Familiarity Must Not Breed Contempt

The current edition of BBC Music magazine has arrived and the cover disk is of a single work, Beethoven's 9th Symphony ( Choral ) played by the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales conducted by Francois-Xavier Roth. A concert recording, it would have made a fine evening in the hall but for a library recording of such an important work, it lacks that edge of authority. Not much more to add to what I posted back when I considered the commercial recording of the work that I have by the Berlin Phil, the work is so frequently readily available to hear in may forms but familiarity shouldn't dull the scale of the achievement. The soloists singing in the fourth movement here are Susan Gritton soprano, Wendy Dawn Thompson alto, Timothy Robinson tenor and Matthew Rose bass and their eprformances certainly pass muster.