It has been a long time since I purchased a Beethoven 9th recording. The last was Abbado with Berlin which was a good recording by big star names, big star orchestra and DG big star sound. Can't really complain about that but it certainly didn't leave any lasting impression in my mind when compared to Jansons and the Bavarian Radio forces.

Jansons is one of those revelatory conductors who can present a familiar (over familiar) work full of revealed details of orchestration sonority and tempo choices. There is nothing radical or self-indulgent about his conducting either.
He's not one of those glamorous show-off conductors fresh from the academy or simply the darling of a major label's public relations department. Jansons is one of our greatest living conductors.

The first movement of the 9th is, to my way of thinking, perhaps Beethoven's greatest creation. Jansons draws attention to the forward-looking aspects of this amazing music, anticipating the opening of Wagner's Das Rheingold and looking further ahead to Brahms. The first movement is a universe unto itself and Jansons takes us deep into that mysterious world Beethoven inhabited in his deafness. The scherzo is not at all ponderous but neither does it look back to the gossamer world of Haydn. The Adagio is not overly sentimental as can become the case with many other recordings.

I have to go back to Furtwängler in Berlin in the 1940s and Karajan in Vienna following the devastation of WW3 to get this sort of visceral, deeply moving interpretations.

The finale is one of those pieces of music that one has heard many times, I was lucky enough to have performed this symphony when a young professional musician and though it is a joy to play the last movement suffers from over-exposure and journalistic and politically motivated hyperbole that discourages an old collector like me from paying attention to the many more recent releases, going back to Bernstein's famous pr event in Berlin at the fall of the Wall.

We are in a new age, since Bernstein's glory, and Jansons presents a 9th that seems to question the same responses that make me yawn at the thought of another performance of this masterpiece. His direction of the last movement is not about getting to the big tune, yet, when the magnificent BRSO chorus enters full-voiced in Freude schöner Götterfunken... goosebumps appeared, this for the first time in years in this piece. That is an accomplishment!

The soloists are on a par with the chorus. All sorts of singers sing this piece. Mozart-sized voices to Wagner-sized voices. Jansons quartet falls somewhere in between. If you are familiar with Wagner I'd say Stoyanova would be an Eva (Meistersinger), Braun a Fricka (Walküre), Schade a David (Meistersinger) and Volle a Beckmesser (Meistersinger again). They are a beautifully blended quartet. Beethoven's vocal writing is notoriously difficult to sing because he really didn't have a feel for vocal composition, at least when compared to composers like Schubert or Haydn, let alone the great opera composers. The soprano is usually the one who falls prey to shrieking and slurring all those little aperçus in the part. Krassimira Stoyanova, who is becoming something of a star herself, is splendid. The others are also very fine, my only very slight and unimportant quibble being Michael Volle, a baritone, singing a part usually sung by a true bass. A bass, to my ears, works better in the opening lines. Volle has the low notes but they do not boom as a Kurt Moll could do and still have the high notes. Again, this is not a detraction of the overall level of excellence in the solo quartet.

The BR Klassik engineers have done a magnificent job of capturing a live event in an unwieldy environment which is usually the case in live performance recordings. The 9th is one piece that I have found benefits from the presence of a rapt audience. The silence of the audience is magnetic.

So if you think you are tired of Beethoven's last symphony try out this recording, I think you will be delighted and moved by the result. I was.

Highly recommended.

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Huntley Dent

Jansons largely succeeds with old-fashioned grandeur

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2011

Jansons took special care with the Beethoven Ninth when he toured with it in 2007, to the Proms in London and Salzburg among other major venues. Here at home he benefits from the superb sound offered by the house label of the Bavarian Radio SO (I've come to expect the highest standards from them), and the orchestra itself sounds as rich in Beethoven as orchestras did forty years ago. This isn't stripped-down, new style Beethoven that keeps up with the influence of the period movement as Abbado and Rattle tried to do in their complete cycles from Vienna and Berlin. But if you venture into old-fashioned, grand Beethoven as Jansons does here, you take a double risk. Critics may accuse you of being retrograde and, more seriously, you will be compared to past greatness from Karajan and Klemperer, whose Ninths have become iconic in the post-Toscanini era.

None of that really matters, naturally, if you are an inspired Beethoven interpreter. Rattle and Abbado aren't, nor is Haitink, whose Beethoven cycle with the London Sym. was the most recent enterprise from the old guard. And Jansons? He gets off to a good start in the first movement with almost enough tension and drama to convince us that he's serious about the importance of Beethoven as titan and revolutionary. There's a lack of mystery and premonition, however, but the movement increases in intensity as it progresses, which is to the good. This isn't Beethoven storming the heavens, but at least he's not politely knocking at the gates.

I'm always worried that Jansons, for all his gifts, will fall back on an instinct for caution and moderation. Happily, he moves on to an energetic, joyous Scherzo - in this music it's the spirit that counts. Otherwise, we wind up with noisy, static repetition. The Scherzo's pacing is fairly measured, as with Klemperer; if only it were as muscular as his Ninths were, especially in concert (see two great examples on the Testament label). Here, the plummy, luscious brass sonority almost but not quite compensates for too many repeats and not enough vigor. The spiritual test of any Ninth is the sublime Adagio, which unfortunately has been rendered cheerful and trivial in recent decades, joining the B minor Mass in the bone yard of defunct awe. Jansons is respectful, somewhat impatient, and glossy. Similar proficient accounts have come from Mehta, Previn, and Maazel, all delivering good-enough interpretations when what is needed is greatness.

By critical consensus the real strength of Jansons' Ninth is the finale. The opening section, which should sound unbridled and spontaneous, comes off as too planned out, with sturdy rhythms that never get liberated. But the playing is beautiful and the conductor's intent serious. Jansons isn't just marking time waiting for the entry of the bass solo to start the show. There is no bass to sing the great summons to universal brotherhood but rather, in the modern manner, a medium-weight baritone. Michael Volle has a good reputation, but he seems strained in this all-important role. The rest of the vocal quartet is well matched, even if there are no stars on the order of Leontyne Price and Jessye Norman -- the roster is Krassimira Stoyanova (soprano), Lioba Braun (alto), Michael Schade (tenor) & Michael Volle (baritone). The tenor does commendably well, although he can't cut through the chorus for his high note at the climax. The chorus itself is very good, and in the big tuttis they impart a sense of passion and fervor, as they must. Spiritual authenticity is what counts in a cornerstone of Western culture during the Romantic era. I have to go along with the consensus and rate the finale the best part of this performance.

I am left with something of a half-a-loaf feeling, grateful that Jansons saw into the heart of the Beethoven Ninth, even if he doesn't convey fully what that heart contains.

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Amazon Customer

A great Ninth

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2013

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wonderful performance and sound quality. The recording captures the drama and greatness of this symphony which sits atop the pinnacle of musical art. This symphony requires a big dramatic performance by a large symphony; performances by lean scaled down orchestras just don't work as well with this Beethoven giant.

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Michelle

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2010

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When you combine the musical genius of Ludwig van Beethoven and Mariss Jansons you're bound to have a winner. Add to the mix one of the worlds greatest orchestras. This recording does not disappoint. I have a new favorite recording of Beethoven's 9th.

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Peter Vinten

Mariss Jansons Beethoven Symphonie NR.9 Rome 2007

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2017

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Mariss Jansons Beethoven Symphonie NR. 9
performed in Rome 2007 and Tokyo 2012 are very, very fine and interesting contributens to to the Beethoven discography.

Mike Microphon

Unbedingt!!

Reviewed in Germany on January 6, 2012

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Ich bin ebenfalls mit der alten Aufnahme von Ferenc Fricsay aufgewachsen. Gute alte Deutsche Grammophon, unzählige Male habe ich sie auf Platte gehört. Dann kam die späte Karajan-Aufnahme Ende der Achtziger, beeindruckend, gewaltig, aber für die Zeit schon etwas zu streng.
Die Aufnahme von Jansons hat einen besonderen Stellenwert: da wäre zunächst der Hintergrund des Deutschen Papstes, Benedikt XVI., und der Umstand, dass sich das riesige Ensemble des Bayerischen Rundfinks mit Sack und Pack in Bewegung setzte, die Alpen überquerte, um in Rom eine Vorstellung zu geben. Was das kostet!!
Im Treck waren auch die Aufnahmeleute des BR, die ohnehin zu besten Teams weltweit gehören. Das Konzert fand im Auditorium des Vatikan (San Paolo) statt, eine günstige akustische Umgebung. Der Petersdom wäre ungeeignet gewesen.
Dies auf der Rechung, durfte man gespannt sein. Und die Erwartungen erfüllten sich. Das Live-Konzert ist außerordentlich gelungen, die Aufzeichnung hervorragend. Keine der alten Aufnahmen kann hier konkurrieren. Eben weil die Technik Fortschritte macht, sollte man immer auf die neuen Aufnahmen achten.
Das Orchester des BR hat ein sehr hohes Niveau, wie man weiß: man achte beispielsweise auf die Bläser im 4. Satz, oder auf die Streicher im Zweiten. Das ist schon Klasse! Die Sänger und der Chor wissen zu überzeugen, von den Solisten sind die Männer (Bass und Tenor) deutlich besser als die Frauen, zum Glück; sie haben die tragenden Partien. Mischung, Dynamik, Balance, Formatierung in SACD, etc., das Label des Bayerischen Rundfunks macht daraus eine vielleicht nicht interpretativ überraschende, aber gewiss bleibende Aufnahme.
So schnell kommt nichts Besseres mehr!

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Melimelomane

Une légère deception

Reviewed in France on December 2, 2010

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En effet, j'attendais beaucoup de cette interprétation.
Mariss Jansons est un des chefs les plus en vue actuellement. Il est responsable de deux orchestres, et pas des moindres : le Concertgebouw et le Symphonique de la radio bavaroise. Deux des meilleures phalanges en exercice avec Vienne, Berlin et Londres. Ce panorama n'étant évidement pas exhaustif.
Donc Jansons et la Radio Bavaroise face à l'Everest de la Symphonie.

Tout d'abord un mot sur l'enregistrement. Les ingénieurs du son ont nettement privilégié les cordes et la petite harmonie laissant les cuivres et les percussions se perdrent dans le lointain.

Cette optique est préjudiciable au premier mouvement en particulier dans le gigantesque sforzando médian où nous attendons vainement l'impact terrifiant de tout l'orchestre dominé par les timbales.
Où sont passés les cataclysmes déclenchés par Furtwängler qui nous laissait pantois après ce passage. A Berlin en 42 Bayreuth 51 ou Lucerne avec le Philarmonia en 1954.

Le 2ème mouvement est une réussite. Cinglant à souhait avec des notes piquées du hautbois qui donnent un air de danse à ce passage. Le tempo est vif et doué d'une motricité qui dynamise l'ensemble de ce scherzo.

Le 3ème mouvement est pour moi une vraie déception. Pris à mon sens beaucoup trop vite. il perd toute profondeur. Par curiosité j'ai fait une rapide comparaison Jansons 13'37, le même temps qu' Harnoncourt :13'34 mais plus vite que Toscanini 14'21 Fricsay 18', le dernier Karajan 15'51.
Le tempo ne fait pas tout, certes, mais je crois que ce passage nécessite un temps élargi pour laisser la musique développer toute sa poésie, son mystère, sa tendresse. Furtwängler autour de 20'nous donne un exemple d'une vision hors du temps !

Le 4ème le fameux « hymne à la joie » est une totale réussite.
Pris dans un tempo qui, lui, est relativement retenu ce mouvement est animé par un seul souffle.
Nous avons le sentiment que Jansons a construit son interprétation tendue vers le final. Les choeurs bavarois se couvrent de gloire projetant "l'hymne à la joie" avec une ferveur et une fougue qui confinent à « l'Acte de Foi ». Appellation chère aux Beethovéniens.

Que dire in fine de cette vision ? Une relative réussite particulièrement dans les mouvements paires
Pour ma part je reste fidele aux titans du passé. Bien évidement Furtwängler. Mais aussi Fricsay, Karajan,Giulini avec Berlin plus proche de nous ,peut être, Barenboïm.

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James F. Pringle

Papal infallability

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2011

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In this special concert for the Pope, the ever-dependable Mariss Jansons produces a superb performance with his Bavarian orchestra and strong singers. My only reservation about the recording is that it would have been preferable to edit out the anticlimax of the restrained applause after Beethoven's ecstatic finale.

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Dietrich Langer

Beethoven 9. Symphonie mit Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Reviewed in Germany on March 4, 2020

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Zum Verkleich mit Berliner Philharmonikern unter Karajan!

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