Beethoven: Complete Symphonies / Royal Flemish Philharmonic; Phillippe Herreweghe

In the words of Philippe Herreweghe, who leads the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in this new complete recording of the symphonic cycle of Beethoven, ‘For a certain part of the orchestral repertoire, so-called “authentic” or “historical” instruments might seem essential in order to achieve a truly convincing performance. This is not the case for Beethoven. Though orchestrated with a genius sense of economy, the power that emanates from these symphonies is not chiefly linked with sonority. Of course, every driven and conscientious musician only stands to benefit from experimenting with the “right” instruments. Using a natural horn can only enrich the inner hearing capacities of a “modern” horn player. It is precisely our experience with historical instruments that allows us to also work with a “modern” orchestra such as this on vibrato control, articulation and even rhythmicity in a stylistically well-considered context. We consider it important to work idiomatically with natural trumpets (Egger) and Baroque kettle drums with a modern tuning system (Kolberg).’ A modern and stylistically flexible symphony orchestra, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic demonstrates an artistic flair which allows for a variety of styles – from classical to contemporary – in a historically authentic manner. Principal Conductor Philippe Herreweghe makes use of his specific background in hisreadings of (pre)Romantic music to lead the group in this new discographic undertaking of Beethoven’s complete symphonies.