Beethoven - Overtures [Harding-Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie] It's so nice to have a disc dedicated to the very best Overtures of Beethoven, there really is something noble and universal about his Overtures, not merely intros to the main big work, but almost a composite of everything that comes after, it's like a movie trailer that you see, and it looks truly exciting, but when you watch the film, it's not actually any good!, well Beethoven's Overtures are like movie trailers, full of action and suspense, the best little vignettes of the film crammed into a 5-10 minute episode, like microcosms of the universe!.
Daniel Harding is an English Conductor, cutting his teeth alongside Simon Rattle in Birmingham, he made this wonderful recording in 1999, the front cover photo of the booklet [by Ranald Mackechnie] is expertly done, a very intense solo study of Harding, looking straight into the lens, all in focus, but the background is nicely out of focus, a potted tree to the right, with the Virgin logo atop, and the lettering is excellent too, white on his dark shirt, and then the 'Overtures' in dark grey against a lighter background, very nice usage of different fonts, the final product is a truly well balanced shot that has a startling impact.
Most of these Overtures were really thrilling, they had me on the edge of my seat, but it was tracks 1-3, 6 & 8 that were the very best, with track 3 Egmont Overture the very best of them all, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen is as the title explains, a Chamber Orchestra, this gives the sound a certain litheness, instead of a soupy warm sound a mega Orchestra would give, Harding must have also taken some ideas from the historically informed performance brigade, as his Orchestra can at times sound cannily like an original instruments band, he thrashes his forces fiercely in fortissimos, and is then fairly nonchalant in quieter passages, focusing on the contrasts between slow and fast, loud and soft, creating aural g-forces in all sorts of sharp bends, sometimes i wish he would be more lyrical and restrained here and there, less contrasty, you also slightly hear him at work, whether it's breathing, or i guess the mikes picking up him jumping around on the podium, but one thing's for sure, these are certainly startling readings to make you sit up and take notice.
On to the Egmont Overture, Harding emphasises the staccato-ness of the opening phrases, and the woodwind are fairly restrained, but i like the second fanfare in the intro [0:40+], louder than the first, and more menacing, Harding just loves contrasts, you can hear him setting these up, i love the way the violins become agitated and more frantic [2:07+], culminating in a great forte [2:23], and Beethoven has this device of tying us all up in knots, only to release us like he's our saviour [2:38+], a very clever and satisfying device, the strings have upward surges, with an exclamation timpani beat at the end of them [3:09-3:20], Beethoven seems to have an endless array of neat little tricks to tickle our ears, these exclamation beats are all over the piece, the build up again of the strings is excellent [4:17+], which leads to the forte outburst from the brass and timpani [4:33+], this time even more ferocious, lovely timpani hits and rasping brass!, and it's this brass and timpani that have a moment of pure magic right after, a startling couple of beats out of nowhere [4:47], against the grain of the music, but yet perfectly making the music make sense, it's hard to explain, it's as if Beethoven reverses the flow, and the thing ends up standing on its head, the very best moment of the Overture in my mind, into the home straight Beethoven fills the closing pages with a frantic-ness [6:25+], and the dying seconds are anything but a lovely fade, rather a nice military send off! [7:28-7:39], with the piccolo making a superb contribution, three pips on piccolo, one after another, and then two in quick succession, what an outro!, thanks Beethoven / Harding.
Here's Lorin Maazel conducting the Egmont Overture on YouTube.
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