“This spry performance of the Pastoral Symphony comes as the sixth disc of a series in which the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and its dynamic young Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard are working their way through the whole of Beethoven's orchestral music.

“Without overstating the bucolic scenography of the third movement or the climatic turbulence of the fourth, the playing finds a neat balance between subtle pictorialism and symphonic proportion ... The playing is lean, the horns pungent, the strings resinous and often with minimal vibrato, sometimes with none. Tempos are full of zest, but by no means guilty of excess.

“The rhythmic finesse and the blend and variety of colouring that Dausgaard achieves in the Pastoral are echoed in the three Leonore overtures, usefully placed alongside one another here to show how Beethoven's thoughts shifted before he finally settled on the much shorter Fidelio overture to his only opera."                                                                                                

“It's impossible any more to speak of a single "right way" to play Beethoven. In fact, there are at least four distinct styles, all of which are superbly represented on disc ... On period instruments we have the likes of Gardiner (Archiv) and Brüggen (Philips), while perhaps the most potentially intriguing performances now belong to the hybrid, "period practice on modern instruments" approach. This last style has two subcategories: standard-size symphony orchestra (best exemplified by Mackerras on EMI and Norrington's new cycle on Hänssler), and chamber orchestra. Among the latter, Thomas Dausgaard's ongoing cycle for Simax remains far and away the best, combining absolutely sensational playing from the Swedish Chamber Orchestra Örebro with a real feel for Beethoven. This new recording of the "Pastoral" Symphony is a case in point. It's fabulous. The textures seldom have sounded so transparent, with bass lines in perfect focus, and every touch of color cleanly audible. Listen, for example, to the contribution of the horns in the first movement, to the subtle woodwind doublings in the second and the wonderfully sensitive phrasing of the cellos, or to the lovingly accented drone bass figures that launch the finale. Dausgaard seems keen to wring every drop of rustic charm and character from the music.

“The fourth-movement storm in some ways is the most fascinating of all, not as powerful as with a larger band, but somehow more graphic thanks to the rhythmic clarity of the basses and the exceptional care taken to keep all of the various string tremolos and figurations in focus. Other versions may be noisier, but this one has you believing not just in thunder, but in a genuine, drenching downpour. You really hear the rain. Then there are those marvelous oboes and bassoons in the scherzo--I could go on. Virtually every few bars brings some new revelation in terms of texture or rhythmic subtlety. The whole performance is a joy, not just as an exercise in virtuoso conducting and playing, but as a revelation of Beethoven's expressive intentions.“