Beethoven Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 3, ‘Eroica’ National Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda NSO NSO 0008 (digital only) 72:51 mins
This is the first instalment of what will eventually be a complete set of Beethoven’s Symphonies; each work is to be presented with a visual counterpart, a likeably colourful abstract artwork by Mo Willems (Artist-in-Residence at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, where the National Symphony Orchestra performs). On this evidence it’s too early to say whether the complete set will be indispensable listening for Beethovenians. Equally, it seems unlikely to disappoint.
While the orchestra’s beautifully rounded collective sound is a world away from today’s period-style hegemony, it has such quality in its own right that nothing sounds anachronistic. And Gianandrea Noseda secures from the players an insistently singing sense of line that has this instrumentally-minded composer sounding like one of his more vocally inspired colleagues (for instance Schubert), while in no way short-changing the music’s rhythmic firepower. Tempos are brisk in a way that on the whole convinces: Noseda’s choice for the ‘Eroica’ Symphony’s Allegro con brio first movement feels satisfyingly right, as does the second movement’s ‘Marcia funebre: Adagio assai’, which comes across as it should – a slow march, not a comatose dirge. Noseda includes all the repeat sections indicated by Beethoven; the first movement of the ‘Eroica’ sounds all the more impressively spacious as a result.
The downside is an occasional reliance on too much surface class. To deliver the First Symphony’s finale with such accuracy at this kind of headlong pace is a genuine feat, but the result sounds slick and self-regarding.
Malcolm Hayes