Con Brio: Widmann, Strauss, Beethoven – A circumspect recording

Jörg Widmann’s Con Brio was commissioned as part of a project by Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Six composers – the others were Johannes Maria Staud, Misato Mochizuki, Rodion Shchedrin, Raminta Šerkšnyte and Giya Kancheli – were asked to write pieces to pair with Beethoven symphonies of their own choice. Widmann’s Con Brio, first performed in 2008, was inspired by the “musical fury” of the Seventh Symphony. Widmann’s new ICO recording doesn’t have quite the grip and fantasy that Jansons brought to it, but his refractions of moments and gestures from that symphony still communicate clearly.

The Duett-Concertino by Richard Strauss is one of those late works in which the composer turned his back on orchestral richness in favour of a lighter, more classically inclined style. The highly-contrasted solo parts for clarinet (Widmann) and bassoon (Diego Chenna) are delivered with style, though the orchestral contribution lacks warmth.

Widmann and the ICO gave a memorably fiery account of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony at St Canice’s Cathedral for Kilkenny Arts Festival in 2018. This recording, made in a much drier acoustic, is more circumspect, the raw dynamism and energy of Kilkenny traded for a more mild-mannered delivery, with the temperature rising gradually through the performance.