Lorin Maazel, The Cleveland Orchestra - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 "Choral" & Egmont Overture (2005)

Recorded in 1978, Lorin Maazel’s Beethoven Ninth showcases his Cleveland Orchestra forces on powerful form, especially the assertive brass section that matches its Chicago Symphony colleagues muscle for muscle. Clarity and cumulative sweep make the moderately-paced first movement sound faster than it’s actually taken, while the Scherzo boasts vivacious rhythmic drive and supple woodwind work. If only the timpani had been captured with more heft at the bottom end, and that Maazel had taken at least one repeat. At first Maazel’s Adagio seems akin to the cerebral fluidity characterizing the old Monteux and Munch recordings, yet repeated hearings reveal a subtle emotional ripening generated by subtle distensions of phrase plus shapelier-than-usual string arabesques.

The one quirk among the Finale’s tightly integrated transitions concerns Maazel pulling back the tempo for the choral return of the “Ode to Joy” theme following the double fugue: the effect is not unlike the “kickline” climax of a Broadway showstopper! Furthermore, close miking exaggerates Martti Talvela’s straining in extreme registers and Jon Vickers’ slightly overarticulated words (but his high B-flat nearly swamps the orchestra). Indeed, I suspect that multimiking heavily factors into the overall orchestral image, as was the case with other CBS Maazel/Cleveland recordings of this vintage (the Strauss Ein Heldenleben and the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, for example). In sum, this is a strong Ninth, though not quite as special nor well-recorded as competing mid-price offerings from Wand (RCA), Fricsay (DG), and Dohnanyi (Telarc).