Britten Sinfonia/ Thomas Adès

Barbican

To undertake Beethoven’s complete symphonic cycle could be seen as an act of hubris. Yet if anyone is up to it, it’s Thomas Adès, Britain’s most tireless conductor and composer, who has recently thrilled with a gutsy opera reimagining Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel.

In the opening concert of his project with the Britten Sinfonia (to take place over three years), Adès as conductor made Beethoven’s tried and tested 1st and 2nd Symphonies seem as fresh and innovative as they must have done at their premieres over 200 years ago. Sometimes, Adès showed his cards clearly. In the 1st, for example, there was the well-defined pizzicato and the strong, percussive expression of its opening movement. In the first movement of the 2nd, a sense of defiance came from forbidding strings and fluttering woodwind.

Much of the success was due to the Britten Sinfonia, which met the technical demands of Beethoven’s early eclecticism and expertly delineated the many textures. Adès also rose to the challenge, tightly controlling the vast spectrum of sound by keeping the tempi brisk, but letting rip when necessary, and by the end of the 2nd, dominating the stage with what felt like a rather magnificent rage.

The evening was slightly marred by its entrée, a composition called Beethoven, by the Irish composer Gerald Barry, which is based on the “Immortal Beloved” letter that Beethoven wrote in 1812 to an unknown lady. Poor Mark Stone was forced to constantly swap his manly baritone for a theatrical falsetto, while long declarations of emotional pain were crammed into short musical phrases. I realise that this was meant to be a sign of Barry’s playfulness, but really it just grew tiresome.

Luckily, the two symphonies that followed, rich and exquisitely detailed, were convincing proof that this is a powerful and worthy project.