Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Leipzig, Hermann Abendroth - Beethoven: Sinfonie Nr. 9 / Schubert: Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished" (2022) [Hi-Res]

As happened to most of the German musicians who remained in the eastern part of Germany after the end of the war, the name of the previously famous, famous and revered almost at the level of Furtwängler, Hermann Abendroth was quickly forgotten outside the social bloc, and even after the fall of the Berlin Wall due to for the extremely modest phonographic heritage of the conductor, for music lovers, with the exception of deeply involved people, it meant nothing special. Only in the 21st century did Abendroth's renaissance gradually begin, all kinds of concert recordings began to appear and be reissued on CD, including several performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. In the studio recording presented here, and the most pure-sounding of all, Abendroth almost completely eliminates all possible lyrical content and places a powerful emphasis on the heroic, Nietzschean spirit of the symphony - and it appears as a picture of human overcoming of incredible proportions. I think it would not be a big exaggeration to say that those who have not heard the 9th Symphony performed by Abendroth do not fully understand the potential of this composition.