Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

Albumbeschreibung

With this new milestone in his ongoing collection of Beethoven's symphonies, conductor, actor and perfumer Teodor Currentzis invites us to a feast of rhythm and energy with a resolutely Dionysian feel. According to the Greek conductor, this Seventh Symphony in A major represents the most perfect form ever achieved in the symphony form.

"Each note has its proper place in absolute symmetry", says Currentzis, who compares the symphony to "the flowing lines of a Greek temple - specifically in the Doric style". The structure of the Seventh is "in fact highly complex", says Currentzis. "The secret is to dive into the music towards the freshness and light, then leap into the sacred dance of the second movement, and from there into the scherzo and dancing finale. It is a kind of journey towards freshness, towards a new vitality, the birth of a new cell in a world of contradictions".

Perfectly in control of his music, Teodor Currentzis offers us a most refined version, in which the air seems to circulate between each section of the orchestra, carefully chiselled down to the smallest detail, playing with contrasts and a palette of nuances that we had long ceased to see, without the demonstration and eccentricity that some performers can be reproached for. The splendid acoustics of the great hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, where this record was recorded in the summer of 2018, further enhance the sense of exhilaration and plenitude in this new version, which joins the hundreds of others. © François Hudry/Qobuz