Recording Review #52: Beautified Beethoven

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 "Eroica" (Complete Symphonies Vol. 2). Kristiina Poska, conductor; Flanders Symphony Orchestra. Fuga Libera FUG830. 

A search for "Beethoven Symphony No. 3" on Presto Music's website yields 3,862 results. True, a search for No. 2 turns up less than half of that. But Poska's Beethoven Second with the FSO here is much less a problem for me than their Eroica. Actually, the latter half of this Eroica is okay; it's the first half, and especially the first movement, to which I object. While listening to it I felt eager to jump to any of those other 3,861 recordings and more. Anything to make this manicured misfire stop. 

Because the character is off. Way off. Poska files down the sharp edges, rounds the corners, and dresses the whole front half of the symphony up in a pretty bow tie. Beethoven positively peppers his big opening gambit with sforzandos, surging builds, and jarring chords. You wouldn't know it by this performance. It is so genteel that I almost thought I was listening to Boccherini's famous minuet instead (they're both in triple meter). I didn't feel Beethoven's existential crisis that kicked off his Second Creative Period, nor any epic struggle, nor Napoleonic heroics, nor even much passion. I felt a lot more like going out and asking some billionaire's butler if he has any Grey Poupon. A proper Eroica gives off a lot more force, and an almost manic sense of urgency. This one, at least its beginning, sounds emasculated. 

While the second movement is better, I'm still missing most of what makes this funeral march so powerful. Poska and Co. get the markings in the score right, but they miss the soul. The first movement should be an exhilarating experience followed by an emotionally exhausting one. Although it's unfair of me to expect anything like the greatest performance of this movement I've ever heard (Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic live in 1950, which can be found here), we definitely need more than the present conductor and orchestra give it. 

The back half of the Eroica Symphony counterbalances the first in terms of relieved dramatic intensity. This proves advantageous for Poska and her group, who get something of a reprieve there. The scherzo skips along nicely, with good sound and balance. While drama does occasionally return in the finale, I found Poska's attention to contrapuntal and dynamic details a boon to helping her do it justice. If this Eroica consisted only of movements 3 and 4, I'd recommend it as a solid if undistinguished reading. 

 

Which is what I would call the Second Symphony's performance here. Everything is done fairly well, particularly the middle movements. (Though, I'm perhaps missing just a touch of the raucous humor in the finale.) But I mean, there are SO many fine Seconds. Do you need this one? Ehh. We definitely can do better with the Eroica. Go ahead and listen to it and see if you agree with me. But even if you don't, I dare you to buy it. 

Verdict: Collectors Only