Haitink's Beethoven

BEETHOVEN.

I appreciate the slap-in-face. I remember people pouring acid all over the LSO when it scheduled a full Beethoven symphony cycle under Bernard Haitink. I think it went something like “oh and the highlight of LSO’s season is guess what … Beethoven symphony cycle” along with collective yawns and smirks.

Turned out so differently from what was expected. It was not run of the mill, apparently. I was expecting some run-of-the-mill go-through-motion Pastoral when I was tuning in on KrisWorld. But instead I sat up and thoroughly went into the music. The second movement was so serene and rich, and the woodwind so intoxicatingly appropriate for the programme and mood of the music. The third movement felt a tad too boisterous, but it was after all merrymaking. The storm felt a bit overdone and rushed, but it was after all a storm. The final movement was another highlight – especially towards the end when the luscious strings sung the final hymn.

I couldn’t wait to fly back to Singapore to find the CD. But that couldn’t possibly be the case of course. And even now when I’m back in Singapore I can’t find the CD. So I had to settle for MP3s and emusic (which apparently has had 20,000 new subscribers since its foray into UK a few months ago). That is not perfect cos’ of the way the tracks were ripped … no longer non-stop and with some errors in them. Urgh. But still good enough to give a stereo rendition. Then the 9th, then the 7th, then the 5th …

Okay the 5th sounds a bit too under-laboured. A good place to stop. But I’ll grab the 6th and 9th when I can finally find them somewhere. LSO Lives On.