Those who have heard the high-octane recordings of conductor Teodor Currentzis and his MusicAeterna orchestra of Perm might have wondered how his approach to Mozart might be applied to the Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, of Beethoven, a work where a big, bacchanalian sound is already more or less the default. As it happens, Currentzis does not attempt some kind of even greater peroration than usual, and one begins to wonder whether what he's after is simply to run counter to type when he thinks that's justified. There ...
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Those who have heard the high-octane recordings of conductor Teodor Currentzis and his MusicAeterna orchestra of Perm might have wondered how his approach to Mozart might be applied to the Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, of Beethoven, a work where a big, bacchanalian sound is already more or less the default. As it happens, Currentzis does not attempt some kind of even greater peroration than usual, and one begins to wonder whether what he's after is simply to run counter to type when he thinks that's justified. There are no blaring horns here, and the tempos, while quick (the Trio of the Scherzo actually works very well in this regard), are not out of line with those in any number of other readings. Instead, Currentzis deploys the formidable sense of ensemble he has built with MusicAeterna in new ways, bringing out structural details in the music that are lost with the dithyrambic approach. These are often apparent in the lower strings, and just tracing the syncopated figures as they rise from...
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