Beethoven - Symphony 5 [Sawallisch-Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra]This is a logical coupling, of Beethoven's two most popular Symphonies, plus they're like opposites, one soft and gentle, the other hard and ferocious, this EMI cycle is very good indeed, each disc has two Symphonies [except the ninth], with a picture of Sawallisch in a different pose on the front [photo by Paul Huf], writing in black in a gold box, and a different colour scheme, for this one it's purple, very nice indeed.
Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Germany in 1923, and will be 87 later this month, he made this Beethoven Symphony cycle in the early nineties.
The opening movement of the Fifth Symphony is so revolutionary, with Sawallisch this very opening is somewhat blunted, i think it has somewhat to do with the recording, it's muddy in the bass, not enough treble to open out the recording, this opening should 'shock your socks off ', it's powerful, not a whimper, but it could do with more oompff, the performance does get better though, it's amazing the structure of the whole thing, everything permeates this opening motif, dot dot dot dash, everyone in the whole orchestra gets to individually whistle this catchy tune, and it returns again and again in power from everyone, special mention should be made of the timpani, some very nice hits create a great power, plus even the timpani hits out the dot dot dot dash, it's so much the perfect creation, even to the point it's greater than a creation, it's as if it was always there, fossilised in the rock of time, waiting for Beethoven to come along and 'discover' / free it!.
Here's the first movement being conducted by Myung-Whun Chung on YouTube.
