Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 'Pastoral'

Brand new, recorded live in Moscow.

To accompany its 2010 catalogue, Fuga Libera invites Beethoven into the prestigious Hall of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and puts him in the hands of the next generation of Russian musicians. Musica Viva, recently appointed Moscow Chamber Orchestra, is regularly conducted by Roger Norrington, Christopher Hogwood and Teodor Currentzis and you can understand why. With its founder and artistic director Alexander Rudin (the prestigious cellist), they produce a fresh view of Beethoven’s symphonies with a distinctive Russian edge.

The previous recording on Sony Classical with the Chamber Orchestra of Basel under the direction of Giovanni Antonini, the founder of Il Giardino Armonico, has shown that the orchestra is capable of fine Beethoven interpretations. The orchestra and conductor were awarded the Echo Klassik prize in 2008 for their readings of the 3rd and 4th symphonies (88697192522) and are reunited here for this recording of symphonies 5 and 6.

As with the previous recordings, preparation has been meticulous down to the last detail, including numerous concerts and rehearsals. These are studio recordings of the highest quality where Antonini’s sparkling musical energy and the highly-motivated orchestra combine forces to ensure an exciting journey through Beethoven’s sound world.

This unusual pairing was not without point. Towards the end of Ein Heldenleben, as Strauss’s hero is lacerated with doubt as to the value and purpose of his existence, he contemplates becoming a shepherd. The idea does not persist. So complete a withdrawal from the world was too drastic a move for a young man possessed of so strong a sense of mission. (Strauss was only 34 when he wrote Ein Heldenleben.) The psychic upheaval has, however, caused him to understand the power of renunciation, a power that will bring true contentment when the time for retirement finally comes. Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony has a not dissimilar trajectory. Beginning with the sensation of ‘pleasant, cheerful feelings awakened on arrival in the countryside’, it ends with a sweet-sung finale during which Beethoven becomes the shepherds, sharing with them their mood of thanksgiving before a distant horn, emblem of autumn and the dying year, sounds its lament. To call either piece ‘programmatic’ is to misrepresent it. Beethoven’s Pastoral does not so much describe nature as explore the feelings it arouses in the human heart and imagination; Ein Heldenleben is as much a study of evolving states of mind as a paean to the heroic ideal. It is also worth remarking that both works offer ingenious adaptations of classical form. Where Beethoven adapts the four-movement symphonic structure by linking scherzo and finale by means of a Storm that takes the idea of a brief preface to the finale into hitherto unimagined territory, so Strauss confounds his critics by creating a tone-poem that has its roots in an extended classical sonata-form structure. There are six sections: first subject (the hero), transitional subject (his adversaries the critics), second subject (his wife and companion in love), development (deeds of war), recapitulation (works of peace and troubled self-analysis), and coda (fulfilment in retirement). From the booklet note ,
Richard Osborne, 2009

Herreweghe is a specialist in Renaissance and Baroque Music and has received many awards. He is recording a series of the works of Beethoven with Pentatone and his CDs of Symphonies 1 & 3 and 5 & 8 have previously been released.

recorded 30 Sep 1947 & 10 Jan 1952

Live recording of a concert given on 28th May 1969 in The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

The international reviews for the recording of the 3rd Symphony were full of praise. “A jewel of musical listening pleasure”, “Beethoven taken seriously”, “Finally a Beethoven for music-lovers”: Bertrand de Billy and the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna now present the 5th and 6th Symphonies. Bertrand de Billy is now one of the most sought after conductors of his generation.