Beethoven Symphony No 6 in F major “Pastoral”

Surely this is one of the best-loved of Beethoven’s symphonies. It is well documented just how much the great composer was passionately fond of nature and much of his music was an interpretation of Nature’s moods. Beethoven composed both his 5th and 6th symphonies in the years 1807/8 while staying at his customary summer residence in Heiligenstadt, a suburb of Vienna. In his time this would be a bustling village in the Viennese countryside, lying on the bank of the Danube. He would make lonely walks in this beautiful landscape, always taking his notebook, in which he would put down, in musical characters the thoughts that came to him from the sights and sounds around him. When listening to the Pastoral symphony it is easy to imagine the great composer inspired by this rural landscape.

The symphony has five movements, a departure for Beethoven from the four, typical of the Classical era. He annotated the beginning of each movement as follows:

1. Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the country
2. Scene at the brook
3. Happy gathering of country folk
4. Thunderstorm
5. Shepherd’s song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm

I think you will agree, as you listen to the second movement, that this is one of Beethoven’s most sublime, beautiful and evocative pieces of music. At the opening the strings play a subtle piece that suggests the flowing of water. Toward the end of the movement we are treated to sounds from three woodwind instruments that imitate bird calls, a nightingale – flute, quail – oboe and a cuckoo – clarinet. Quite special. The final movement (Allegretto) is regarded by many as finest music of the whole symphony, I’ll let listeners make up their own mind. It starts quietly and gradually builds up to a great crescendo showing off the full force of a great orchestra. It concludes with two emphatic F major chords.

Enjoy a clip of this lovely symphony on TouTube.  Try Toscanini’s  1st Movement

I will leave the concluding words to the biographer, Anton Schindler and I would implore any readers to listen to this symphony and ponder these appropriate words.

“As we walked along the pleasant grassy valley between Heiligenstadt and Grinzing, Beethoven frequently stopped and, filled with happy feelings of rapture, let his gaze wander over the beautiful landscape. Then he sat down in a field, leaning against an elm and asked me if any yellow-hammers were to be heard in the upper branches of these trees. But all was quiet. Thereupon he said, “this is where I composed the scene by the stream and the yellow-hammers up there and the quails, nightingales and cuckoos round about composed with me”.

Recommendations:

What a wide choice of recordings to choose from with the most famous orchestras and conductors of all time offering some wonderful performances. There are some marvellous box sets to choose from with all of the nine symphonies available.

I will stick my neck out and state that there are a number of performances that jump out and that I could not be without, they are:

Symphony No 6 and Schubert’s Symphony No 5 with the Wiener Philarmoniker, conducted by Karl Bohm. DG Originals 447 433-2

1. A box set with the Berlin Philarmoniker, conducted by Claudio Abbado. DG 469 000-2

2. Symphonies No 6 and 7 with the Hannover Band, conducted by Roy Goodman. Nimbus Records. This marvellous cycle is also available in a box set and features original instruments. A truly wonderful experience!

3. Symphonies No 5 and 6 with the Berlin Philarmoniker, conducted by Karajan in 1984.  DG 413 932-2

All these recordings are available from www.amazon.co.uk