On taking up his functions as Music Director of the Orchestre National de France in September 2002, Kurt Masur quickly established his personal signature as a great humanist conductor, open to every repertoire… not forgetting the mainstream repertoire, for his first act in his new post was to programme the nine symphonies of Beethoven. Why? Was there still something to say about these well-worn masterpieces, which he himself had conducted hundreds of times? Let him explain in his own words ‘These works are the foundation of the symphonic repertoire. It’s necessary for orchestras and audiences alike to play this inexhaustible music again and again. It is indispensable to understand and play Beethoven well if you want to understand and play Dutilleux! What’s more, today we have the new Breitkopf & Härtel editions of the scores, which offer a text that’s much more faithful to what Beethoven wanted, and also give us new insights, through the music, into Beethoven’s ideas … The Second Symphony is contemporary with the Heiligenstadt Testament in which Beethoven expresses all his fears… The Pastoral is a search for Paradise.’ So it’s back to the sources, but without any attempt at ‘baroquising’ the music ‘… a good-sized symphony orchestra is essential… Not to give the feeling of a domesticated Beethoven, that’s my intention.’ An intention admirably understood by his new orchestra, which demonstrates how much the clarity of the Orchestre National can bring to these scores newly revealed by the critical edition, in total empathy with a young man of seventy-five who has lost none of his exceptional energy! - Quotations from an interview with Christian Wasselin