Beethoven's Seventh/Fourth Movement
Aug. 2nd, 2007 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuI've been comparing recordings of the fourth movement of Beethoven's Symphony #7, which I think is the closest anyone has come to perfection in composing orchestral music. (This from an avid Bach lover.) And I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
Toscanini, NBC Symphony, RCA Red Seal -- Last week I raved about the recording of the Fifth on this same 2-CD set. Well, 3/4 of the Seventh was also extraordinary. Alas, the fourth movement was lacking that special something.
Zander, Philharmonia Orchestra, Telarc -- Yawn. He takes the repeat, which so many people don't and which I think is critical to this movement, but my reaction was "Sigh I get to listen to the exposition again." Which, I suppose, is why so many conductors skip the repeat; but in VII-4 especially that's an indictment of the conductor. You have to work at it to smother the throbbing excitement of this piece.
Bernstein, New York Philharmonic, Sony -- Yay, he took the repeat. I'd like a faster tempo, although he did make me think that it would be very interesting to take the initial exposition fast and then allargando into the repeat, taking the second exposition's A section slower.
In analyzing what I'm missing, I think that I hear the essence of VII-4 as "whiplash," but most of these recordings treat the phrases as legato. (Yes, I know Beethoven wrote a lot of slurs, or at least that's what it says in the Dover edition.)
So here's how I'd conduct it:
In m. 8, I'd like to hear as eighth; sixteenth-rest; accented sixteenth, quarter. In m. 16, I think the violins should play the eighth notes jete, then crescendo the quarter into the second phrase. In 20-23, there's a tug-o'-war going on between the strings and the rest of the orchestra, and we need to feel that tension.
The section at 36, of course, remains legato and will stand out in strong contrast. But at 52 again I'd take every one of those dotted-eighth/sixteenth figures and blast 'em to smithereens: sixteenth, eighth rest, sixteenth, with staccato and accent marks liberally scattered about.
In addition to providing more excitement by emphasizing the rhythmic motive power and the alternative voicings, this also sets up the finale. At m. 362 the 'celli and bassi begin their stealth chromatic legato line; while the other strings are still squabbling over who gets to carry the melody, they don't realize that their scattered motif is now an empty flourish while the real action is happening down below.
So even at mm. 405 et seq, by keeping the ball bouncing back-and-forth between the violins on the downbeat and the brass/winds/timp on the rest of the bar, the discerning listener will still feel the true foundation in the three lower string parts. At 417, finally, the entire orchestra is pulling together as one and we have the grand final crescendi. The brass/wind chord at 427 should be raucously triumphant, almost a jazz-band sound, and at 443 even more so.
Anyway, that's how I hear it in my head.
Toscanini, NBC Symphony, RCA Red Seal -- Last week I raved about the recording of the Fifth on this same 2-CD set. Well, 3/4 of the Seventh was also extraordinary. Alas, the fourth movement was lacking that special something.
Zander, Philharmonia Orchestra, Telarc -- Yawn. He takes the repeat, which so many people don't and which I think is critical to this movement, but my reaction was "Sigh I get to listen to the exposition again." Which, I suppose, is why so many conductors skip the repeat; but in VII-4 especially that's an indictment of the conductor. You have to work at it to smother the throbbing excitement of this piece.
Bernstein, New York Philharmonic, Sony -- Yay, he took the repeat. I'd like a faster tempo, although he did make me think that it would be very interesting to take the initial exposition fast and then allargando into the repeat, taking the second exposition's A section slower.
In analyzing what I'm missing, I think that I hear the essence of VII-4 as "whiplash," but most of these recordings treat the phrases as legato. (Yes, I know Beethoven wrote a lot of slurs, or at least that's what it says in the Dover edition.)
So here's how I'd conduct it:
In m. 8, I'd like to hear as eighth; sixteenth-rest; accented sixteenth, quarter. In m. 16, I think the violins should play the eighth notes jete, then crescendo the quarter into the second phrase. In 20-23, there's a tug-o'-war going on between the strings and the rest of the orchestra, and we need to feel that tension.
The section at 36, of course, remains legato and will stand out in strong contrast. But at 52 again I'd take every one of those dotted-eighth/sixteenth figures and blast 'em to smithereens: sixteenth, eighth rest, sixteenth, with staccato and accent marks liberally scattered about.
In addition to providing more excitement by emphasizing the rhythmic motive power and the alternative voicings, this also sets up the finale. At m. 362 the 'celli and bassi begin their stealth chromatic legato line; while the other strings are still squabbling over who gets to carry the melody, they don't realize that their scattered motif is now an empty flourish while the real action is happening down below.
So even at mm. 405 et seq, by keeping the ball bouncing back-and-forth between the violins on the downbeat and the brass/winds/timp on the rest of the bar, the discerning listener will still feel the true foundation in the three lower string parts. At 417, finally, the entire orchestra is pulling together as one and we have the grand final crescendi. The brass/wind chord at 427 should be raucously triumphant, almost a jazz-band sound, and at 443 even more so.
Anyway, that's how I hear it in my head.