Assemble an Ideal Schubert Symphony Cycle

[MN Dave]

Your favorite recordings of each symphony, please. No restrictions apply. Have at it, guys.

[MishaK]

This will be interesting. I have yet to assemble a complete one I like, so I'm curious about the responses here. My only contributions will be to suggest the obvious and amazing Carlos Kleiber for Nos. 3 & 8 and a choice of Wand and Furtwängler for No.9.

[Opus106]

This will be interesting, indeed, for I wonder if anyone has engaged in hard-core listening of multiple recordings of the symphonies apart from the last two.

[Brian]

I only have multiple recordings of a few, but will at least note my favorite for some of them: Immerseel (No 4), Harnoncourt (No 5), Vegh (No 6), Mackerras Philharmonia 2008 (Great C major). I have several of the Unfinished, too, but don't know which is my favorite.

[DarkAngel]

 

For me pretty easy, get the Abbado/COE/DG complete set and supplement with MacKerras/OAE/Virgin 5,8,9 (prefer this over later Telarc SCO) and Beecham/EMI 3,5,6 symphonies 1-6 not often recorded by themselves outside of a set, therefore start with best set out there the Abbado and build out. If you also want a historical mono release get the Furtwangler/DG 9th below.

[Drasko]

Can't do full cycle but some I like are Markevitch/Berlin in 3 & 4, Celibidache/Stuttgart in 5, Sinopoli/Philharmonia in the Unfinished and Giulini/Chicago in 9th. Interestingly all on DG.

[Todd]

1 - Bohm
2 - Bohm
3 - Beecham
4 - Bohm
5 - Beecham
6 - Beecham
8 - Carlos Kleiber
9 - Furtwangler

I do need to try Abbado's cycle at some point. 

[MN Dave]

1 - Bohm
2 - Bohm
3 - Beecham
4 - Bohm
5 - Beecham
6 - Beecham
8 - Carlos Kleiber
9 - Furtwangler

I do need to try Abbado's cycle at some point.

Oh, and these are all conductors I like.

[Lilas Pastia]

This will be interesting, indeed, for I wonder if anyone has engaged in hard-core listening of multiple recordings of the symphonies apart from the last two.

Why not? I'm pretty sure they are all popular with Schubert devotees 

1 - Rilling, Wand, Böhm
2 - Possibly my favourite from 1-6  - Rilling, Wand, Karajan, Vasary, Böhm and Brüggen.
3 - Neumann CPO, Rilling, Karajan, Böhm, Beecham
4 - Giulini (Chicago or BRSO), Muti
5 - Fischer-Dieskau, Jochum BRSO
6 - Never found one that made me really like the work. So, any will do.
8 - Jochum Amsterdam, Böhm Vienna. These two.
9 - Giulini Chicago, Sinopoli Dresden, Giulini BRSO, Szell Cleveland (EMI or Sony), Munch, Karajan DG, Böhm Berlin or Dresden.

[Brian]

Why not? I'm pretty sure they are all popular with Schubert devotees 

1 - Rilling, Wand, Böhm
2 - Possibly my favourite from 1-6  - Rilling, Wand, Karajan, Vasary, Böhm and Brüggen.
3 - Neumann CPO, Rilling, Karajan, Böhm, Beecham
4 - Giulini (Chicago or BRSO), Muti
5 - Fischer-Dieskau, Jochum BRSO
6 - Never found one that made me really like the work. So, any will do.
8 - Jochum Amsterdam, Böhm Vienna. These two.
9 - Giulini Chicago, Sinopoli Dresden, Giulini BRSO, Munch, Karajan DG, Böhm Berlin or Dresden, van Otterloo, van Kempen...

I'll investigate your recommendations. Your comments on the merits of Nos 2 and 6 suggest that we've got similar taste in the Schubert symphonies. (Although Vegh's recording of No 6 convinced me that the last two movements are witty enough to be worth a listen, even if the first half leaves me cold...)

[Lilas Pastia]

I haven't by all means heard all extant versions  . Where is this Vegh to be found? I'll keep an eye on it.

For some reason, F-D's disc of 5 and 8, issued in the mid-seventies, never made it to cd. It's with the New Philharmonia Orchestra. The Jochum and Böhm Unfinisheds may be hard to find but are worth seeking out. Jochum's is truly extraordinary. I know there are downloads out there (Philips, ca. 1960). The Böhm WP 8th is not to be confused with the earlier BPO version. It's from the mid-seventies and is currently coupled with his Dvorak 9th - another to-die-for interpretation.

Thanks to M Forever for alerting me to - and sometimes providing me with - a few magnificent 9ths.

[Sergeant Rock]

I own six cycles (Harnoncourt, Davis, Immerseel, Blomstedt, Wand and Goodman) plus numerous individual recordings. It's interesting to hear the difference between the HIP and non-HIP performances. Schubert rode the cusp between the Classical and Romantic eras; the HIP bands make him sound like a classicist while, for example, Davis and Dresden put him firmly in the Romantic realm.

Restricting myself to two performances each:

1 - Harnoncourt/Concertgebouw, Immerseel/Anima Eterna (I wish Stein/Bamberg were currently available)
2 - Wand/Köln, Davis/Dresden
3 - Kleiber/Vienna, Immerseel/Anima Eterna
4 - Harnoncourt/Concertgebouw, Immerseel/Anima Eterna
5 - Wand/NDR, Weil/Classical Band
6 - Davis/Dresden, Goodman/Hanover Band
8 - Sinopoli/Dresden, Solti/Vienna
9 - Davis/Dresden, Szell/Cleveland

Sarge

[Brian]

Thanks to M Forever for alerting me to - and sometimes providing me with - a few magnificent 9ths.

Indeed; he was my source for the Sinopoli recording. The Vegh is a new two-CD set from Phoenix Edition, with the last four symphonies. Very sensible, very good performances, although it never really set me to heights of hyperbole, or whatnot. The Camerata Academica violins are not up to snuff in the Fifth, but there are some considerable differences in both orchestral playing and recording from one symphony to the next - which makes it all the more frustrating that PE offers no information on the provenance of any of the performances. I suspect that they are live, but couldn't prove it.

I'll have to investigate the Böhm Schubert/Dvorak coupling - that does sound like a great album.

[Tyson]

Harnoncourt for 1-5, and Wand for 6.  Szell for 8 and 9.

[val]

Symphonies 1 & 2      / Abbado, LSO

Symphonies 3 & 6       / Beecham, RPO

Symphony 4                / Kubelik, VPO

Symphony 5                /  Karl Böhm, VPO

Symphony 8                /  Mravinski, Leningrad Orchestra

Symphony 9                 / Josef Krips, LSO

[Lilas Pastia]

Harnoncourt for 1-5, and Wand for 6.  Szell for 8 and 9.

Thanks for that. I forgot Szell's two Cleveland accounts (don't own them currently). I've modified my list to include them.

[DarkAngel]

The Böhm WP 8th is not to be confused with the earlier BPO version. It's from the mid-seventies and is currently coupled with his Dvorak 9th - another to-die-for interpretation.

The best Bohm performance of Schubert I have heard is a live 1979 9th with Staatskapelle Dresden on the 2CD
Bohm edition Great Conductors of 20th Century.......and it is not even the main attraction (best Bruckner 8th I have ever heard) anyone who doesn't yet have this please find yourself a copy


One more important historical supplement is the 1954 Markevitch/BPO (along with Furtwangler 9th posted above)

[eyeresist]

First thoughts: Charm is what I look for in the Schubert symphonies. Heaviness is inappropriate and in some cases unforgivable. So I'm not a big Bohm fan here. Karajan is not bad, but too bombastic in the early symphonies (plus some misjudged tempos), and not completely involved in the last two. Sound rather reverberant and raw as well. I enjoy my Brilliant disc of Goodman's 8, 5 and 3. Mackerras with the OAE was disappointingly prosaic.

For 1 and 2, I like Marriner's elegant take; the proportions seem just right. Tweak the treble for extra freshness.

3 and 4 - I haven't found anything better than my bargain disc of Alfred Scholz, strange but true.

5 and 6 - I don't have any "go to" recordings. They're probably my least favourite of the cycle.

8 - hmmmm. I was very surprised to be impressed by Marriner, who is very dark without being too heavy. Best to ignore the "completion", in any recording.

9 - Mehta. Surprise! Conductors are either much too heavy and slow in this work, or they insist on taking all the repeats, which in this case is much too much of a good thing. This performance is light and lively, the Israel orchestra is on top form and nicely recorded, and Mehta doesn't spoil the finale with superfluous rubato, as so many do.


Marriner also has a very nice disc of 7 and "10" in his Philips set, well worth checking out. I'm surprised 7 doesn't get more exposure.