COMPOSERS: Beethoven
LABELS: Erato Collection
WORKS: Symphony No. 5 in C minor; Symphony No. 6 in F (Pastoral)
PERFORMER: NHK SO/Wolfgang Sawallisch, New Philharmonia Orchestra/ Theodor Guschlbauer
CATALOGUE NO: 0630-12804-2 ADD (1982/74)
If you really need a budget-price coupling of these two works, you could do a lot worse. Sawallisch’s Fifth (1982) is the more exciting performance, though the sour NHK woodwinds are no match for the impressive string-playing. There’s a real grandeur to the interpretation, whereas Guschlbauer’s 1974 Pastoral is well played but ever so pedestrian; only in the storm does the performance come to life. Erato’s sound is quite acceptable, but the booklet is not. Stephen Maddock
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor; Symphony No. 6 in F (Pastoral)
If you really need a budget-price coupling of these two works, you could do a lot worse. Sawallisch’s Fifth (1982) is the more exciting performance, though the sour NHK woodwinds are no match for the impressive string-playing. There’s a real grandeur to the interpretation, whereas Guschlbauer’s 1974 Pastoral is well played but ever so pedestrian; only in the storm does the performance come to life. Erato’s sound is quite acceptable, but the booklet is not. Stephen Maddock
Our rating
4
