Symphonie Nr. 6 F-Dur op. 68 - 7. Teil

Beethoven gave his Sixth Symphony the subtitle “Erinnerung an das Landleben”, or “memories of country life.” By engaging with country life in this way, he made his own contribution to the pastoral theme popular across all branches of the arts. However, Beethoven directed that the piece should be “more an expression of emotions than a painting,” thus making very clear that it was intended to capture the memories and feelings the setting evoked, rather than to describe the country landscape in sound. The bulk of the work on the piece was completed between March and September 1808, when Beethoven spent the summer at Grinzinger Strasse 64 with the writer Franz Grillparzer.

The middle movement evokes a “merry gathering of country folk”, and its humorous, non-idealised representation of peasant dances, as viewed through the eyes of a city-dweller, is full of comic details.
In this performance by the Vienna Philharmonic under Austrian conductor Franz Schalk (1863–1931), these comic elements are highlighted still further by imprecise execution. Schalk was first appointed to the Vienna Court Opera by Gustav Mahler, where he served as its first Kapellmeister. He was director at the opera from 1918 to 1929. This is one of the few recordings Schalk made in his career, and also serves to mark the beginning of the Vienna Philharmonic’s first long-term recording contract; it has been recording regularly ever since.
(Constanze Köhn)