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

“Even if you think you know the work intimately, Järvi's interpretation will likely render it afresh in many ways, a precious gift from a major talent.” The Independent, 15th January 2010 *****

“The Bremen Chamber Philharmonic plays superlatively as in earlier releases in this series, and delivers plenty of surprises...There is intensity, disruptiveness and excitement here, and it is well worth listening to.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2010 ***

“With any good Ninth the prospect of an imminent onslaught should posit itself right from the opening bars, and Järvi's certainly does that...Without doubt a worthy climax to a very fine cycle.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2010

"The conclusion to Bernard Haitink's Beethoven cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra was its crowning glory: a performance of the Ninth Symphony of shattering, visionary power. Haitink's mastery of Beethoven's structures has never been in doubt, but what is surprising is how much he seems to have learned from the early music movement in moulding his new approach to these pieces... Yet Haitink pulled everything together in a coda of unbounded joy … This is a Beethoven cycle for our times, an ideal balance of Haitink's newfound sense of discovery in these pieces and the LSO's authority" The Guardian

“…the slow third movement… moves along at a pace few conductors would have employed fifty years ago. Yet it never sounds hurried, and the dramatic brass interruptions towards its close have an appropriately apocalyptic ring. The extraordinarily vivid recording, in which the basses are caught to stupendous effect - especially in their passages of recitative as they reject the first three movements at the opening of the fourth before welcoming the 'Joy' theme - adds hugely to the effect.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2006 ****

“it's a considerable relief to turn to interpreters who respond first of all to the text in front of them...what one actually hears is a symphony composed in 1824 and not 1884...The adroit members of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra adapt themselves accordingly: to horns that parp and bustle, closer to the earth than Gardiner, say, but without the blaring insensitivity of Emmanuel Krivine's band...don't miss de Vriend.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2012

“Love or hate Jan Willem de Vriend’s performance, one of the things he is not afraid of doing is revealing every moment of this piece with sharp and spot-lit scrutiny...This is a tremendous and remarkably revealing performance” MusicWeb International, June 2012

“Jansons takes a broader view of the Choral Symphony than we're used to these days. His solemn approach is most effective in the first movement, bringing out not only the music's rugged grandeur but also the strain of melancholy that runs through it...Jansons's finale benefits from a strong team of soloists, with Michael Volle particularly fine in the all-important baritone part.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 ****

“The key to Jansons's reading is its clarity and understated intensity, the stripping away of all extraneous gesture and, in the finale, of any hint of easy triumphalism...The finale is indeed impressive. Words are clear and pitches secure in which a sense of joy that is at best provisional strongly etched.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2011

“Jansons possesses and harnesses an intense interpretative energy, lending the whole performance an inevitability of direction and giving the symphonic climaxes an utterly natural, visceral force...a fine testament to Jansons’s art and a classic Beethoven “Choral”.” The Telegraph, 21st January 2011 ****

“Philippe Herreweghe's Ninth gets off to a good start, with vivid accounts of the first two movements, aided by fine playing from the Royal Flemish Philharmonic.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2010 ***

“The scherzo is rhythmically alive and exciting, underpinned by powerful contributions from the rather dry-sounding timpani...the sung recitative is dispatched well by David Wilson Johnson...The two choirs sing with real fervour.” International Record Review, July/August 2010

“...the results seem to me undeniably thrilling, especially when projected with the high-octane levels of dynamic energy that are offered by Kristjan Järvi and the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria...[a] stimulating and highly provocative release.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2010 ****

“a Beethoven Ninth of our times” BBC Music Magazine

“Vänskä offers a radical re-think of Beethoven's Choral Symphony, a youthful, brave statement, free of iconic influences. Considered in purely musical terms, his version would better fit the idea of revolution through renewal.
The opening of Vänskä's Choral, though deathly quiet, is chiselled and precise, the first tutti like a fireball from the heavens, much aided by a hugely dynamic recording. Within a mere minute or two, one quality has made its mark with maximum force, namely rhythm, tight as a drum – that, and an astonishing power of projection.
But what is really striking is the muscularity of the playing, its clipped, propulsive phrasing, quite unlike any other modern-instrument version of the Ninth. Suddenly this quirky first movement sounds like tough-grained middleperiod Beethoven, the fugal writing at its centre granitic and purposeful, the music's many calculated repetitions unnervingly obsessive. The contrast with the Bacchanalian Scherzo is more marked than usual, Vänskä again focusing the music's rhythmic profile with unwavering control. The Adagio's quiet opening is breathtaking and although the variations that follow are seamlessly interwoven, the effect is anything but rigid.
Vänskä's finale returns us to the shock and awe of his first moment, with a decisive, tight-lipped opening (the fast tempo held absolutely firm), warmly phrased counterpoint surrounding the 'Ode to Joy' build-up and then, with the unleashing of the voices, an excellent group of soloists and a well drilled chorus who sing as if they really know (and mean) what they're singing.
The tenor's March episode is fairly swift, leading to a razor-sharp fugue. And when the chorus enters, well… In a word, Vänska's finale is full of zeal.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010