Wiener Symphoniker - Beethoven Symphonies 1, 3

The Guardian 60

Wiener Symphoniker/Jordan
(Wiener Symphoniker)

Philippe Jordan is to be the next music director at the Vienna State Opera, but the city’s audiences already know him well as the chief conductor of Vienna’s second-most-famous orchestra, the Wiener Symphoniker. This disc marks the start of the orchestra’s first Beethoven cycle on CD. It might not leap out from the crowded Beethoven shelf, but it is worthwhile. In the glowing acoustic of the Musikverein Jordan drives Symphony No 1 onwards with persuasive, buoyant energy. No 3, the Eroica, gets a big-scale performance full of contrast, though occasionally the density of the rhythmic accompaniments seems to hold the momentum back. What stands out is the depth and variety of colour in the playing – especially in the second movement, which starts with a plaintive, hopeless-sounding oboe solo that gives this funeral march a distinctive keening quality.