Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra :: Bruno Walter & the Columbia Symphony Orchestra Perform Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica,' & the 'Coriolan' Overture (Stereo CD)

A good, traditional version of the Eroica - but how good to

Discophage | France | 03/05/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Walter's Eroica, recorded in January 1958 and his third studio recording after those he made in 1941 and 1949 with the New York Phil, is an excellent, traditional reading. By that I mean that the tempos are almost always slow, a far cry not only from Beethoven's controversially fast metronome marks but even from what the tempo indications at the beginning of each movement seem to suggest: "Allegro con brio" (1st movement), "Allegro vivace" (3rd), "Allegro molto" (finale).



Walter's first movement is spacious, leisurely, powerful in a heavy way rather than violent and biting like Toscanini's (Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3) or Bernstein's (Symphony 3 " Eroica ", The Bernstein Century - Beethoven: Symphony no 3 'Eroica' / Bernstein, New York PO) or Leibowitz' (Symphonies No. 1 & 3). In fact it moves at the same pace as Furtwängler's (I am referring here to his final, 1952 recording, Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 "Eroica"), but it certainly feels faster, because Walter benefits from much better (and stereo) sound, his accents are more muscular and his brass blazing. But the overall impression it conveys is that of gentleness. He takes the Funeral March at a very moderate tempo, though he doesn't turn into a quasi motionless funeral lament as Furtwängler, and he invests it with much power and weight (the apparently small number of double-basses works wonders here), rising even to genuine dramatic intensity in the fugato in the "Minore" section starting at 6:38, thanks to a dramatic acceleration of tempo (from 60 quarter-notes/minute to 84, to be compared to Beethoven's 80 metronome mark). Still he doesn't reach the white-heat dramatic intensity of Toscanini or Scherchen: with Walter it sounds less like a march than like a meditation on the passing of things. But on its own terms, it works. His scherzo is perfect, almost at Beethoven's tempo (112 against 116), while most of the "fast" versions from those days (Toscanini, Szell, Leibowitz) are in fact faster here (from 120 to Toscanini's hair-raising 128). But the finale's "allegro molto" sets off at such a snail's pace, you'd think an old man riddled with arthritis trying to run. That's only the turbulent intro, and the theme and variations per se can take that deliberate, gentle and balletic approach much better. Thank God it remains a far cry from Furtwängler's trudging 44 half-notes/mn (but Furtwängler does accelerate later in the movement), and it doesn't preclude moments of genuine grandeur. But it doesn't generate much excitement either, I find.



This is certainly a version I'd recommend to the traditionalists, and I think it certainly gives a better view of that tradition than Furtwängler's famed 1952 recording (and also controversial, as it is not viewed as his best one even by his fans), because of its much better sound and greater muscularity.



But that leaves open the question of how true and good to Beethoven that tradition is. To me, it ain't so much, on both counts: not so true - see my comments on Beethoven's tempo indications. By no stretch of the imagination can the tempos adopted by Walter - except in the scherzo - be considered anywhere near what Beethoven indicates in his scores - and that is even leaving aside the controversial question of his metronome marks, which the composer added much later. Not so good, either. What is lost in the process, at least in the two outer movements, that you get in loads with Toscanini, Bernstein, Scherchen (Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6) and Leibowitz, is the youthful brashness, the ebullience, the explosiveness, the sheer joy, the excitement. And I happen to think that the revolutionary and trail-blazing aspect of Beethoven is best expressed with these values. Still it is enjoyable as an alternative view, imbued with Walter's gentleness and kindness, and not devoid of muscularity, power and drama.

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