Radio 3 Record Review
11th July 2020
Record of the Week

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck (Konzertmeister)

Bach, C P E: Symphony in F major, Wq. 175 (H650)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21
Bach, C P E: Symphony in F major, Wq. 183 / 3 (H665)

Beethoven's first two contributions to the symphonic genre reveal the bubbling creativity of the thirty-year-old composer. With the renewal of the genre, he was determined to push even further than the recent reference of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. Cleverly paired with two symphonies by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, another iconoclast, the music world changed forever with the very first chord of Beethoven's Symphony No.1. Relive this decisive moment in the company of the Akademie für Alte Musik, under the guidance of their concertmaster Bernhard Forck.

"If you’re not bothered by the sometimes meagre string sound, there’s much to savour here. The outer movements have tremendous energy...I can’t remember ever hearing the Trio of the First Symphony’s Menuetto rendered with such delicacy, and the windplaying is marvellous throughout…Warmly recommended." - Gramophone Magazine, October 2020.