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BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 4 & No. 7 – Beethoven Orchester Bonn – MDG

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 4 & No. 7 – Beethoven Orchester Bonn – MDG

by | Mar 4, 2017 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies No. 4 & No. 7 – Beethoven Orchester Bonn – MDG multichannel SACD 937-1995-6, 73:35 (1/5/17) ****1/2: It is interesting to consider the position of the the Fourth Symphony Op. 60 in Beethoven’s oeuvre. First, consider the adjacent opus numbers, all products of that brief period of happiness and inspiration around 1806. There is the mighty Violin Concerto Op. 61. The three Razumovsky Quartets, Op. 59, each a world unto itself. And then comes the most distinctive of the concertos, the Fourth in G minor. Has there ever been a series of masterpieces lined up like this? All the more reason to ponder the Fourth Symphony, which is perhaps the least performed of the nine. Schumann esteemed it especially highly, calling it “a graceful Greek nymph standing between two Teutonic giants.” Indeed, I think it is the image of the Eroica Symphony that has the most to do with the relative eclipse of the Fourth. That work saw a seismic shift in the dimensions and technical resources of the medium. In the famous moment in the turbulent development section of the massive first movement, Beethoven makes a full-throated declaration of a C-major chord and immediately superimposes a D-minor […]