Klaus Tennstedt (conductor)
Live – Volume 6
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastoral’ Op. 68 
Symphony No. 8 Op. 93
Symphony No. 9 ‘Choral’ Op.125
Esther Hinds (soprano), Janis Hardy (mezzo-soprano), Dennis Bailey (tenor), Samuel Ramey (bass)
University of Minnesota Symphonic Chorus
Minnesota Orchestra (6,9)
Boston Symphony Orchestra (8)
rec. 10 November 1989 (6), 5 February 1982 (9), Orchestra Hall, Minnesota;  27 July 1975 (8), Tanglewood Festival
Doremi DHR-8253/4 [2 CDs: 143]

With this release of Volume 6 of six (so far) devoted entirely to symphonies by Beethoven, Doremi have completed a multi-orchestral Beethoven Symphony cycle conducted by Klaus Tennstedt, presented amongst works by other composers and I have listed the various performances that comprises this ‘cycle’ at the end of the article for the reader’s convenience. As before with these issues, documentation is scarce and the sound variable, suggesting that these are not original source recordings, and many of which have also been available for a number of years on unofficial labels. However, collectively, they do enable the listener to asses this conductor’s work with a composer central to both his repertoire, as well as that of virtually every other conductor of note before his time and since.

Tennstedt’s way with Beethoven can best be described as unashamedly Romantic, big-boned and epic. It harks back to an era when Beethoven’s music was routinely viewed as ‘heroic’ and played as such, often with very large orchestras, occasionally with quadruple woodwind (Böhm, Karajan and Carlos Kleiber, to name three), with scant regard for repeats. Tennstedt’s own style is from the central Germanic school of interpretation – those underestimated cycles by André Cluytens and the Berlin Philharmonic, as well as Franz Konwitschny and the Leipzig Gewandhaus often spring to mind, rather than the more volcanic pedal-to-the-metal Toscanini manner, while the shade of Furtwängler occasionally hovers in the background. However, make no mistake; Tennstedt is his own man and his Beethoven style is distinguished by a warmth and humanity that were not important weapons in the arsenal of either Furtwängler or Toscanini, at least not as far as these symphonies were concerned, although Tennstedt’s work in this repertoire is still worthy to stand unashamedly alongside either.

The earliest performance in this set is the Eighth Symphony from 1975 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble wit which Tennstedt enjoyed a long and fruitful association and which, as is so often the case with these releases, comes into direct competition with another Tennstedt recording of the symphony made with the orchestra he was most associated with, the London Philharmonic, on this occasion in the studio [review]. He clearly views this work more as the humorous and light-hearted next-door-neighbour to the mighty Seventh and Ninth Symphonies, rather than adopting the approach of Herbert von Karajan, for example, who builds his own symphonic argument using heavy-duty orchestral battle artillery that would not seem out of place in the Missa Solemnis; as ever with the greatest masterpieces, both approaches work, especially with such masterful exponents on the podium. In contrast to Karajan’s approach, Tennstedt seems keener to highlight the more classical influence of Haydn in this music and is especially successful with the inner movements, with Beethoven’s metronome merrily ticking away with a delicious lightness and gaiety under his watchful baton, before the third movement Minuet begins with the rocking rhythms on the strings and bassoons relaxed and richly voiced. There is little to choose between the interpretations of the live Boston account on this release and the studio recording made with the London Philharmonic for EMI, the latter enjoying inevitably better sonics when compared to the rather dull sounding live performance, which also has the occasional audience noise and applause (but no radio announcer on this occasion), but likewise has the advantage of the spontaneity a live performance inevitably brings.

The Boston concert had a second half featuring the Pastoral Symphony that has long been available on unofficial labels, so I was intrigued to note Doremi has instead chosen a later recording of that work for this issue, specifically one live with the Minnesota Orchestra from 1989. The Pastoral is, unsurprisingly, particularly well-suited to Tennstedt’s warm-hearted Beethoven style; he takes the opening bars of the whole work swiftly, unlike the ruminative ambles of Furtwängler and Eugen Jochum, which is followed by romantic scene painting for The Scene by the Brook, the likes of which would give any self-respecting historically-informed practitioner heart failure; it is, of course, predictably quite wonderful. Unlike nearly everywhere else, Tennstedt does observe the repeat for the peasants’ merrymaking, then unleashes a storm of Mahlerian violence and closes the whole work with a lingering, genuine sadness, as if such elysian fields are being reluctantly abandoned before returning to the dirt and squalor of the city. The sound on this Minnesota recording is rich and full, much better than the sonics for the aforementioned live Boston account, also superior to a further live recording made by Tennstedt with the London Philharmonic in 1992, which has subsequently enjoyed a mainstream release on the orchestra’s own label. Providing the audience’s rustlings and applause do not bother you, this Minnesota account is also better than the EMI studio version (coupled with the studio Eighth symphony mentioned above) and so is, in summary, the finest Tennstedt Pastoral currently available and is a wonderfully warm and humane account by anybody’s standards.

As befitting a great interpreter of Beethoven, Tennstedt saves his best until last with ‘The Choral’. His way with the first movement is bold and dramatic, then a scherzo that is hard-pressed with minimum repeats, a slow movement which is like a Brucknerian adagio, full to the brim with warmth and humanity, while the finale is suitably exultant and distinguished by a coda that is a genuine presto and hugely exciting without turning into the manic sprint to the finishing line of Furtwängler. Although it was not a piece he took into the studio, I am aware of three live recordings already in circulation featuring Tennstedt, all of which are superb. The earliest, on unofficial labels, is also with the Boston Symphony Orchestra some three days after the concert on this very release of the Eighth symphony and featuring a solo quartet of Maralin Niska, Gwendolyn Killebrew, Seth McCoy and Paul Plishka. While this is a very fine performance, it can quickly be dismissed on account of its over-dry sound that makes the timpani in particular sound clattery. Long available on the BBC Legends label, is a 1985 performance taken from that summer’s BBC Prom Season, featuring the London Philharmonic and a distinguished line-up of soloists of Mari-Anne Häggander, Alfreda Hodgson, Robert Tear and Gwynne Howell, with the tenor on especially good form. I have met people who were present at this performance who still talk about it to this day and, indeed, while it takes a couple of minutes to ‘warm up’ once it gets going it is an overwhelming experience. Allowances need to be made for the Royal Albert Hall’s cavernous acoustic that can create odd balances and a ‘blurry’ acoustic which at times also seems to affect ensemble, but this is a great performance of The Choral, warts and all. Incredibly just a mere handful of years later finds Tennstedt conducting his beloved London Philharmonic again in this work – ‘incredibly’ since it was 1992 and is one of his final concerts, a sobering mere seventeen years after the Boston live performance, which took place just as when he was just getting noticed on the international circuit. This time, live at the Royal Festival Hall on the orchestra’s own label, with a solo quartet of Lucia Popp, Ann Murray, Anthony Rolfe Johnson and René Pape, the sound is extremely good for its provenance and the playing excellent, in an interpretation which is marginally broader than before and only just falls short when compared to the Proms account. Up until now, therefore, collectors have had the choice of either having the better sound and orchestral playing of this Festival Hall account, or the fractionally greater performance from seven years earlier from the Proms, with its blurry sound and ensemble slips; but now with this Doremi latest release we have another recording we must consider, this time from Minnesota in 1982.

It is clear from the outset of this live performance that it has a tremendous sense of occasion, presumably inspired by the presence of Tennstedt on the podium. Although the Minnesota Orchestra is arguably not quite in the same league as either the Boston Symphony or the London Philharmonic Orchestras on the previous mentioned recordings, this matters not a jot when they are clearly giving absolutely everything for their conductor. In better sound than the Boston account, better played than The Proms concert and more electrifying than even the Royal Festival version, it is a performance shot through with adrenaline from the very first bar onwards, resulting in a terrific performance for all those present that night in Minnesota’s Orchestral Hall. It is not above criticism: the solo quartet of Esther Hinds, Janis Hardy, Dennis Bailey and Samuel Ramey do not equal either London line-ups, although Ramey is predictably superb, even if the tenor clearly isn’t. If the sonics are better than in Boston and the Royal Albert Hall, they do become a little constricted in the full choral tuttis of the final movement, meaning that the Royal Festival Hall account still has the best sound; nor does the final peroration quite match the overwhelming experience of the 1985 Proms concert. However, make no mistake, once again Klaus Tennstedt delivers a superb Ninth, the likes of which I wonder if I will ever be privileged to witness myself in the concert-hall and, arguably, on balance, the finest of the four extant recordings now available.

Ultimately then, in spite of my caveats, this Doremi two-fer is a winner. Although in the past I have criticised the scanty, non-existent notes, as well as the fact these are not recordings taken from the original master-tapes which has occasionally meant some very disappointing sonics (the New York Philharmonic performance of the Beethoven Fourth Symphony in Volume 4 being the most obvious culprit), what the series – available on compact disc as well as various download options – has revealed is just how great a Beethoven interpreter Klaus Tennstedt was, especially live in the concert hall. In my view, it is arguable that had things turned out differently, a Tennstedt-led recording of a Beethoven symphony cycle could have been of an importance equal to the Mahler cycle he did record; instead – so let us be grateful for what we have been given by Doremi.

Lee Denham

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Reviews of other Beethoven in this series
Symphony No 1 – Toronto Symphony Orchestra 1977 (Volume 5)
Symphony No 2 – Toronto Symphony Orchestra 1977 (Volume 5)
Symphony No 3 ‘Eroica’ – Boston Symphony Orchestra 1977 (Volume 3)
Symphony No 4 – New York Philharmonic Orchestra 1980 (Volume 4)
Symphony No 5 – New York Philharmonic Orchestra 1985 (Volume 4)
Symphony No 5 – Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1976 (Volume 2)
Symphony No 7 – Boston Symphony Orchestra 1977 (Volume 1)