This release by the venerable
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin hit best-seller lists in the autumn of 2022, and it is not difficult to understand why. Programs that set
Beethoven in a "revolutionary" context illuminate his music greatly, but these are not as common as they need to be. Here, the
Akademie, conducted by concertmaster
Bernhard Forck, offers two almost completely unknown works that were familiar in
Beethoven's time. The Symphony No. 1 in G minor of
Étienne Nicolas Méhul is a dark work that drew comparisons to
Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, and indeed, its crunchy first-movement dissonances and rhythmically adventurous third movement (although the latter is marked as a Minuet) certainly bring that work to mind. The piece here that really lives on Beethovenian territory is the opening overture to the opera Lodoïska of Luigi Cherubini; he is often cited as one of
Beethoven's predecessors, but the connections have never been clearer than they are here. One probably wouldn't choose this double album for the
Beethoven symphonies alone;
Forck's readings are restrained to the point of being wan. One can sample the Tempo di Minuetto of the Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93, to determine whether one finds
Forck too laid back. However, even if the answer is affirmative, the
Méhul and Cherubini works are valuable contributions to the discography of the
Beethoven era. ~ James Manheim