Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 5 & 6
Kammerakademie Potsdam/Antonello Manacorda
Sony Classical G010004944623F (digital) 77:22 mins
How do you make Beethoven sound fresh? When a new recording of pieces like the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies comes out, that’s almost always the question I have in mind. The CD shelves and streaming sites are already stuffed with Beethoven done in all sorts of ways, whether it’s monumental and philosophical or fleet-footed and agile – it can be hard for an album to find its space.
But the Kammerakademie Potsdam bursts onto the scene with energy and vigour in this worthwhile follow-up to its volume of the First, Second and Seventh Symphonies. Played on modern instruments but with a strong awareness of historical performance, the Fifth and Sixth show off the orchestra’s taut ensemble playing, rhythmic discipline and sense of drama. Conductor Antonello Manacorda is no slouch when it comes to tempos – the opening of the ‘Pastoral’, for instance, finds his musicians hot-footing it to the countryside – but despite his drive, the music rarely feels rushed.
The Fifth Symphony’s journey from tragedy to triumph is paced with assurance, but with plenty of attention for the score’s idiosyncratic details to shine: the curious, poignant oboe solo in the first movement, for instance, or the insistent cadences at the end. And in the Sixth, the orchestra relishes the music’s pictorial details, transporting us with lilting ease to the brook and through insistent outbursts into the heart of a storm. Rebecca Franks
