Beethoven's Sunny Sixth, not quite a Perfect Storm - March 13, 2015

The following is an excerpt of a review, to be published, of the Philadelphia Orchestra's March 13, 2015, concert.

There’s a little suburb just north of Vienna, Austria, where Ludwig van Beethoven, going deaf and considering suicide, retreated in 1802 to write his last will and testament. To the relief of the human race, the composer largely got over his dark slump, and in the same neighborhood, filled with white-washed cottages, golden vineyards, and near a little brook about the size of a drainage ditch, he later worked on his Sixth Symphony, the Pastoral.

The Sixth was premiered in the famous “monster concert” of the composer’s works in the Theater an der Wien on December 22, 1808, when Beethoven was 38. It was the first work on the four-hour-plus program, which also featured the debut of the Fifth Symphony. Often called the sunniest of the master’s nine symphonies, the Sixth formed part of an elegant pre-Spring program March 13, 2015, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cristian Macelaru, conductor-in-residence, at the podium.

The young conductor, winner of the Solti Award and considered a rising star in the symphonic firmament, led the orchestra in a huge, gushing, no-holds-barred performance. Nothing wrong with that; it does justice to Beethoven and brings smiles of delight to winter-weary audiences.

However. Beethoven’s sunniest symphony is also one of his airiest and most transparent. If ever a work cried out for original instruments, scaled down forces, subtle innuendos, and a lighter touch, it is the radiant Sixth. I don’t think it was my location in the Kimmel Center (in Philadelphia, Pa.), since I had the same seat the previous week with no ill effects, but the work at times seemed to slog through the heavy weight of cellos and violas, especially in the opening two movements. As close to program music as a Beethoven symphony gets, these sections seemed less reminiscent of a gurgling brook and more like Thor heaving lightning bolts down the Rhine.

Yet, there were crystalline moments, including some elegant woodwind playing at the end of the second movement, poignant when we recall that by this time, Beethoven could no longer hear birdsongs in the natural world he loved so well. Just as Shakespeare can withstand endless variations and settings, from Italian medieval to American Mafia, Beethoven’s symphonies thrive on a rich variety of interpretations. While not my preferred reading of the Sixth, Macelaru’s version is compelling, exciting, and should keep audiences who value thrills over nuance coming back for more.