Beethoven: Symphony 5

The Dresdner Philharmoniker have received top laurels for their three albums with the symphonies of Beethoven and Shostakovich: "a delightful combination" (Fono Forum) and "very precise and brilliantly lucid" (hr2 Kultur). Their new album offers a riveting comparison of these two composers' fifth symphonies. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, composed in 1808, is considered the ne plus ultra of classical music. It was the contrast between it's bleak and dramatic C-minor opening and the jubilant C-major finale that first gave rise to the familiar metaphors of "through darkness toward light" and "victory over Fate". The same dramatic arch underlies Shostakovich's Fifth, composed in 1937 in the midst of the Stalinist purges. After Soviet officialdom had condemned his Fourth Symphony, the Fifth was celebrated as the return of the prodigal son. Here, too, the mighty opening movement ultimately leads to sounds of jubilation, this time driven to extremes.