Fear and Admiration

Beethoven: Symphony no. 5

Watch this amazing video of MusicAeterna playing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony under the direction of Teodor Currentzis. With the Sasha Waltz Dance Company & Guests at Radialsystem Berlin, January 2016.



The same mystery, drama and physical movement which inspired Currentzis' interpretation of this amazing music remains in this new recording, to be released four years later. Only now there is even more of each of those components, and it results in one of the most exciting new Beethoven recordings I've heard this century.



Robert Schumann's comments on the Fifth Symphony are especially a propos in this case:

No matter how frequently heard, whether at home or in the concert hall, this symphony invariably wields its power over people of every age like those great phenomena of nature that fill us with fear and admiration at all times, no matter how frequently we may experience them.

Currentzis' high energy level, his brisk tempi, and his pointed dynamics might seem to some exaggerated, but I was completely swept along and swept away, almost, but not completely, against my better judgment. Yes, he's faster than a speeding Toscanini, more powerful than a Von Karajan locomotive, he leaps over tall buildings Klemperer walks around.

I recognize my own tendency to enthusiastically embrace shiny new things, and occasionally I come back with sober second thoughts. Let's see how this works out for me!

This album will be released on May 8, 2020