Beethoven, L. Van: Symphony No. 9, "Choral" / Leonore Overture No. 3 (Danish National Radio Smphony, Malko)

Chronique

Into the extremely slender discography of Nicolai Malko comes this coupling of Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 and Symphony No. 9, taken from the conductor's 25th Jubilee Concert on January 30, 1955, with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir. While they are in their way quite good, only hardcore Malko devotees are likely to take pleasure from them. The Ukrainian-born conductor is his usual straightforward yet subtle self, and these performances are in large part clean, clear, and direct, but the Danish orchestra and chorus are too often unable to comply with his demands. There are moments in the symphony's opening Allegro and Scherzo where the orchestra's unity is as questionable as its intonation, and there are pages in the Finale where the ensemble seems to fray at the edges. Worse yet is the Danish chorus, which seems too small and under-rehearsed to handle the requirements of the score. But all that having been acknowledged, Malko's performances are still terrific; his Leonore Overture has tremendous drive, particularly in its climatic coda, and the Ninth Symphony has the kind of linear intensity Toscanini preferred but with the irresistible relentlessness that Furtwängler advocated. Danacord's remastered sound is acceptable for its time, but no one will mistake it for a post-'50s recording.

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