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The 7th Symphony / Utter Perfection
This video recording of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony…. my absolute favorite symphonic piece… covers every base, IMO, for demonstrating why the symphony orchestra is the behemoth of Western musical expression.
This is not meant as a review, but rather a pure emotional response to a genius work realized by an organization of totally committed musicians, seemingly dedicated to creating a visceral resurrection of musical feeling imagined over two centuries ago.
Much credit is due to the top flight recording and videography of this group of pretty good looking (tho a bit too homogeneous, for my taste) group of youngish musicians. At least there is no gender divide. It is a Dutch group of players, but I thought Holland was pretty heterogeneous these days. Nonetheless, they are fearsome and lovable.
The bee like colony of the string section hums, drones, soars and builds impeccably as if driven by a mad need to perpetuate and protect the hive as well as the melodic madness of LudwigVan. The punctuation and punctuality of the horn section is punctiliously punchy, but still allows plenty
of French Horn buttermilk to soothe out the rambunctious rollick of the third movement. The woodwinds are reedy to the max, their pursed lips pressurizing and perforce suppressing the desire to spit it all out at once. Nothing like a double reed to instill restraint. Beethoven stood between two musical worlds (he did live at the crossroads of the 18th and 19th centuries). The reeds and strings the refined past, the horns and tympani the explosive future.
Ivan Fisher, the conductor is a marvel. A cross between Donald Pleasance and Richard Jenkins from Six Feet Under, Fisher gives one of the best theatrical conductions I have ever seen. Honest, humorous, unabashed, devoted, hyperbolic, communicative…. Considering the conductor does 90% of the work in rehearsal and mostly the players don’t even look at him… well, you can see he’s partying and hamming it up for the video and audience and this only adds and centralizes the spectacle, like a prima ballerina in a roiling Swan Lake.
By the fourth movement I was literally stifling sobs of down to earth ethereality.. Ridiculous, I know.
But that’s what you get in your seventies as your body weakens, your mind entertains delusions and your heart breaks from joy as much as from pain. I imagine Beethoven, though younger (life was shorter, after all), shared similar contradictions. The torment of human existence pushed rudely aside by an irrepressible life force.
Anyway, you can draw your own conclusions. If you’re not familiar with much classical music, the
2nd movement is emotion boggling. For sure Beethoven was a rock star.
Comments
2nd movement "Utter balm"
Thanks for the link to this video; I had not seen this one until now. To me, there is no argument that could dissuade me that the 7th is the most astounding piece of music ever composed. I went through a phase last year in which I listened to at least a little piece of the 7th every single day for weeks and weeks on end. I heard nuances newly discovered on most days. The second movement is indeed imbued with a gravitas that feels heavenly, but the last movement never fails to make me giggle out loud as the orchestra comes screaming out of the starting blocks like a drag racer. Anyone familiar with speed metal could not help but acknowledge that Ludwig was the OG.
Fantastic symphony.
There is something that is, in my opinion, the perfection and it is on the 9th. Precisely at 01:07:47 in this video
I find all of Beethoven's symphonies to be inspiring. He only wrote 9 of them because he really labored over each one. He edited himself until he found musical perfection. Epic works of art on a par with the visual creations of Michelangelo.
@McD, I don’t find all of them that great. The 1st, 2nd and 4th are pretty forgettable. One could say he was still lost in the past early on. I have to listen to the 8th again, which leads me to think it’s not memorable, but maybe I just wasn’t paying attention.
I have my favorites and could rank them but even the lowly 1st has more great stuff than anything Mozart cranked out... for my tastes. Mozart's #40 is catchy like a Pop Symphony.
But Ludwig Van created music that has the construction of marble. No tossed off light weight stuff. Certainly not for everyone but really deep if music is your thing.
For me it's like listening to Jazz... I want to follow what's going on an generate an expectation and then be surprised at the choices being made that exhibit genius. It's interactive.
As you know more and more about music I suspect it opens doors to Mahler and some of the later composers that used Beethoven as a starting point in their careers.
Great performance. Difficult to find a truly good orchestra where "every" musician understands what he/she's doing plus a good conductor to lead them on the right path. When that happens, and when they choose the right piece to play, then the magic happens. Not often enough though!
@McD : When I was young, innocent, and stupid (the last one still holds true...) I mentioned to my most respected music teacher, in a moment of truthfulness, that I didn't think Beethoven's 1st was all that great, just I, ii, IV, V and modulation to this and that. He smiled gently at me and said, "Art, I don't think you're in a position to criticize Beethoven just yet." Best music lesson ever.
More people need to listen to Haydn and Mozart to realize how Ludwig Van changed the symphony into the epic long form event that terminated with the 9th.
Beethoven was being mentored by Haydn when he wrote the 1st so it ends up sounding like the best symphony Haydn ever wrote.
On average Beethoven finished a symphony every 3 years. He agonized over each and every one of them. He wasn't cracking them out to get rich but working hard to make them eternal.
You shouldn’t always listen to your teachers, IMO. There’s no comparison between the 1st and the 3rd 5th 6th 7th and 9th. Everybody’s gotta start somewhere, even geniuses.
Well, of course, he got better and created more innovative work with each new effort.
But It looks like the 4th and 8th didn't work as well for the audience or the critics.
I wonder if various efforts were specifically created for the specific orchestra of the patron funding the work or if he needed to rush for a specific payday. Might be interesting to find a good biography. I wonder which is the definitive biography.
Agree on the ones you list here, though I am less bullish on the third. The sixth is my latest fascination; it has elements unique to LVB symphonies.
@cuscolima the 9th is my other contender for perfection and some days I lean in that direction but it sprawls a bit. Wouldn’t we all like to sprawl with such utter genius?
@lukesleepwalker, I agree, of the five the 3rd is my least favorite, but people make a fuss about it so I included it. Put that aside and you can see how he started banging on all cylinders starting with the 5th.
Here is Ivan Fisher conducting the 8th with the same orchestra. I haven’t listened to it in many years and now I would put it up there with all the symphonies from the 5th on. It has a Straussian feel in the first movements, so less profundity, but the last movement is a rollicking spine tingler.
I am as besotted as you are.
thanks for posting.
I'm with @McD here. I think with more familiarity comes more appreciation. (same for your potshots at the sonatas too.
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Beethoven: ”Rossini @LinearLineman would have been a great composer if his teacher had spanked him enough on the backside."
@Stochastically, I just relistened to Symphony #1. I think the difference between 1,2 and 4 compared to the later symphonies is that the themes are so much better in the last five. You can hear the arranging roots in the first but the melodies are pretty ho hum, IMO.
As to Rossini, I think he did ok without the corporal punishment.
I suspect that between Symphony #1 and the later work @Beethoven listen to a lot of Miles Davis. Miles always teaches listeners to focus on the power of each note to move the listener.