BEETHOVEN Symphonies Nos.4 & 8, MEHUL, CHERUBINI

Luigi Cherubini (1760 – 1842) Lodoïska: Overture

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827): Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60 

Nicolas Méhul (1763 – 1817): Symphony No. 1 in G Minor

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93

Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck

2cd Harmonia Mundi France 2022  

The joy of discovery also characterises the new Beethoven recording by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Programmatic juxtapositions with unjustly forgotten symphonies from the Viennese Classical period re-locate Beethoven’s symphonies and show his European view of music and intellectual history. For Beethoven by no means composed as an ‘original genius’, as the still popular image of the composer today would have us believe. In historically informed sound, the works now enter into dialogue again and reveal a view of the multi-coloured musical panorama on the threshold of the 19th century that is as surprising as it is fascinating. Étienne Nicolas Méhul was one of the most successful composers during the French Revolution. A new, literally revolutionary tone, which intensified the music emotionally, broke through from France at that time. Méhul’s first symphonic work also has striking similarities with Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, which was written at the same time. The Bonn master also had great admiration for Luigi Cherubini. Cherubini’s highly expressive “Lodoïska” overture was taken from one of the first “salvation operas”, a genre popular at the time and in whose tradition Beethoven’s “Fidelio” also stands.