CLASSICAL
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 ("Pastorale"). Bavarian State Orchestra conducted by Carlos Kleiber. Recorded live November 7, 1983 at the Bavarian State Opera. Orfeo d'Or
UNG-AANG TALAY
This recording of the Pastorale is unique. It captures, live, the only performance that Carlos Kleiber has ever given of the Pastorale.
What's more, it was almost lost. In her notes to this release, Lilian Kleiber explains that, although every performance given by the Bavarian State Orchestra is recorded, the tape made of this one, and this one alone, deteriorated so badly that the sound was irreparably damaged.
But a chance request saved the day. "Fortunately," she writes, "there was in addition to the damaged master tape and audio cassette that had been made during the concert for Kleiber's son. Much to the amazement of the sound engineers, the old cassette turned out to have survived the two intervening decades far better than the stored master copy. With a good deal of patience and musical sensitivity the sound engineer Christoph Stickel succeeded in conjuring the present CD out of the cassette."
The result is no sonic spectacular, but it is very clear and surprisingly well balanced, good enough to allow any listener to experience the interpretation to the full, and what an interpretation it is. When Carlos Kleiber's lightning bolt account of the Fifth Symphony was released by DG in the mid-1970s, it caused a sensation and made it clear that a great Beethoven conductor had arrived. A subsequent recording of the Seventh added to the excitement.
By now those performances, combined on a single CD by DG and re-issued and remastered in different editions, have probably found their way into most serious Beethoven collections. But given the aggressive, quick-tempo, high-voltage style Kleiber revealed in those two highly dramatic symphonies, what might he do with the very different Sixth?
The answer, based on this lone performances, is, very much the same thing. This is not Bruno Walter's leisurely, warm-toned day in the country but an energetic, high-spirited sojourn where the first movement is played so briskly that for the first three minutes I wondered what the conductor was up to.
What he was doing was following the composer's actual tempo markings. The travellers heading out into the country are excited about where they are going and eager to get there, so the horses are moving at a good clip. Listen to how Kleiber phrases the five-note figure that so dominates the movement; there is a little kick at the end of it that gives the music extra spring.
The work relaxes for the episode by the brook, with the strings singing out the theme that begins at 1:03 with as much affections as Walter or Klemperer inspires in them, even if the limitations of the cassette tape recording gives them a bit more of an edge than they must have had when heard live. The romping peasants of the following movement and the thunderstorm have the kind of energy that Toscanini brought to them. The storm really erupts, with the timpani player really whacking the instrument when thunder strikes.
The sound clots up a little as the storm builds, but overloads only very briefly at the climax, just after 2:15. I've heard worse on old studio recordings.
The happiness and thankful feelings expressed by the beloved big tune in the finale come through movingly, even at the unusually quick tempo that Kleiber once again chooses, but here I miss the greater warmth of Klemperer and Berstein/NYP and especially Walter in his stereo recording with the Columbia Symphony.
The audience at this performance had no reservations, though. As Lilian Kleiber remarks in her notes, they react to the performance as if they are coming out of a trance. As the music ends there is a brief spattering of applause, and so it remains until Kleiber asks the orchestra to stand, after which the hall explodes into three minutes of clapping and cheering that is something to hear (all of it is included on the disc and given its own band, so you can programme it out if you want).
Walter's Columbia Symphony recording is still my favourite recorded version of the Pastorale, perhaps because it was the one from which I learned the piece. But this very individual interpretation by Kleiber complements it perfectly. I bought my copy online.
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