Beethoven The Symphonies and Reflections (Box Set)

It is every great conductor’s dream to survey Beethoven’s nine symphonies, arguably the most influential series of such works ever written. For Mariss Jansons, such survey has been a long time coming, finally becoming a reality with these magnificent performances with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, one of the greatest in the world. In 2008, Gramophone placed the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra sixth in the world, ahead of numerous (far) more fancied competitors. As Michael McManus, who attended the recordings and spoke with Jansons reports in Gramophone: ‘At the end of this tour I’ve never wanted less to be a critic. Sometimes a combination of repertoire, location and artists creates a rare alchemy that renders criticism otiose, fatuous and simply inappropriate. Jansons and his band have something valid and fresh to say in every single symphony, so the cycle is far more than the sum of its parts. I’ve intensely and intensively revisited the “Beethoven nine”, which I regard as collectively one of the greatest achievements of Western civilisation, and shared that journey with artists of the highest order and the most appreciative audience I’ve ever encountered – all half a world away from home.’ These live recordings from Suntory Hall, Tokyo, in 2012 capture the ‘particular intensity during the \[preceding\] five or six months, \[when\] Jansons has immersed himself in all things Beethoven: “I am totally mad about this music,” he informs the small group of European journalists. “Now, if someone asks me who is the best composer, I have to say Beethoven. In my head I know that’s not right, but emotionally I can give no other answer.” This 6-CD edition is supplemented by works personally commissioned by Mariss Jansons from internationally renowned contemporary composers such as Johannes Maria Staud, Misato Mochizuki, Rodion Shchedrin, Raminta Serksnyte, Giya Kancheli and Jorg Widmann, the requirement being that each should refer to a Beethoven symphony.

Review:
At first blush, this 2013 BR Klassik set appears to be a standard cycle of Ludwig van Beethoven’s nine symphonies, conducted with insight by Mariss Jansons and performed with élan by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. But closer inspection shows that additional works by modern composers are included as “reflections” on Beethoven’s music, in varying degrees of homage and pastiche. The performances of Beethoven’s sym­phonies are mainstream interpretations, and Jansons offers no surprises in these efficient and elegant readings. The tribute pieces, on the other hand, are quite adventurous in their avant-garde techniques and sometimes shocking in their aggression – what one might imagine Beethoven would compose today if he were our contemporary. The performances are live, taken from concerts in Munich and Tokyo, and the playing is quite exciting and spontaneous, giving off sparks in the works by Johannes Maria Staud, Misato Mochizuki, Rodion Shchedrin, Raminta Serksnyté, Giya Kancheli, and Jörg Widmann. If anyone needed evidence to show how Beethoven’s in­fluence persists, these pieces would fill the bill, even as abstruse and distant as they are from the source of inspiration. But even though these curious pieces deserve a hearing, most listeners will give the symphonies more attention, and rightly so.
Blair Sanderson, AllMusic.com