is driven on at a fast pace and several passages have been restored for the Bassoon which until now I had never heard and give the work even more character.

the set of Symphonies is now available as a boxed set and can be bought for a bargain price of around £10 if you hunt around on the internet. Altogether a great bargain and for anyone new to Beethovens finest compositions a real must have.

BEETHOVEN; 9 SYMPHONIES. E.M.I. CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE  7243 5 75751 2 6