Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Polygram Records - #448617
ASIN: B00000428Q

reviewed by Christopher Coleman
for amazon.com

Sir Georg Solti, the Chicago Symphony and Chorus, and soloists Jessye Norman, Reinhild Runkel, Robert Schunk, and Hans Sotin give a spectacular performance of Beethoven's final symphonic work in this London recording from 1987. A first listening captivates with the beauty, power, and excitement of the entire work--not just the well-known finale. Repeated listenings allow concentration on the magnificent details--especially the astonishing balance the orchestra achieves in this densely scored work, so that only in a single passage (m. 486-491 of the first movement) is the challenge Beethoven creates not fully met. Otherwise the clarity of lines should be the envy of every orchestra, even in the complex double fugatos in the last movement. Although this may sound bizarre, in particular the principal bassoonist deserves recognition--Beethoven's frequent use of the bassoon to double melodic lines an octave lower is an unusual orchestrational idiosyncrasy which challenges players to contribute their tone color without being covered in that middle register, and the performer here does so without fail. Still more listenings, perhaps with score, create an appreciation of Beethoven's incredible structural command and rich harmonic language. The complexity of form in the final movement is startling in its innovation, in which the Classical sonata form outline (exposition/development/recapitulation/coda) is married with Baroque contrapuntal structures through a text Beethoven selected and edited, and its subtleties are not easily comprehended. Harmonically the entire work is a marvel, with constant shifts to the most distant relationships from the home key made not only effortlessly, but with a seeming inevitablity. The CSO, under Solti's direction, somehow manage to perform this long and complicated work on all these levels equally superbly.

Solti is not, however, a strict adherent to the score in terms of tempi. The two most significant deviations from the printed tempi are the third movement and the beginning of the fourth movement. The third is marked "Adagio molto e cantabile" with a metronome marking of quarter note = 60, and later "Andante moderato" with quarter note = 63. Beethoven has created a difficult paradox between these two indications--if "very slow" is 60 beats per minute, how can "going moderately" be 63 beats per minute? The difference between the two metronome markings is barely perceivable. Solti sides with the verbal indication and ignores the metronome markings altogether--given that those markings were in fact added some time after the score had originally been presented to the publisher, this seems reasonable--and settles on an original tempo for the movement of almost half the metronome indication, that is, quarter note = 30 beats per minute. Adagio molto it is, indeed, and supremely gorgeous; in my mind Solti has made the correct artistic decision and the piece benefits greatly from it.

In the fourth movement, though, Beethoven not only gives a quick metronome marking (dotted half note [i.e. one measure] = 96) but also the verbal direction "Presto". Here the music is extremely turbulent, with a famous unresolved dissonance played fortissimo (very loud). Solti's interpretation is that the complexity of harmony and line is lost at the tempo Beethoven indicates, and so he sacrifices some of the drama for clarity of line. I feel strongly that the beginning suffers as a result. For me, though, this is the only major flaw in an otherwise riveting performance. Having performed the work myself, having studied the score and listened to many different renditions, I wholeheartedly recommend this one--it is the version I selected for my father's memorial service, as he had requested that the Ode to Joy be played. For me, there can be no higher recommendation.