Ein Mißgriff – a mistake, a blunder. That was Beethoven’s own assessment of that great crowd-pleaser, the finale of his Ninth Symphony. The composer Vaughan Williams, avowedly not a Beethovenian, was with the crowds on this one, claiming the movement as one of the four great choral works of all time – and since he was a Bachian, we can take from this that he is putting the movement alongside the Mass in B and the Passions according to Matthew and John. Nevertheless, in musical academe the movement is often deprecated, even ridiculed. But I am getting ahead of myself.

On Monday evening, we heard the Eighth and Seventh Symphonies, in that order, maintaining the pattern of the earlier concerts: the shorter and lesser-known work followed by the longer and more popular. Both works received impressive performances. The only shortcoming in the Eighth was the almost inaudible solo cello accompaniment in the trio section of the third movement, which I attribute to the unsatisfactory acoustic of Hamer Hall rather than to any deficiency on the part of the performer. As for the Seventh, which Beethoven regarded as one of his best works, conductor Jaime Martín’s introductory words left little doubt that it was a personal favourite, while the audience response demonstrated both its popularity and an appreciation of the superb quality of the performance.

Last night’s program commenced with a twenty-five-minute diversion from Beethoven to bring us Scottish composer James MacMillan’s Concerto for Orchestra. The work was written in 2023-24, commissioned by six of the world’s major symphony orchestras (including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra). It is an attractive enough piece, certainly living up to its name, featuring at various times all orchestral components in a variety of solo, duet, and trio combinations, as well as string quartet, wind quintet, and brass sextet. The composer’s program note mentions the subtitle Ghosts, ‘as the music seems to be haunted by other, earlier musical spirits and memories’. Among these ghosts, MacMillan mentions allusions to folk-dance forms, an eastern European hymn, Scottish traditional music, Beethoven’s Ghost Trio, and Debussy’s trio for flute, viola, and harp. Exactly what the work was doing in a Beethoven Festival was not explained, but the orchestra performed it with plenty of vitality, and the audience responded warmly.

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (photograph by Laura Manariti)

And so we arrive at the Ninth Symphony. Martín’s tempi were, for the most part, very close to Beethoven’s metronome marks, as they have been throughout the Festival. The third movement, however, was significantly slower (though one often hears even slower interpretations), while the composer’s metronome mark for the Turkish march in the finale was simply ignored. Most musicians are in agreement that this last tempo indication is indeed a mistake, but it has had its adherents.

The powerful drama of the mighty first movement was fully realised, though one would have appreciated more flexibility, relaxation, and breath in the quieter passages. The Scherzo, taking its position ahead of the slow movement for the only time in Beethoven’s symphonies, was energetic and playful; and its phrase structure was particularly well delineated (not always the case with this movement). The slow movement was beautifully expressive, though I have to acknowledge a preference for the composer’s faster tempi here. The movement is well known for its unusual allocation of a major horn solo to the fourth horn (rather than the principal), presumably written for a particular player, perhaps one equipped with an instrument with the recently invented valves. For some time, it became traditional to split this solo, whose range exceeds three octaves, between two or even three players, since horn players have long specialised in either high or low registers; but last night’s fourth hornist executed the whole passage with apparent ease.

The finale commenced well enough, but the arrival of the vocal component of the movement was not an enjoyable moment, the pitch of solo bass-baritone Shenyang so wayward, and featuring such a wide vibrato, that the intended notes were unguessable. Happily, pitch became more focused after this opening flourish, but the blend of sound among the soloists (tenor Stuart Skelton, mezzo Margaret Plummer, soprano Lauren Fagan) was never satisfactory, owing partly to a variety of intensities of vibrato and partly to an apparent need to force the sound in an unhelpful acoustic. The choir, on the other hand, was generally secure in its pitch, though even for one who knows the German text well, the diction was not clear – and again, the unsatisfactory acoustic undoubtedly played a significant part here. Ein Mißgriff? On this occasion I find myself agreeing with the composer.

But let me make it clear that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, in my assessment, maintained its outstanding quality throughout the Festival. And its Chief Conductor, Jaime Martín, has certainly consolidated his well-deserved reputation.

What next? More Beethoven? More symphonic cycles? We rarely hear more than three of Schubert’s symphonies, and Schumann’s four works – all acknowledged masterpieces despite adverse critiques of the composer’s orchestration – are seldom programmed. Brahms, Dvořák, Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius – there’s no shortage of symphonists ready to be feasted.

The Beethoven Festival (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) will culminate in repeats of the Ninth Symphony on 29 and 30 November 2024. Performances attended: November 25 and 28.