WTN: Riesling & Beethoven

[David M. Bueker]

Lat night Laura, Salil and I attended the Boston Symphony Orchestra's performance of Beethoven's 8th and 9th Symphonies.

Prior to the performance we had a BYO dinner at Bangkok City restaurant in Boston.

2001 Emrich Schonleber Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spatlese
More golden in the glass that I would have expected, but on tasting it's just a little further along the maturity curve, and does not show any "cooked" elements. Likely it saw storage that was not "ideal." Beyond that it was a very nice wine, with ample fruit, substantial minerality & a spicy accent to its elegant profile. It was a great match with our non-spicy appetizers though my duck main course had more sweetness than it could handle.

As for the performance, I enjoyed it very much, though I am no great fan of the 8th, and I thought the 1st movement of the 9th needed a more energetic pace. The 2nd and 4th movements of the 9th were wonderful, with the power and joy of the music fully evident in the BSO & Tanglewood Festival Chorus' efforts. Lorin Maazel was indeed equal to the task, though I found his interpretation a bit Bernstein-esque (read: slow) for my taste. Still, well played and very enjoyable.

David, they all (except Toscanini) get slower as they get older.

Fine wine, food, Beethoven, by definition a fine evening

[David M. Bueker]

David, they all (except Toscanini) get slower as they get older.

Note to self - only attend concerts of Beethoven symphonies with conductors under the age of 30. Not exactly a hippie manifesto, but it'll do.

David, they all (except Toscanini) get slower as they get older.

I was very surprised to see how slow Maazel was conducting last night as I was at the previous weekend's performance of Beethoven's 6th and 7th Symphonies - and he went through those at a pretty quick pace (particularly the final movement of the 7th). No complaints at my end though, I really enjoyed the performance (thought the first two movements of the 9th were excellent), and it was a great evening out.

Maazel strikes me as a musician who has never really fulfilled his great promise. The experts say that he has a wonderful conducting technique and knows how to get exactly what he wants out of an orchestra. The problem for me is that, whilst always polished, he never seems to want to draw the last ounce of excitement, majesty or lyricism out of the music.

Nevertheless he is far too skilled to spoil that great masterpiece, which can largely speak for itself with competent performers.

[David M. Bueker]

Tim,

I was able to dig up a review of Maazel and the BSO doing Beethoven's 6th and 7th (the program Salil saw the prior week) in NYC (he saw it in Boston), and the Times reviewer certainly seems to agree with you. NY Times Review

Comments regarding "fussy tempo manipulations, peculiar accenting and grand showboating gestures and poses" seem to me as spot on.

But you are correct that it is impossible to ruin the 9th with a competent orchestra (and Boston proved more than competent), and I really did enjoy the performance despite my qualms about the tempo.