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(Concert Review) BSO plays Beethoven's Fifth
8.08.05
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
TANGLEWOOD
Sunday, August 7, at 2:30
Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, conducting
BRAHMS Nanie, Gesang der Parzen, and Schicksalslied with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Opus 67
There is possibly no piece of music in the classical repertory as well known and loved as BEETHOVEN's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Opus 67, better known as Beethoven's Fifth. Its opening motif of eight notes, four and four, is probably the best known, even by musically illiterate schoolchildren, and many other sections or bits of the work are almost as familiar to those who have never set foot in the concert hall.
It's this popularity as well as elitism that accounts for the low regard the work is now held in some circles -- witness the fact that Sunday's performance of the symphony by the BSO is its first at Tanglewood in nine years.
Well, whether or not the piece really needed a rest, its revival this weekend is a cause for celebration, especially in the revelatory arrangement provided by conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, who caught the audience off guard by taking the podium and without any hesitation or pause plunged right into the piece at a markedly fast pace and with nary a rest between the double-four figures of the opening.
Fruhbeck's Fifth was all rhythm and dynamics, so much so that he seemed to portray Beethoven as a kind of proto-Philip Glass. The ostinatos in the second movement in particular, played just above the level of audibility, were like prelapsarian minimalist figures, although there was nothing minimalist about the dynamic climaxes and melodic swoops that resolved each movement.
Fruhbeck seemed to know what he wanted, and was in his conducting style the polar opposite of James Levine, marking time and dynamics in huge, swooping gestures, visibly scowling at latecomers in the audience, and evincing utter anguish at the boobs in the audience who just had to interrupt the flow of the piece by applauding during the brief pause between the first and second movements.
It has also to be said that BSO players were right there with him the whole time, and credit devolves to them, ultimately, for being so flexible and talented enough to adapt on a weekly or twice a week basis to conductors with such totally different styles.
On this picture perfect day at Tanglewood, the concert started off with three short songs by Brahms. They were works of great beauty, but even moreso , of great impact courtesy of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, which sings with the power and authority of an orchestra. Even if you're not a huge fan of vocal music you owe it to yourself at least once to hear the chorus perform live.
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