Berlin Classics Basics 0185342BC, 70:46 (Distrib. Albany) ****:
A no-frills packaging of Franz Konwitschny (1901-1962) and his well-honed Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig in a late 1959 reading of Beethoven’s monumental Ninth Symphony makes a powerful addition to the basic record library. Born about 15 years after the generation of German conductors that includes Furtwaengler, Klemperer, and Walter, Konwitschny managed to integrate his operatic career in Dresden and Hannover with a thorough grounding in the symphonic repertory of mainstream Europe. His interpretation of the Ninth is on a grand scale, with strong cadential transitions and plenty of coaxing of the secondary motifs through a volcanic Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso first movement. Flute, bassoon, tympani, and clarinet feature prominently in the course of the emotional throes and harmonic convulsions. The heavens and earth themselves seem to open in contrary motion by the end of the movement, a true apocalypse.
Razor-sharp entries for the Molto vivace, the bassoon again infiltrating the proceedings with a mixture of irony and visceral insinuation. The dancing figures rocket, plummet, twist, and scurry, forcing themselves upon our sensibility like Thor’s hammer. Konwitschny’s emphases on the articulations of the dotted notes becomes quite mesmeric; and the subsequent, hurled tuttis speak with ravishing force. The Toscanini motor influence is there, but the color range is creamier, closer to someone like Fricsay. Great punctuations from the winds and low horns. By the last ritornello, we have been pulverized by the sheer dynamism of Beethoven’s primal energies, and the Adagio must mean a form of redemption. Curiously, Konwitschny moves the double-theme-and-variations rather briskly, letting its metaphysical consolations emanate from within the breathed phrases, as it were.
A rather introverted, pessimistic opening for the final movement, I feel. The music passes through prior motifs, then it makes a dark incursion into the five-note motif that will soon resound with Brotherhood. The strings don’t do much to brighten the effect, but the intensity is certainly palpable. It is the horns that reveal the glory of the moment. Theo Adam in strong voice, but the real curio is Hans-Joachim Rutzsch’s tenor schertzino, sung in the manner of Wagner’s Loki or Mime. A big polyphonic tutti to the “Seid umschlungen, millionen” slow movement. Lovely chorale work from the Leipzig sopranos, the effect as much of Venice as of Berlin. Pedals high and low to transition to the choral fugue, marcato, vivid. Vocal and instrumental rockets to Elysium, human magic in every sense of the term. Recommended as a magnificent blast from the past.
— Gary Lemco
