So this was the ultimate clash of the titans — but was the conclusion of Edinburgh’s Beethoven and Bruckner cycles really a fair match? In the red corner, Beethoven’s Ninth, and the certain journey towards explosive joy; in the blue, Bruckner’s Ninth, and an anguished, unfinished final curtain.
In fact the juxtaposition proved fascinating. For the last Beethoven symphony in his cycle, Charles Mackerras opted for the Philharmonia over the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and was able to draw on the orchestra’s richer strings to shape a fuller tone, particularly in a lithe but majestic adagio. But having the Philharmonia at his disposal didn’t mean that Mackerras was likely to abandon the sharp accents and fierce momentum that have galvanised the cycle thus far. The force of the opening movement was shattering: a remorseless ride that coloured the entire symphony and found its escape valve only in the finale’s choral apotheosis.
It wasn’t perfect. The Edinburgh Festival Chorus couldn’t quite respond with absolute surety to Mackerras’s freneticism. The baritone Detlef Roth needed more volume to match his fervour, while the remaining soloists didn’t carry over chorus and orchestra with absolute certainty. But Mackerras’s Beethoven — fresh, startling, unsettling — remains completely convincing.
And Bruckner? Tellingly, the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s fabulous performance under Jirí Belohlávek took a prominent look back at Beethoven — and found contemplative, inspiring order in the later composer’s last thoughts. The orchestra played as if their lives depended on it, pulling together for the tremendous climaxes with almost indecent ease. And as so often with Belohlávek, there was no fancy trickery — just magisterial control guiding us naturally to the poignant final bars of the closing adagio.
If only Llyr Williams had made it three out of three for the final day of the Edinburgh triples. For many, he did: the bravos rang out long and loud for the Welsh pianist’s performance of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier sonata. But I found his unblinkingly hard-edged interpretation awkward listening: remote, closed off and unsympathetic. Still, many said the same of Beethoven the man.