Though one of the first records of Sir Colin Davis which revealed his full stature was his early HMV account of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony (SXLP20038, 6/62—nla), he has been commendably reticent ever since over recording a complete Beethoven cycle, and the easy manners of this strong and enjoyable account of the Ninth may help to explain why. Where—to take a notable example—Karajan in all his recordings, including the latest on DG (413 933-1GH2, 1/85), presents the piece as an apocalyptic utterance, a culminating masterpiece biting in its intensity, Davis is more relaxed. Till just before the very end the voltage is lower, though the overall compulsion of the performance is hardly less. This is a studio recording, but in many ways at many points I have the feeling of a live performance recorded in complete movements or at the very least long takes. It is partly that the ensemble is in places marginally less polished than I had expected from this conductor and orchestra, but more significantly that Davis's relaxation consistently conveys the joy of Beethoven's inspiration in a way not easy to achieve in the studio. It is almost as though with his eye on the title of the Schiller poem in the finale, Ode to Joy, Davis deduced that that was equally the message in the first three movements too.
The first movement, almost as slow as with Furtwangler, is big and strong but not overwhelming or cataclysmic. One tends to forget its minor-key tensions and relish unexpected lyricism. He makes it warm, triumphant even, not tragic. The Scherzo is light and lilting, again easy rather than high-powered, and unlike most rivals he observes the long second repeat. With Davis, the slow movement has Elysian sweetness, even though the violin tone is not always ideally pure. The gentle, happy lyricism is contrasted strongly with the two fanfare passages which interrupt the radiant 12/8 culmination of the variations. There Davis underlines the sudden grandeur of expression. Like Klemperer and other conductors. Davis after the Adagio launches into the finale attacca, loyally reproduced on the record, and though the trumpets in the chaos music of the opening blare out aggressively, Davis characteristically makes the first appearance of the Joy theme as warm and lyrical as possible. Relaxed manners equally mark much of the choral section with the drum-and-fife passage for the tenor solo easy and jaunty to contrast with the rather rough tones of the soloist, Klaus Konig. By contrast the 6/4 Allegro energico of ''Seid umschlungen'' on its second appearance is exceptionally fast and very exciting, but that is the only speed in any way idiosyncratic. It is well-justified, when the incandescent choral sound effectively hides any problems the orchestra might be having.
The solo quartet is less well managed. Quite apart from Konig's roughness—contrasting with the fine focus of the other three singers—the recording rather fails to define them individually. It is more natural than having the impression of glass boxes fixed round each soloist (as one often does) but ideally, even for a relaxed reading, I would have preferred sharper focus in the recording all through. The Munich reverberation puts a pleasant glow on the sound, but textures are not always quite clear on inner detail. Compact Disc may improve that, and I shall leave comparative evaluation until that arrives.'