Look through online reviews of conductor Ádám Fischer's Haydn and Mozart recordings with the Danish Chamber Orchestra, and you'll see a lot of five-star evaluations, and a lot of one-star judgments as well. He's just that kind of interpreter, and his Beethoven symphony cycle is more of the same, and perhaps even a bit more outrageous/inspired, depending on your point of view. The Fischer trademarks are all here: the fast tempos, the clipped phrases that seem to trail off (although this is very carefully controlled), the way ...
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Look through online reviews of conductor Ádám Fischer's Haydn and Mozart recordings with the Danish Chamber Orchestra, and you'll see a lot of five-star evaluations, and a lot of one-star judgments as well. He's just that kind of interpreter, and his Beethoven symphony cycle is more of the same, and perhaps even a bit more outrageous/inspired, depending on your point of view. The Fischer trademarks are all here: the fast tempos, the clipped phrases that seem to trail off (although this is very carefully controlled), the way of plowing through phrases without a hint of expressive shaping. The last of these suggests Fischer's priorities: he prizes large-scale structure over local effect, and his inner lines are as important as the melodies. The thing is, all these oddities are amplified in Beethoven, who usually isn't played by a chamber orchestra. In his own time, of course, the orchestras he worked with might have been closer to the Danish Chamber Orchestra's size than to the Berlin Philharmonic, and...
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