'Two fundamentally different symphonies: both works explore feelings from an entirely different point of view. The Fourth is about human feelings and moods: obsession, love (what a melody in the second movement!), happiness, fun, wit, (Beethoven's most humorous finale!). The Sixth is about feelings that nature awakens in us: calmness, meditation, thankfulness. It has been an especially creative process to work on these masterpieces. We discovered that the Fourth Symphony sounds better with natural horns and trumpets. In the Pastorale we used a different seating arrangement, with the winds scattered among the strings, so that each soloist was surrounded by musicians playing the flow of Beethoven's nature music. After the storm, when we hear the first tentative call of the clarinet, answered by the horn from a different mountain, as it were, we found it appropriate to use a solo violin, which is gradually joined by the whole orchestra.' Iván Fischer
Symphony No. 4 In B-Flat Major, Op. 60: I. Adagio - Allegro Vivace
Symphony No. 4 In B-Flat Major, Op. 60: II. Adagio
Symphony No. 4 In B-Flat Major, Op. 60: III. Allegro Vivace
Symphony No. 4 In B-Flat Major, Op. 60: IV. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
Symphony No. 6 In F Major, Op. 68 - "Pastoral": I. Allegro Ma Non Troppo - "Angenehme, Heitere Empfindungen Welche Bei Der Ankunft Auf Dem Lande Im Menschen Erwachen"
Symphony No. 6 In F Major, Op. 68 - "Pastoral": II. Andante Molto Mosso - "Szene Am Bach"
Symphony No. 6 In F Major, Op. 68 - "Pastoral": III. Allegro - "Lustiges Zusammensein Der Landleute"
Symphony No. 6 In F Major, Op. 68 - "Pastoral": IV. Allegro - "Donner. Sturm"
Symphony No. 6 In F Major, Op. 68 - "Pastoral": V. Allegretto - "Hirtengesang, Woltätige, Mit Dank An Die Gottheit Verbundene Gefuhle Nach Dem Sturm"
January 2011
****
“Fischer finds more mystery in the slow introduction to the first movement of the Fourth Symphony than many other conductors...And it gets better and better: there's a beautiful, singing quality to the Adagio, and the neat, pointed performance of the last movement is all you could wish for.”
January 2011
“The specifically "east of Vienna" dimension is not merely felt in the fiery thrust of the 2/4 section of the "Peasant's Merrymaking". It is all-pervasive. Iván Fischer's direction is in the Toscanini class in its clarity and verve.”
The Independent on Sunday
24th October 2010
“Fischer only invokes fevered revolution at certain moments and elsewhere concentrates on well-argued phrases and a general sense of wonderment ...Woodwind and brass detailing is excellent throughout, while the sublime close leaves you itching to hear Fischer's Seventh.”
4th December 2010
****
“Warmth, grace, bubbling energy: these are among the winning attributes of Fischer’s performances, with his Budapest Festival Orchestra, of Beethoven’s fourth and sixth symphonies. Plus a little presumption: ignoring the score, Fischer launches the sixth’s finale with a solo violin, not the full corpus.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
Symphony No. 4 In B-Flat Major, Op. 60: I. Adagio - Allegro Vivace
