The modern classical music listener may never know it, but Beethoven did compose after Haydn and Mozart and not Wagner and Brahms. Acknowledged as the reformer of the sonata form as used in the symphony, Beethoven did compose two symphonies that, while ground breaking, remained in the established compositional mold of Haydn and Mozart's Classical symphonies.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, Opus 21, was composed between 1799 and 1800 when Beethoven was 29 years old. His deafness had already begun manifesting as tinnitus as early as 1796. The composer’s famous Heiligenstadt Testament was not written until October 1802, a document detailing Beethoven’s anguish over his progressive hearing loss.

Oddly, Beethoven’s sunniest symphony, No. 2 in D major, Opus 36, was written during this period. The master’s first two symphonies show a composer paying homage to his predecessors while boldly expanding their musical language. The First and Second Symphonies are light by Beethoven standards, his writing growing darker and more serious from this time on.

The fortune of Beethoven's Symphonies is that they are always in fashion. In the modern vernacular, Beethoven’s Symphonies have never been out of rotation. There are always individual symphonies and full cycles being recorded. We are currently experiencing an embarrassment of riches from the ongoing recording of cycles by two orchestras and conductors, collectively fine Beethoven interpreters. In the recent articles Two Beethoven Fifths and Two Beethoven Thirds we discussed two titans of the Beethoven book. Here, we find where Beethoven came from and divine where he is going.

Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra (in the first American cycle in decades) on BIS and Philippe Herreweghe and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic on Pentatone are approximately two-thirds the way through their respective cycles. These two parties approach Beethoven from qualitatively different, but well-established directions. Hybrid SACD further adds value to these recordings. When starting with music of the quality of the Beethoven Symphony cycle listener is guaranteed nine sublime pieces of music.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven Symphonies 1 & 6 [Hybrid SACD]
Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska
BIS
2007

Vanska draws broadly from Bernstein and Solti, both of whom characterized their Beethoven with warmth and lushness, a breathing, expanding wall of sound. These characteristics are brought to life in the Super Audio nature of the recording. Vanska’s Beethoven First has mercuric fluidity, shiny, dense, and uniform.

Vanska’s pacing of this early Beethoven symphony is nothing less than perfect. He starts the ball rolling and through that inertia that is Beethoven, the composition comes to life, propelling forward with a relaxed urgency. His closings, particularly of the first movement allegro con brio are Swiss watch precise, thundering staccato codas. Vanska’s is a spiritual Beethoven, deep and thoughtful.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 [Hybrid SACD]
Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Philippe Herreweghe
Pentatone
2007

Like with Herreweghe’s Fifth his performance of the C major symphony is organic and transparent. Herreweghe’s interpretation permits the listener entrance into the music, beckoning us to come in and stay a while. The festivities are sure to be lively. And lively they are. Herreweghe’s use of natural horns is well manifested in his First, bright and tart. Insistent is his pace and determined is his approach. Herreweghe’s and Vanska’s tempi are comparable, but their respective grip on the reins is not.

Vanska is a master of control and flow while Herreweghe likes a bit of the high wire, choosing to conduct with the governor removed. Beethoven sings like an aria in the hands of Herreweghe and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. This is high dramatic stuff. Herreweghe successfully shows Beethoven as the Roman god Janus, looking forward to Wagner and backward to Haydn at the same time.

This review was first published in Blogcritics.org

Time of the Templars
Various Artists

Naxos Records has pioneered the new frontier of media by using an old format – the compact disc. The label founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann redefined the recording and marketing of classical music by providing the standard repertoire at a budget price. The label accomplishes this by using very fine but little known artists and orchestras avoiding the costly use of the named brands. This approach has the added advantage of enabling the label to also record the less-than-standard repertoire and thus offering a broader and more complete product.

In the past 20 years, the label has released an impressive repertoire on an equally impressive number of CDs. Naxos has further branched out into an internet subscription service, audio books, and educational products. While these offerings are notable, Naxos’ true genius is no better manifested than when blurring the lines between these products. The label's release of the boxed set Time of the Templars is a case in point.

Ever since the publication and overwhelming reception of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code the reading public cannot get enough of all things Templar; Note the flood of Templar related fiction that followed The Da Vinci Code: Steve Berry's The Templar Legacy, Raymond Khoury's The Last Templar, and Jorge Molist's The Ring: The Last Knight Templar's Inheritance only to mention a few. Add those books dealing with the period of the 12th through the 14th Centuries and a detailed picture in words of medieval life emerges.

Naxos, with its extensive catalog of alte Musik or early music, is uniquely positioned to provide a soundtrack to this picture of words with Time of the Templars. This three-CD boxed set is divided into three areas of focus: “Music for a Knight,” highlighting both the secular and extra-ecclesial sacred music of the period, “Music of the Church,” concentrating on plainchant as practiced in monasteries, and “Music of the Mediterranean,” encompassing low country music and the music of Israel and Islam.

All of the music assembled here was previously released from several recordings by early music performers. What the Time of the Templars offers both music and listener is a fixed context in which to listen to this music. This writer listened to these selections while reading Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth (1989) and its recent published sequel, World Without End (2007). For Follett’s expansive survey of 13th and 14th Century England, Time of the Templars provided the perfect aural picture of the period, enhancing the stories.

"Music for a Knight" is a bit of a sampler of the music a Knight would have heard, whether he be at church, in the court, or on the road toward Palestine. Thus, the music is divided approximately equally between the sacred, the profane, and the entertaining. Presented here are several selections from the text "Carmina Burana" (made famous 800 years later by composer Carl Orff for his secular cantata of the same name). Hildegard von Bingen provides settings for several sacred texts, among them her beautiful "Kyrie Eleison" and "Alleluia, O Virga Mediatrix."

Hildegard von Bingen's music is not of the pedestrian church variety of the period. This is music of mystic ecstasy. If Heaven exists, Hildegard caught a glimpse before composing. Richard I "Coer de Lion" (Richard the Lionhearted) provides his "Ja nulls homs pris," his only poem to survive with his music, written while he was imprisoned in Durnstein between 1192 and 1194. Polyphony is represented by the Notre Dame School composers Leonin and Perotin in the 4-part organum: "Notum fecit" and the 4-part conductus: "Vetus abit littera."

"Music of the Church" is what even the novice historian would expect: Gregorian chant. This is a complete disc of a cappella monophony, elements of which can still be heard during the Responsorial Psalm of the Mass today. This is peaceful music well performed. No sounds can more quickly evoke the sights, scenes, smells, and sounds of the Middle Ages. "Music of the Mediterranean" exposes the listener to music from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions. It is interesting to note how music equalizes cultures with an art that is truly universal.

Selections:

Disc 1 Walther von der Vogelweide: Palastinalied; Coeur de Lion Richard I: Ja nuls homs pris; Blondel de Nesle: A l'entrant d'este que li tens s'agence; Alfonso X (El Sabio): Cantiga No. 60, "Entre Av'e Eva;" Anonymous: Chominciamento di gioia: Saltarello No. 1; Anponymous: Carmina Burana: Clauso Cronos; Alfonso X (El Sabio): Cantiga No. 213, "Quen serve Santa Maria;" Anonymous: Carmina Burana: Axe Phebus aureo, Katerine collaudemus; Hildegard of Bingen: O pastor animarum; Anonymous: Kyrie eleison, In Dulci Jubilo; Perotin: Viderunt omnes: Notum fecit; Hildegard of Bingen: Kyrie eleison; Vetus abit littera; Hildegard of Bingen: Alleluia, O virga mediatrix; Anonymous: Lamento di Tristano: La Rotta, A la nana, Guardame las vacas.

Disc 2 Anonymous: Introitus: Adorate Deum, Introitus: Da pacem, Introitus: Dominus illuminatio mea Introitus: Laetetur cor; Gradualia: Dirigatur Gradualia: Dirigatur; Gradualia: Domine, Dominus noster; Gradualia: Iacta cogitatum tuum Gradualia: Iacta cogitatum tuum; Gradualia: Laetatus; Versus Alleluiatici: Versus Alleluiatici: Deus, iudex iustus; Versus Alleluiatici: Deus, iudex iustus; Versus Alleluiatici: Laudate Deum; Versus Alleluiatici: Laudate Deum; Offertoria: De profundis; Offertoria: Domine, convertere; Offertoria: Iubilate Deo universa terra; Offertoria: Iustitiae Domini; Communiones: Circuibo; Communiones: Dicit Dominus: Implete hydrias; Communiones: Dominus firmamentum meum; Communiones: Qui manducat; Communiones: Psalm 33, "Gustate et videte."

Disc 3 Carmina Burana: Bache, bene venies; Carmina Burana: Tempus transit gelidum; Carmina Burana: Tempus est iocundum; Dinaresade; Sei willekommen Herre Christ; Kod Bethlehema; Koleda na Bozic; Dudul; Kyrie eleison (Christian-Arabic Tradition, Lebanon) De la crudel morte de Cristo (Laudario di Cortona Ms. 91, Biblioteca Comunale di Cortona); Yunus Emre; Sallalahu ala Muhammed; Pesrev; Ey Derviccsler; Keh Moshe (Traditional Jewish, 12th century); Adam de la Halle; Le jeu de Robin et de Marion (The Play of Robin and Marion) (excerpts).

This review was first published in Blogcritics.org

The beautiful thing about Beethoven's Symphonies is that they are always in vogue. We are currently blessed with the embarrassment of riches from the ongoing recording of symphony cycles from two fine orchestras and conductors. In the recent article Two Beethoven Fifths, we took the bull by the horns and faced the most recognizable piece of classical music on record. Here we turn our attention to Beethoven's groundbreaking Third Symphony, the symphony after which music was never the same again.

Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (Op. 55) is considered by musicologist as the beginning of the end of the Classical Era. Beethoven began composing the symphony in 1803 while in residence in Heiligenstadt. Beethoven had move to Heiligenstadt in late 1801-early 1802 on the advice of his physician, Johann Schmidt, to rest his hearing, which had been giving the composer trouble since 1796, when the composer was 26 years old, and began to fail dramatically at the turn of the century.

It was in Heiligenstadt that Beethoven wrote his famous Heiligenstadt Testament where the composer put to paper the reconciliation of his hearing loss with his determination to live for and through his composing. In the testament, Beethoven alluded to suicidal thought, a fact confounded by the sunny and determined music he composed while there in residence (consider his Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 26).

Beethoven originally considered dedicating the symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven greatly admired ideals and ideology of the French Revolution. The composer saw Napoleon as the embodiment of such ideals but instead, dedicated the work to Prince Franz Joseph Maximillian Lobkowiz.

Beethoven continued to entertain giving the work the title of Bonaparte only to become disgusted and disillusioned when Napoleon proclaimed himself. Urban legend has the composer scratching the name Bonaparte out so violently that he tore a hole in the paper. Beethoven changed the title to Sinfonia eroica, composta per festeggiare il sovvenire d'un grand'uomo ("heroic symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man").

Beethoven composed most of the symphony in late 1803, completing it early in 1804. The symphony was premiered privately in summer 1804 in his patron Prince Lobkowitz's castle Eisenberg in Bohemia. The first public performance was posted in Vienna's Theater an der Wien on April 7, 1805 with the composer conducting. Beethoven's originally scored the symphony for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B flat, 2 bassoons, 3 horns in E flat and C, 2 trumpets in E flat and C, timpani and strings.

The two orchestras and conductors are Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra (in the first American cycle in decades) on BIS and Philippe Herreweghe and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic on Pentatone. These two conductors and orchestras approach Beethoven from two vastly different but well-established directions with two equally unique and fresh performances. Hybrid SACD further adds value to these recordings. When starting with music of the quality of the Beethoven Symphony cycle listener is guaranteed nine sublime pieces of music.
 
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven Symphonies 3 & 8 [Hybrid SACD]
Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska
BIS
2005

Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra expand their sonic palette with their fine recording of the Third Symphony (coupled with the Eighth) as an SACD hybrid. Where their previously released Fifth Symphony was sumptuous but somewhat one dimensional in sound. Gladly, this expands to a three dimensional amphitheater sound that places the listener with the orchestra in the front and on both sides.

While Vanska insists on strict adherence the Beethoven's metronomic documentation, his first movement allegro con brio is slightly slower than those employed by the period history performances popular in the 1980s and '90s. His opening E flat Major chords have command and authority and are briskly delivered before conductor and orchestra settle into a determined momentum. These first two notes have been the most important of the symphony performance since Felix Weingarten squeezed them from The Vienna Philharmonic on to acetate sides in the 1930s. Vanska readily acknowledges this.

The Marcia Funebre: Adagio Assai was a sensation when Beethoven introduced it as the second movement, blowing the sonata form perfected by Haydn and Mozart into ravenous particles. Vanska approaches the movement with a measured determination in the low strings. The conductor and orchestra continue to produce this performance in the third and final movements as if deftly carved from marble. Vanska achieves a heroic resolution to the Eroica that is as stately as it is modern.
 
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 [Hybrid SACD]
Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Philippe Herreweghe
Pentatone
2007

Philippe Herreweghe continues his Beethoven Symphony survey from the vantage point of modern instruments confined by period practices. This was previously accomplished by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his Chamber Orchestra of Europe with his set from the early 1990's. At the time Harnoncourt made quite a stir with his interpretations. Herreweghe is doing the same thing at the close of the 2000s with the incorporation of natural horns and baroque tympani.

Where Herreweghs's previously release Fifth was a piece of music the listener could enter and walk around in, seeing (hearing) the Beethovenian nuances from several different angles, his performance of the Third Symphony is a sonic affair where the listener stands outside the work, circling it and seeing it as the monument it is.

The symphony is presented as a crystalline palace into which the listener may see (hear) its treasures without achieving the intimacy allowed in Herreweghs's Fifth. The Royal Flemish Philharmonic weaves a seamless tapestry of sounds with oboes becoming violas and low horns becoming cellos. Where Vanska is decidedly determined and thoughtful, Herreweghe again performs a high wire act: he initiates the symphony and allows it to develop with its own inertia, directing the performance only enough to keep it from spinning out of control. This makes for an exciting and essential reading of this Beethoven masterpiece.

This review was first published in Blogcritics.org

Franz Liszt was a showoff. The Hungarian pianist and composer was an aristocrat, had movie star looks, and talent to burn. Liszt (1811-1886) did for the piano what Nicolo Paganini (1782-1840) had done previously for the violin, which was to turn the instrument into a vehicle of virtuosity. Where previously composers and performers were subservient to the art of music, Liszt and Paganini promoted the idea of "Artist as Hero," with Liszt pioneering the concept of the piano recital. Both men shamelessly promoted themselves with concerts filled with melodrama and carnival stunts. Both were charlatans; both were visionaries. They were the first Rock Stars.

Liszt's piano pieces were composed for his performance pleasure. They were technically challenging, conceived by Liszt to show off his talent on the concert stage. Piano transcriptions of popular orchestral and operatic pieces of the mid-nineteenth century became a chosen interpretive mode for the pianist. Most popular among Liszt's transcriptions of other composers' work are his preparations of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies.

Liszt began his symphonic transcriptions 1838, completing Symphonies Nos. 5, 6 and 7 the former two being published by Breitkopf & Härtel and the latter by Tobias Haslinger. Five years later, in 1843, Liszt arranged a transcription the Eroica Symphony's Scherzo: Allegro vivace which he had published by Pietro Mechetti in 1850. In 1840, Liszt added these transcriptions to his concert lists, giving them ample exposure for the sale of sheet music.

It would not be until 1863 that Liszt would complete his set at the behest of Breitkopf & Härtel. Liszt reworked the original three transcriptions and sped his way through the remaining Symphonies without losing too much of "the Beethoven" in them. However, the pianist was brought up short on the choral finale of the famous Ninth Symphony. In a fit of frustration, Liszt observed that he may have to accept, "...the impossibility of making any pianoforte arrangement of the 4th movement...that could in any way be...satisfactory."

Regardless, Liszt labored on to adapt the 4th movement for single piano, completing it in 1865. Liszt had previously addressed his fourth movement problems in his transcription for two pianos in 1850. But the pianists persistence paid off in his single piano efforts and the full cycle of transcriptions was published in 1865 and dedicated to Liszt's then son-in-law Hans von Bülow. Liszt's Beethoven Symphony transcriptions remain a mountain in the piano repertoire.

Available recordings of the Liszt-Beethoven transcriptions are sparse whether recorded separately or as a cycle. Glenn Gould recorded scintillating 5th and 6th Symphony performances in the late 1960s. It is a pity he did not commit a full set to tape. Of the complete cycles, there are only three. The first was recorded by French pianist Cyprian Katsaris for Teldec in the 1980s and later re-released by Warner Group in 2006.

Contemporaneously, Harmonia Mundi released a cycle in the late 1980s-early 1990s performed by Jean-Louis Haguenauer, Georges Pludermacher, Alain Planes, Michel Dalberto, and Jean-Claude Pennetier (the Nineth Symphony transcription being for two pianos). These performances were assembled into a box released in 1995. During the same period, English pianist Leslie Howard recorded all of Liszt's piano music for Hyperion. The Beethoven transcriptions made a tidy subset to this mammoth undertaking, being boxed separately and released in 1995.

Shortly before Howard completed his Liszt survey, Naxos began its own program for recording all of Liszt's piano music; using different pianists for each release (the label is currently doing the same for the complete sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti). Wisely, Naxos chose a single, singular pianist in Konstantin Scherbakov to perform the Liszt-Beethoven Cycle. Scherbakov completed his cycle in 2006 at which time it was boxed.

The Naxos Liszt-Beethoven Symphony set is completed with Liszt: Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 (arranged for 2 pianos) (Liszt Complete Piano Music, Vol. 28) with pianists Leon McCawley and Ashley Wass. The two releases make for a most complete survey of Liszt's Beethoven Orchestral transcriptions.
 
Ludwig van Beethoven / Franz Liszt
Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1-9 Transcribed by Liszt
Konstantin Scherbakov
Naxos
2006

Konstantin Scherbakov was born in Barnaul, Siberia in 1963. He has previously recorded the standard Russian repertoire for Naxos including Godowsky, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky. Scherbakov possesses a muscular, aggressive piano style that recalls the great Ukrainian pianist Sviatoslav Richter.

Scherbakov's performance style is well suited for the Liszt transcriptions, giving them a virile life of their own. Scherbakov's set of Liszt transcribed Beethoven Symphonies was originally released as separate discs comprising five volumes of Naxos' Liszt Complete Piano Music. The cycle was released in the following order: Volume 15, LISZT: Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 (1999) Volume 18, LISZT: Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 (2001) Volume 19, LISZT: Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6 (2003) Volume 21, LISZT: Beethoven Symphonies No. 9 (2004) Volume 23, LISZT: Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8 (2006) Box Set: LISZT: Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (2006)

These separate volumes were assembled into the complete box with no additional documentation other than each volume's insert. This is a trend in the repackaging of Naxos discs as themed releases also seen in releases Of Beauty and Light: The Music of Philip Glass and The Silence of Being: The Music of Arvo Part.

Scherbakov dispatches the Beethoven "Big Three" (the Third, Fifth, and Ninth Symphonies) with certain grace and confidence. His pianistic approach is measured in an almost militant, marching way. This can readily be heard in the pianist's performance of the Fist and Second Symphonies, as well as the first movement of the Ninth Symphony. Scherbakov boasts Horowitzian overtones in these performances.

Scherbakov's Sixth Symphony is sunny and bright in the pastoral first three movements and suitably dark and menacing in the thunderstorm before resolving in a reverent fifth movement. Scherbakov's Ninth is scintillating. Liszt wrung his hands over his transcription of the Ninth Symphony for good reason: the fourth movement with its choral sections presents a huge challenge to any transcriber. Scherbakov allows the movement to flow liquid from his fingers, giving the difficult piece a fluid continuity and integration. Scherbakov's Liszt/Beethoven is the set to beat both in price and talent.

Ludwig van Beethoven / Franz Liszt
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Transcribed for Two Pianos by Liszt)
Leon McCawley, Ashley Wass
Naxos
2008

McCawley and Wass' two-piano performance of the Ninth Symphony offers an intriguing comparison to Scherbakov's single piano version. Together they highlight Liszt's genius, both musically and in the arena of public relations. Two pianos not only solve Liszt's problem with the choral fourth movement but also augment the more difficult portions of the first and second movements.

It was obvious that Liszt fretted about this symphony as this two piano version predates the single instrument one by 15 years. This two piano performance is full and satisfying. The listener can readily hear the ideas the composer would incorporate in his final interpretation of the Ninth.

This review was first published in

Germany has made many cultural contributions. Perhaps the greatest was Ludwig van Beethoven. The revolutionary from Bonn threw the doors open from the Classical era into the Romantic era. He did this almost singlehandedly with his Ninth Symphony. Since its premiere in May 7, 1824, the Ninth Symphony has served as the soundtrack for military regimes and as a celebration of freedom. It is more event than performance, something to be seen as well as heard.

Recently made available are two history performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, recorded 30 years apart. The first is the 1977 New Year's Eve Performance by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Herbert von Karajan. This was the same years Karajan recorded the second of his three cycles. This performance is notable for being released as part of the Karajan Centenary celebrating the conductor's 100th birthday, April 5, 2008.

The second DVD release showcasing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has the work as part of a concert in honor of Pope Benedict XVI. This is documentation of a papal concert held in the Paul VI Performance Hall at the Vatican October 27, 2007. The concert was presented by the Bavarian Radio Choir and Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons. Both DVDs show that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is as much an event to be experienced as a piece of music heard.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan
EuroArts
2008

Audio and video technologies have evolved at light speed since the late 1970s when this concert was captured. In spite of this evolution (or because of it) this video cleaned up nicely. The picture is analog-to-digital sharp and the sound is close and powerful. Add to this a performance by the foremost orchestra in the world, The Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by the most famous living conductor, Herbert von Karajan, and this release seamlessly glides into the essential category.

Herbert von Karajan (1908 – 1989) conducted the Berlin Philharmonic for 35 years, succeeding the equally famous Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1955 where he was named artistic director for life. Karajan (along with American Leonard Bernstein) looked like the proper conductor: lithe, virile, shock of magnificent grey hair flying as he conducted in his overtly callisthenic style.

It is obvious the maestro took seriously his conducting when driving the Ninth Symphony bus. There is a certain star-alignment that occurs when a German Orchestra performs the greatest piece of music by a German composer and the performance is directed by a conductor with that shared experience. That alignment exists in this video performance from New Year's Eve, 1977.

The symphony performance can best be described as a controlled hurricane, executed with Teutonic precision. Karajan physically drives the orchestra in the performance, which is crisp and sharp. The sonics are captured and reproduced in such a way that the listener feels as if he or she is among the instruments. The opening tremolo in the first movement is so well defined that the listener can readily hear the un poco maestoso that accompanies the Allegro ma non troppo marking.

the second and third movements are dramatic, particularly in the low stings and horns. Beethoven's dear oboes are very evident here. The finale, surrounding Schiller's An die Freude is powerful and well performed by soloist and chorus. It is grand to listen to this music but it is grander to see it performed. To see it performed by an orchestra founded on the music and directed by a conductor dedicated to it, argues positively for owning this DVD. This is what Beethoven looks and sounds like.

Ludwig van Beethoven, Giovanni Palestrina
Concert in Honour of Pope Benedict XVI
Synphonieorchestrer und Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Maris Jasons
Arthaus Musik
2007

Concert in Honor of Pope Benedict XVI is notable for two things: a crack orchestra and conductor perform and the Holy Father himself requested one of the two pieces performed. Add to this that Joesph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI is the first German pope since Pope Adrian VI was elevated in 1523 and that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is on the slate and the listen can only expect good things.

The concert opens with the Holy Father entering the Paul VI Performance Hall in a manner not unlike the President of the United States entering the Congressional Chamber for the State of the Union address. Once the pope was seated, his holiness is addressed by the current Archbishop of Munich and Freising and the director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The DVD contains an address by the Holy Father and a short documentary, "Götterfunken für den Papst" ("Divine Spark for the Pope").

The music begins with the papal request of Palestrina's "Tu es Petrus", Motet for 6 Voices, sung by the Bavarian Radio Choir under the direction of Maris Jansons. Janson reveals himself as a capable choral conduction, leading the choir through Palestrina's setting of Matthew 16:18-19:

Maestro Jansons immediately take the podium for the symphony. The engineering and sonics are quite outstanding. Impressive as the sound of the Karajan is, Jansons' Ninth Symphony is one for the audiophile ages. His conducted performance is purely organic. The opening tremolo is so clean and clear the listener can hear both the modulating note figure and the scratch of the horsehair on the strings.

Jansons' dynamics are near perfect in this dramatic and exciting performance. The soloists, particularly baritone Michael Volle, are excellent. Where the Karajan performance is a beautiful archival restoration offering the listener an example of the "proper" Beethoven performance, the Jansons' pulls out all the dramatic stops, propelling the work ahead with such a momentum that one expects the orchestra to spin out of control. Jansons keeps the orchestra upright and with the tension of such a high-wire performance produces a superb work of art.

This review was first published in Blogcritics.org

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger replaced the Holy Father John Paul II as pope April 19, 2005 as Benedict XVI. Ratzinger is the first German pope to be elected since Pope Adrian VI in 1523. Ratzinger served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith formerly known as the Holy Office, the historical Inquisition, in his capacity as such censored progressive Catholic theologians Karl Jung and Charles Curran and looks to promise no change from the current anachronistic positions of The Roman Catholic Church on matters including celibacy, birth control, women in the priesthood and homosexuality. A well respected, conservative theologian, Benedict XVI is considered a "bridge" pope between the wildly popular John Paul II and what conservative Vatican members hope will be a more conservative pope from Africa or South America.

One would not expect Benedict XVI to pay any more attention to the priest pedophile scandal than did his predecessor, who did so at the loss of an otherwise exceptional papacy.  Benedict XVI ensured that John Paul II's bruised eye would become a full blown shiner when, during his recent trip to the United States (the first of his new papacy) he met with the survivors of clerical sexual abuse.  The survivors were apparently impressed by the Holy Father.  I, for one, am eating a pound of crow over his Holiness as I have never been a big fan because of his draconian treatment of Kung and Curran.  But Benedict XVI did within three years what John Paul II failed to do in his nearly 30 years, and that was face the music.

I suspect that it will be too much to hope that Benedict XVI would kick Bernard Cardinal Law's fat ass out of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore where he currently serves as the archpriest. That he is not in jail is a travesty.