Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral'

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In the firm momentum, sleek moulding and Classically wind-heavy balancing of the inner movements may be detected the ghostly hand of Richard Strauss upon his friend’s shoulder. In the second... — Gramophone Magazine, January 2018 More…

Release Date: 13th Oct 2017
Catalogue No: C935171B
Label: Orfeo
Length: 71 minutes

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Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral'

Work length1:11:13

Album only

Gundula Janowitz (soprano), Grace Bumbry (alto), Jess Thomas (tenor), George London (baritone)
Bayreuther Festspielorchester, Bayreuth Festival
Karl Böhm
Recorded: 23 July 1963
Recording Venue: Festspielhaus Bayreuth, Germany

I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso

Track length16:01

$4.00

$5.15

$7.00

II. Molto vivace

Track length12:10

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

III. Adagio molto e cantabile - Andante moderato

Track length17:10

$4.00

$5.15

$7.00

IV. Finale. Presto - Allegro assai

Track length25:52

Album only

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The well-known 'classical' exception to the canon of ten Wagner works that can be performed on the Green Hill goes back to the master himself: it is of course Beethovens Ninth Symphony. The most famous recording of one of the rare Bayreuth performances of the symphony is of the legendary concert that reopened the Bayreuth Festival after the Second World War, in 1951, with Wilhelm Furtwängler on the rostrum. That recording was released for the first time, officially and uncut, by Orfeo in association with the Bayreuth Festival in 2008. In 1954, Furtwängler conducted the Ninth a second time. Much less well-known, and issued here for the first time in a live recording, is a performance conducted by Karl Böhm in 1963 to mark the 150th anniversary of Richard Wagners birth and the 80th anniversary of his death. Here we witness the emergence of a new musical generation. Böhm had made his Bayreuth debut the year before with Tristan, which he returned to in 1963, additionally taking over Meistersinger the following year and the Ring in 1965; he thus became one of the defining Bayreuth conductors of the 60s. Böhm chose a version with the orchestra retouched in places by Wagner himself and with a much strengthened choir of 217 singers. The performance is nevertheless poles apart from the pathos and impulsive exuberance of Furtwänglers interpretative style of the previous decade. Böhms conducting is extraordinarily concentrated, collected, rigorous in its forward impetus, and as a result liberating and, on another level, enthralling thanks in part also to a glittering quartet of soloists: Gundula Janowitz, Grace Bumbry, Jess Thomas and George London, some of the best voices at Bayreuth in those years.

Reviews

January 2018

In the firm momentum, sleek moulding and Classically wind-heavy balancing of the inner movements may be detected the ghostly hand of Richard Strauss upon his friend’s shoulder. In the second theme of the Adagio there is playing of great and joyful communion, between winds and strings, between Böhm and his men…More as a historical than a musical document, the release is significant.

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