Conducted by the Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Orchestre de Paris performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. Recorded live at the Salle Pleyel on 8 March 2011. Published by the EuroArts channel.
Esa-Pekka Salonen (born June 30, 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Composer-In-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, and Artistic Director and cofounder of the Baltic Sea Festival.
Beethoven composed his 7th symphony between 1811 and 1812. The work is dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries. It is in four movements:
- Poco sostenuto – Vivace starts with a slow introduction – Poco sostenuto – solemn and majestic in character. Then, on the rhythmical background we hear the motif of Part I. This first part brings many new elements, hard to decipher, because perfection expressed through sounds cannot be translated into words.
- Allegretto Like the opening movement of his Fifth Symphony, the Allegretto of the Seventh is an astounding example of how Beethoven could fashion a vast world from the humblest of materials. Historically, it was the most celebrated movement by far. The audience at the premiere clamored for it to be repeated, and Richard Freed reports that it was so notoriously popular throughout the following two decades that it sometimes was substituted for the slow movements of Beethoven”s earlier symphonies. While in the first part the A major sonorities conferred greatness and sumptuousness, the theme in Part II, in A minor, brings a whole new atmosphere, thus emphasizing the contrast between the two.
- Presto – Assai meno presto (trio) represents a splendid triumph in rendering the scherzo form. As a whole, it conveys a genuine bucolic scene with pictural meanings and associations. In Trio, the composer uses a theme from an Austrian folkloric song, the theme of which had been jotted down while Beethoven was in Teplitz.
- Allegro con brio manages an immense joy from beginning to the end. Practically, this is the point where dance begins. Everything is captured by movement like a popular folkloric song. The second theme is in fact a typical tune from a Hungarian dance. The great Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky thought that this segment captures “a whole series of images, full of unrestrained joy, full of bliss and pleasure of life”. Listening to this symphony’s grand finale one can hardly decide what to think more astonishing: Beethoven’s amazing creative fantasy, the impeccable form, the amazing talent in using all the musical resources in developing the themes or his compact, luscious, sumptuous instrumentation. A profusion of secondary themes obsessively hammer home forceful figures, dotted accents and sustained notes, all reminiscent of the elements animating the prior movements but now concentrated and cohesively united. The movement, and the entire symphony, culminates in a final brickbat at customary expression – the first use of a startling triple forte (fff) in any of Beethoven’s scores.
Sources
- Esa-Pekka Salonen on wikipedia
- Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven) on wiki
- Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 on awesomestories.com
- Symphony No.7 on all-about-beethoven.com
- classicalnotes.net
I am Özgür Nevres, a software engineer, an ex-road racing cyclist, and also an amateur musician. I opened andantemoderato.com to share my favorite music. I also take care of stray cats & dogs. Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
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