Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, "Choral", Op. 125. Dame Gwyneth Jones (sop); Hanna Schwarz (mez); Rene Kollo (ten); Kurt Moll (bass); Vienna State Opera Chorus; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Leonard Bernstein.

DG (Full price) (CD) 410 859-2GH (71 minutes: ADD). Text and translation included. Recorded at a performance in the Vienna State Opera during September 1979. From 2740 216 (3/80).

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, "Choral", Op. 125. Eileen Farrell (sop); Nan Merriman (mez); Jan Peerce (ten); Norman Scott (bass); Robert Shaw Chorale; NBC Symphony Orchestra / Arturo Toscanini.

RCA Red Seal mono (Full price) (CD) RD85936 (65 minutes: AAD). From EMI ALP1039/40 (4/53).

Selected CD comparisons:

BPO, Karajan (4/87) (DG) 415 832-2GGA

Leipzig Gewandhaus, Masur (12/87) (PHIL) 420 701-2PSL

Some of Leonard Bernstein's recent recorded interpretations have been so idiosyncratic that his general regard for the letter of the score in this eight-year-old Ninth comes as a welcome surprise. All the same, it's a very characteristic performance: Bernstein may not strive after meaning quite so energetically as in his Enigma Variations or his recent Shostakovich Sixth (both also on DG), but there's still the feeling that for him this has to be a great performance. In the Adagio, or towards the end of "Seid umschlungen, Millionen", he lowers the tempo drastically, imparting to the initial stages of the former something of the character of a Victorian moral preamble, and placing all-too-audible strain on the chorus in the latter.

It would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast than the 1952 Toscanini version, though this turned out not to be quite the salutory experience I'd expected. Yes, the feeling for rhythmic impulse, singing line and large-scale architecture are abundantly clear, but the oft-repeated accusation 'fanatical' continues to nag throughout. For all the searing insight, there's a feeling of something held in check, and raging at its confinement The sound has gained in detail in the transfer, but the overall quality remains dry and constricted.

Turning to our listed comparisons offers some compensation, not so much in the plush and portentiously-paced Karajan (DG), as in the Masur (Philips). An unusually perceptive reading this—not quite so grand in conception as Toscanini, yet radiating commitment at every stage, and respectful of the composer's markings to a degree that even the Maestro would have commended.
SJ