GÖTTERFUNKEN: BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO.9 for Two Pianos on Navona Records

GÖTTERFUNKEN

BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9

NINA SMEETS & 

ELIANE RODRIGUES, 2 Pianos

Navona Records NV 6382

 

The title comes from the first line of Friedrich Schiller’s An die Freude (Ode To Joy), which reads Freude, schöne Götterfunken in German or “Joy, beautiful sparks of God” in its English translation. This was the basis of Beethoven’s final symphony, specifically the final choral movement which the world knows and loves as Ode to Joy.

 

This album is a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in an arrangement for two pianos by Brazilian pianist Eliane Rodrigues, based on a two-piano edition by Franz Liszt from 1851. Liszt’s later version for two hands on one piano is better-known (as more recordings exist) but is a superhuman task for the performer, and excellent recordings by Cyprien Katsaris, Konstantin Scherbakov and Idil Biret are proof of that. The version for two pianos allows for more textures and details to be incorporated, especially in the densely-packed finale, besides providing a more efficient (and less taxing) division of labour on four hands. It received its premiere in 1855 at the hands of Clara Schumann and Brahms (Oh, to be a fly on the wall that day!). This new recording by Rodrigues and her daughter Nina Smeets succeeds on most counts.

 

The performance plays for 78 minutes, suggesting spaciousness, width and breadth. As many orchestral recordings clock in under 70 minutes, this one on two pianos appears protracted on initial encounter. The slow movement’s Adagio molto e cantabile does drag a little before picking up speed in the second Andante moderato onwards. It takes the best part of 19 minutes, but not a smidgen of filigreed detail is lost.

 

Elsewhere, there is expectancy and urgency. The opening movement is gripping, and the upping of tempo for the Scherzo increases the excitement. All this better prepares the ears for the Adagio. What of the Ode to Joy finale? When one does not miss the voices, the performance would have succeeded. Both Richard Wagner and Frédéric Kalkbrenner’s solo piano versions of the Ninth include solo and choral voices, but Liszt being Liszt, these almost become an irrelevance. The Rodrigues version, which includes additional textures and a curious brief interlude at the beginning of the finale’s Alla Turca episode, while not straying far from Liszt, succeeds all the same. The fugal episodes, steadily rather than hectically helmed, provide an ecstatic release.

 

This recording’s main rival is Leon McCawley and Ashley Wass on Naxos, which positively breaks the tape at 61 minutes. Rodrigues and Smeets is however swifter in the Scherzo, some indication that their version offers a greater sense of contrast. Listening to Beethoven, Fast or Slow? Take your pick, one is unlikely to be disappointed either way.