Vigorous Beethoven from Teodor Currentzis

Teodor Currentzis leading his Orchestra MusicAeterna (courtesy of Crossover Media)

My first encounter with conductor Teodor Currentzis and his Orchestra MusicAeterna took place in February of 2016 when I wrote an Examiner.com piece about his Sony Classical recording of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Opus 35 violin concerto in D major with soloist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Igor Stravinsky’s “Les noces,” which featured Currentzis’ Chorus MusicAeterna. My overall impression at the time was that both conductor and soloist were prioritizing provocation for the sake of provocation, meaning that, over the course of the entire album, shock value tended to prevail over insight. Nevertheless, Currentzis has maintained a fruitful relationship with both European audiences and Sony.

In 2018 that reputation took MusicAeterna to the Salzburg Festival, where Currentzis conducted his ensemble in the complete cycle of the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven. The Salzburg audiences received these performances enthusiastically, as did the BBC Proms audiences in London, where Currentzis took his show on the road after leaving Salzburg to perform Opus 36 (the second) in D major and Opus 67 (the fifth) in C minor. This was followed immediately by a trip to Vienna, where recordings of two of the symphonies, Opus 67 and Opus 92 (the seventh) in A major, were made for Sony Classical.

While these two symphonies could probably fit together on a single CD, they will be released separately. This was Currentzis’ decision, since he believes (according to the press release) that “each symphony is similar to a novel, and two novels would never be combined in one book.” The first of the two recordings was released at the beginning of this month; and, once again, Amazon.com is currently selling it only for digital download. In this case, however, there seem to be plans for a physical release on June 5; and Amazon has already created a Web page for processing pre-orders.

That same press release claims that, at the Salzburg performance, “Critics were left gasping for breath, or at least adjectives.” For my part this recording did not induce any gasping, which is probably just as well, since, under the current conditions, signs of shortness of breath would be worrying. By the same account, finding adjectives was no struggle. Both “crisp” and “clear” came to mind immediately; and at no time did I find myself searching for adjectives to describe provocation! This recording documents an energetic reading that is likely to engage any attentive listener, regardless of how many past encounters (s)he has had with Opus 67 in performance or on recording.

On the other hand I have to ask myself how likely it will be that I shall return to this new release for subsequent listening. Many readers probably know of my strong allegiance to the interpretations of Wilhelm Furtwängler, not to mention more historically-informed perspectives, like the one on my Nimbus Records album of The Hanover Band. Indeed, prior to the onset of COVID-19 over a month ago, I was getting tempted to push back on the plethora of performances and recordings of Beethoven brought on to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth. Now recordings are my only source of new perspectives; and, in that context, I was delighted to have the opportunity to renew my acquaintance with Currentzis’ approach to performance.