DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (June 13, 2020)
Beethoven's Fourth Symphony is his least known, yet one of his best. Although the first movement is in the so-called sonata form, we find that trying to follow it this way to be a distraction, rather than a help. So, let us rather follow his discoveries.
The times given are for the Furtwangler recording: https://youtu.be/8Ch3EmPjeNw
Yesterday, we played different versions of the Adagio opening. The work is in Bb major, but the opening plays around with all kinds of keys, including Bb minor. Without getting too technical, Beethoven utilizes ambiguity and uncertainty. He keeps you guessing. He's searching for an idea. When he finally arrives at a discovery, he wants to make sure you don't miss it. It's like coming home one day and finding an Elm tree in your living room. You can't miss it.
Starting at 3:15 in this recording, he keeps repeating a single note in anticipation, first softly, then with drum rolls. At 3:38 we hear an upward rush of quick notes, ABbC, repeated: badada, badada, badada, badada badada etc. Can such a simple motif actually be "the discovery" ? That might be too literal. We approached Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as a mystery, a detective story, and identified the short motifs not as ideas in and of themselves, but as clues, that lead us to discovering a process of change. There is no doubt of the importance Beethoven assigned to this quick musical gesture though. He returns to it constantly, and teases us with it for almost a minute, starting at 7:58. Sometimes, the most seemingly insignificant idea can be the key to change.
At 3:42 we arrive at what should be the main theme. Do you hear a theme, or a melody you can sing in the shower? We hear some short scale passages, and arpeggios which seem to derive from the introduction (compare the basson at 4:01 to the violins at 0:32). Small wonder that Carla Maria von Weber objected, saying that there are "no ideas for the hearer to make out."
Actually, it is full of ideas. The two men are speaking different languages. Weber is thinking about the formal requirements and structure of a symphony in his time; Beethoven is sharing the language of creativity and discovery with us. We sense that, and delight in hearing it!
Here is Pablo Casals' version for comparison: https://youtu.be/hWLh0UMQCtM