City Recital Hall, Angel Place
January 20, 2016

Since the Sydney Opera House quietly dropped their World Orchestras series it is depressingly rare nowadays to get a substantial visiting ensemble down under. So when the band is as respected as Belgian period instrument specialists Anima Eterna Brugge it’s something of a ‘not to be missed’ red-letter day. Add to that a chronological survey of the Beethoven symphonies from a group with an award winning set of the same on record and you’d expect a packed house. Sadly that wasn’t the case at City Recital Hall last night. Whether it was Beethoven symphony overload or simply a case of saving the pennies for the big ‘five’ to ‘nine’ later in the marathon remains to be seen. What I would say though is that anyone who thought they might skip this electric opener made a miscalculation.

HIP specialist Jos van Immerseel formed his ensemble 30 years ago to explore the influence of original instruments on the music of the Classical and early-Romantic period, recently bringing his approach to bear on the early 20th century and soon to tackle ‘period’ Messiaen. Meticulous research is complemented by a fierce musical intelligence plus decades of familiarity with Beethoven’s cornerstone works and it pays off here with razor sharp performances full of detail and drama. Take for example the opening overture to The Creatures of Prometheus from 1801 (the same year as the First Symphony). Off it shot with a tremendous burst of energy, the thwack of Koen Plaetinck’s hard sticks ricocheting off of period kettledrums – a real feature of the Anima Eterna sound. The period timbre is ideal for exposing the harmonic daring of the work, which took its cue from some of the innovations in Haydn’s Creation of three years previous. The woodwind are probably the most different in tone from their modern counterparts with woody flutes sounding closer to recorders at times and the buzzing rasp of prominent period bassoons.

For all his reputation as an iconoclast Immerseel cuts a surprisingly dapper figure on the podium. Having got all his interpretive ducks in a row over many years rehearsal and concertising he hardly need ‘do’ anything in these metrical early works. Beethoven was a notoriously emotional and erratic conductor, but no crouching and leaping for Immerseel. Instead he controls it all with a flick of the wrist and a series of well-formed hand gestures, and even from the viewpoint of his black-clad back and shoulders he’s clearly loving every moment.

Beethoven’s First took the late Haydn and Mozart model and expanded upon it relatively modestly to produce an instant tuneful hit that at the time caused relatively little offence to musical sensibilities. No slave to the contentious metronome markings, Immerseel adopts a sensible approach to tempi, brisk but never rushed. When he lets rip (as he frequently does) there is an exciting, cacophonous quality that feels authentically Beethoven. The glorious City Recital Hall accoustic was perfect for simulating what those first Austrian listeners must have experienced. Detail was very much to the fore from the scampering figurations of the opening Allegro, the emphases on dynamic sforzandi throughout and the combination of weight and grace. The timpani rolls were tremendously effective in the cantering open air Menuetto of the third movement while the finale skittered along with an easy charm.

A mere two years later and the Second Symphony is quite a different kettle of fish. Everything seems more ambitious, weightier, more thought through, more experienced in orchestration. Beethoven’s first symphonic scherzo replaces the traditional minuet and it’s fair to say some contemporary critics were flabbergasted. It was “a hideously writhing, wounded dragon that refuses to die, but writhing in its last agonies and, in the fourth movement, bleeding to death,” railed one Viennese critic. A small intonational woodwind hiatus afflicted the opening, but Immerseel’s reading was generally characterised by a richer, more sonorous tone, especially in the far more erudite development section of the Allegro con brio – Beethoven’s most sophisticated movement to date. Crafted and carefully shaped, the pre-Romantic Larghetto prefigured the world of Brahms. The big, warm phrases of the spirited finale gave a hint of what we might expect from tonight’s Eroica. With such fertility of ideas and freshness of interpretation on display, I’d thoroughly recommend a dose of Anima Eterna to anyone feeling Beethovened-out.

Anima Eterna’s Beethoven cycle continues at City Recital Hall and Sydney Opera House until January 25.

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