Breathtaking Beethoven from Bavarian Radio Symphony
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) performs Beethoven’s Second and Third Symphonies at Seoul Arts Center last Tuesday. Principal oboist Ramon Ortega Quero, third from left, is among one of the top oboists of his generation, and recieved generous applause from the audience for his solos in the third and sixth symphony on Wednesday night. / Courtesy of Vincero
A complete recording of Beethoven’s nine symphonies by the Bavarian Radio Symphony under Mariss Jansons will be released this month in Japan.
By Do Je-hae
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) concluded their first Korean tour Wednesday with Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. Many in the audience gave the orchestra a standing ovation immediately after the last notes.
There was an air of excitement and sheer pleasure in the audience, who seemed to appreciate that they had witnessed music-making at the highest level. After repeated curtain calls, the BRSO left the stage after playing an orchestral version of one of Schubert’s “Moments Musicaux.”
The BRSO under chief conductor Mariss Jansons is among the world’s most respected music ensembles, along with the likes of the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle and the Chicago Symphony under Riccardo Muti.
Because the BRSO had never visited Korea before, symphony lovers here highly anticipated their Beethoven tour last week at Seoul Arts Center. They were voted the most eagerly awaited concerts of the year in a survey among editors of Gaeksuk, a local classical music magazine, in January.
The highlight of the tour was Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, where principal oboist Ramon Ortega Quero played with intoxicating beauty.
The following concerts in Japan will also place Beethoven symphonies front and center. Ahead of the upcoming concerts, Jansons called the works “the very best music there is in this world. I am absolutely crazy about them,” he said in a statement.
Sadly for Korean fans, the pinnacle of the BRSO’s tour to Korea and Japan will take place in Tokyo. The high point will be the concert in the world-famous Suntory Hall, where the orchestra will join with such eminent soloists as Christiane Karg (soprano), Mihoko Fujimura (mezzo-soprano), Michael Schade (tenor) and Michael Volle (baritone) as well as the Bavarian Radio Choir for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
This work enjoys especially high status not only in Europe but also in Japan. The concerts in Tokyo will be recorded by Japanese television station NHK and later telecast by Bavarian Television. In addition, releases on DVD and Blu-Ray are also planned. All in all, the tour includes 10 concerts in Seoul and the Japanese cities of Kyoto, Hyogo, Tokyo and Yokohama.
The BRSO set a particularly good example for the KBS Symphony Orchestra which will be launched Friday as an incorporated foundation for the first time in its 56-year history.
What is unique about the BRSO is that it has been able to gain its status in a relatively short time.
It was rated the highest German orchestra after the Berlin Philharmonic in the 2009 list of Gramophone’s world’s 20 top orchestras.
Founded in 1949, this young orchestra has had only five chief conductors — Eugen Jochum (1949-1960), Rafael Kubelik (1961-1979), Sir Colin Davis (1983-1992), Lorin Maazel (1993-2002), and Mariss Jansons (2003-present).
In recent years, it has also emerged as a leader for its in-house recording label. Many of the orchestra’s performances are released under BR Klassik.
Under the label, Jansons has made acclaimed recordings of masterpieces by Strauss and Tchaikovsky. A recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies will be released next month.
As a public radio station with an estimated 20,000 recordings from the past 60 years in its archives, BR Klassik has also released hidden treasures previously broadcast only once on radio.