Beethoven - Overtures

Ludwig van Beethoven 

Overtures

Coriolan

Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, 'The Creatures of Prometheus', Overture

Die Ruinen von Athen, Overture

Fidelio, Overture

Leonore Overture No. 1, Op. 138

Leonore Overture No. 2

Leonore Overture No. 3

Egmont, Overture

Nikolaus Harnoncourt Conductor

Chamber Orchestra of Europe

Harnoncourt’s Beethoven overtures are highly eventful affairs that will have your critical faculties working overtime. Surprises emerge virtually by the bar. For example, the orchestral sonority is ‘heated’ not by the strings (as is so often the case with modern orchestras), but by the woodwind section. Here, the COE’s string tone is sinewy and chaste (violin desks are divided left and right), with lightly brushed bowing and agile phrasing, while the woodwinds sound far mellower than on most rival discs. Harnoncourt’s preference for limpid, baleful woodwind phrasing is familiar from his recordings of baroque music and the option works well in this context. So does the cut and thrust of a decidedly period-sounding brass section, and the brittle rap of timpani; in fact, the overall sound-picture is so novel and exciting that you could be forgiven for suspecting that a standardized interpretative ‘grid’ had been used in all cases. However, attentive listening proves otherwise.

Coriolan features a mobile though never overprominent cello line, the coda more suggesting recollected tragedy than the torture of Coriolan’s plight (Furtwangler’s option). Prometheus opens to thunderclap chords, then busies along excitedly with much animated banter between woodwinds. Harnoncourt resists the temptation to turn this overture into a facile moto perpetuo (the work’s torso is marked Allegro molto con brio) and he supplements the main piece with a tensile rendition of the ballet’s opening “La tempesta”. Die Ruinen von Athen is neon-lit and keenly attenuated and the Fidelio ‘foursome’ – the opera’s overture plus the three Leonores – is delivered with a dramatic impetus that occasionally borders on abruptness. Fidelio itself features a majestic introduction and a leisurely, open-plan Allegro where individual voices take the lead and where, at 5'40'', the opening motive gallops back with tremendous vigour. Leonore No. 1 goes with a swing, although I thought the pauses at 4'11'' and beyond rather overdone. The introduction to Leonore No. 2 suggests intimations of Berlioz (something that had never occurred to me before: for proof, begin at, say, 2'25'') and I was very impressed by the way Harnoncourt tiers the accumulating woodwind lines, from 5'04''. A natural ebb and flow is common to both of these ‘bigger’ Leonore overtures; both feature a first-rate off-stage trumpet, and both have fiery codas (Leonore No. 3’s ‘last blast’ climaxes with colossal power). My one reservation, however is that in each piece the swirling string figurations that adorn pivotal dramatic chords (3'17'' in No. 2; 2'44'' in No. 3) are insufficiently clear. The disc ends with a fairly forceful Egmont overture.

All the recordings except Coriolan are live and convey a luminous, dynamic and realistically three-dimensional sound-stage. Purchase will be mandatory for those without preconceptions; and while not advising the instant disposal of your Klemperers, Toscaninis or Furtwanglers, I can at least assert that Harnoncourt offers a valid and compelling alternative viewpoint. The current presentation of this “New Recording Limited Edition” (to quote a flyer on the box) includes, in addition to the standard booklet-notes, a 56-page catalogue of Harnoncourt CDs and quotations.'

(Gramophone magazine)