The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is the caretaker of a long-standing central European Beethoven tradition that cultivates qualities of full-throated sonority, clear textures, and rock-solid rhythms. This type of Beethoven could be termed muscle-music, like the famous muscle-cars of the 1960s (these performances were recorded in 1962). Franz Konwitschny has his orchestra playing like a well-tuned Hemi 550, with power in reserve. Konwitschny invests Symphony No. 2’s first movement with a weight and boldness of utterance that clearly identifies it as precursor to the Eroica’s Allegro con brio. The Leipzig string tone, rich and bright, lends a wonderful sheen to the Larghetto and an exciting ring to the finale. The Fourth Symphony receives a solid old-school reading, with Konwitschny employing the orchestra’s burnished sound to spectacular effect in the first movement’s allegro vivace. Brass and timpani lend a thrilling martial edge to proceedings, and throughout the work Konwitschny achieves a clarity and balance often claimed to be the exclusive provenance of authentic performance specialists. In sum, two stirring and rewarding Beethoven performances, recorded in clear, full, and well-balanced sound that hardly betrays its age.
