Lang-Lessing, Beethoven, and metronomes

Last Wednesday afternoon I was privileged to watch the San Antonio Symphony rehearse at the Majestic Theater. Afterwards, conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing offered a few comments on how he is approaching the series of nine symphonies during this year's Beethoven Festival (now in process, and running into mid-February).

There has been a trend the last few decades to more carefully observe the metronome marks on Beethoven's scores. How closely do you follow them?
They are very controversial. But the academics read it as law, which I don't think is the right approach. Beethoven wrote the metronomic marks in 1817 when the metronome was invented; he had already written eight of his symphonies. He went back to them, being deaf. They are an indication — if they are really fast, you can't take it from the easy side. But you have to follow your gut feeling. Beethoven would not stand there with a metronome. He would say, "Look at this hall, and the way they play it, and this and this, and today is Monday." Basically, he was known for being a great improviser, and very free with tempo.

What is your approach to conducting the nine Beethoven symphonies?
Every single symphony has to have a different approach. The more I do these pieces, the more I find liberty, feel more freedom. You have to have a personal approach with Beethoven, you can't just follow a fashion. If you do that, it has no meaning; it's lifeless. There have been conductors — and I'm not exaggerating — who have been recording Beethoven symphonies with a metronome click. And those conductors are famous. But I find that amateurish to a degree beyond belief. That's not even funny. You have to let Beethoven be inside you and be your second nature. There is no academic approach to Beethoven, because Beethoven destroyed everything that was academic — and still is.

What do you like and dislike most about other conductors' interpretations of Beethoven?
[Otto] Klemperer was different from [Arturo] Toscanini, but they all had something to say, and their styles were all completely different within that era [early to mid-20th century]. Nowadays we try to uniform that. And the worst is that some of these boxed recordings with all nine Beethoven's: the first symphony and the ninth sound completely alike the way they play it. I mean, that way should go. … Bernstein said [Beethoven] was the greatest composer of all time. I think in a certain way he was right, because Beethoven was out of any compromise.  At all times, never following a fashion, never listening to other people. Bruckner was always influenced by other people; he rewrote, and rewrote. Mozart wrote a lot of pieces to please people, so did Hayden. When Beethoven did that they are really bad compositions! Every time he does a commission piece, like the German dances, it is really one of these pieces he should not have written. That's what I love about him, he couldn't hide the fact that, "I couldn't care less." — Scott Andrews