So who made you love the Schumann symphonies?

Started by ajlee, January 09, 2011, 12:47:47 AM

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Ken B

Quote from: Baklavaboy on May 11, 2014, 10:13:18 PM
OK, listened to Gardiner's Schmann symphonies (1 and 4), and yes, I'm feeling the magic.  Whether it's mostly the playing or the recording, the sound has a lot more color and detail, while also being more charged and exciting. 

 
  Thanks for the tips.
It's the orchestra: size, instruments, amount of vibrato. The "mud in the middle of the string section" aspect goes away.

liuzerus87

Quote from: Ken B on May 12, 2014, 07:01:51 AM
The "mud in the middle of the string section" aspect goes away.

That's an interesting way of referring to a viola section...  :D

PerfectWagnerite

No love for Dohnanyi/Cleveland?

The influence of Szell is clearly there in the prominent woodwind details. The performances are urgent and never driven. Dohnanyi manages a great legato without the stickyness of someone like HvK.

I would characterize the set as a cross between the Sawallisch (a great set without any reservations) and Szell (still top of the heap).


Moldyoldie

#63
Not mentioned thus far...


My brief Amazon review from May, 2008 is apropos to the thread:

Baked Whitefish Instead of Prime Rib

My difficulty in "penetrating", and thus enjoying Schumann's symphonies was somewhat ameliorated by Kurt Masur's early '90s cycle from London. I'm afraid I'm among those who found the composer's thick orchestrations mostly inscrutible on the surface when heard with virgin ears. These performances are "lean and mean", meaning much of the works' inherent bombast is quelled, their momentum unimpeded but not relentless, their beautiful and dapper melodies are made clearer and assimilable. The seemingly thinned-out strings and the winds blend marvelously, the tympani are nearly imperceptible, and the brass make themselves heard at only the most opportune moments. What's more, Masur offers up the appreciably different and rarely performed original 1841 version of Symphony No. 4. It's all rendered in a vivid and appropriately semi-spacious soundstage. This is baked whitefish as opposed to the usual prime rib. I've since learned to better appreciate a host of bigger and beefier Schumann Symphony offerings. After all, one occasionally enjoys prime rib, but not necessarily so early on a beautiful spring morning.
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Jaakko Keskinen

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Leo K.

#65
Inbal's account of the 2nd made me LOVE Schumann.


J.Z. Herrenberg

I was in Bonn once, walked along the Rhine, and also visited the Old Churchyard (Altes Friedhof). I stumbled on the two Wesendoncks, Mathilde and Otto, on Beethoven's mother, and - Robert and Clara Schumann. On my return to Delft, I heard Schumann's Third Symphony on the radio and loved it. Wagner was the reason I had always neglected him (though I liked his songs, which I sang when I took singing lessons in my early twenties). The first set I bought: Bernstein DG. A great introduction. Later on I heard Sawallisch, too, whose performances are natural and convincing.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Cato

Quote from: Leo K. on October 09, 2014, 11:54:43 AM
Inbal's account of the 2nd made me LOVE Schumann.



What a concert is on that CD!  Fascinating trio to assemble!

My introduction came from the oldie but goodie performances:

George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra

[asin]B0000029PC[/asin]
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Beaumarchais

#68
Quote from: J. Z. Herrenberg on February 12, 2015, 03:49:21 AM
I was in Bonn once, walked along the Rhine, and also visited the Old Churchyard (Altes Friedhof). I stumbled on the two Wesendoncks, Mathilde and Otto, on Beethoven's mother, and - Robert and Clara Schumann. On my return to Delft, I heard Schumann's Third Symphony on the radio and loved it. Wagner was the reason I had always neglected him (though I liked his songs, which I sang when I took singing lessons in my early twenties). The first set I bought: Bernstein DG. A great introduction. Later on I heard Sawallisch, too, whose performances are natural and convincing.

Coincidentally, I was also walking the middle Rhine and stopped at Bonn to visit Beethoven's birthplace and stumbled upon Robert and Clara Schumann's grave by chance when I wandered into the grounds where they are buried.
I was familiar with the piano concerto but hadn't paid much attention to the symphonies until I listened to the  the third (The Rhenish) and was struck by the mysticism of the section representing the enthronement of the cardinal in Cologne Cathedral, but it wasn't until I heard the opening to the fourth movement of No.4 that I knew Schumann was a great composer. I then bought the Karajan Berlin Phil complete set .
Here's Bernstein in typical form:

http://youtu.be/S-UfnzBhS0s


"Music is what tells us that the human race is greater than we realize."
― Napoleon Bonaparte

jfdrex

George Szell, of course--in the form of this Columbia Odyssey LP set, an early purchase in my now decades-long career as a classical collector ;):



I've since purchased a dozen or so different sets of the symphonies, but the recordings to which I now turn for real Schumann love are one-off recordings of the 2nd and 3rd Symphonies by Schuricht and Tennstedt, respectively.

Sean

#70
Solti effectively finds the spirit of this great music, though my LP had a different cover. I bought the superb Karajan set on CD, among his finest achievements.


Beaumarchais

Karajan had a particular liking for Schumann's symphonies and recorded them with the Vienna Philharmonic  as well as the BPO, but I do like Bernstein's energetic performance of these works.
"Music is what tells us that the human race is greater than we realize."
― Napoleon Bonaparte

Sean


Beaumarchais

Quote from: Sean on February 13, 2015, 06:07:37 AM
Okay; don't know the Bernstein yet but will seek him out in the Rhenish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9iikBJj00U

Yes it's a typical Bernstein performance in which, as always, he lived the music and didn't see why he shouldn't enjoy himself while conducting it. I laughed when he started dancing at the beginning of the last movement but, as is usually the case, he gets a tremendous response from the players.
"Music is what tells us that the human race is greater than we realize."
― Napoleon Bonaparte

Sean

Hi Beaumarchais, the great Bernstein recordings I know include Mahler 7, Petrushka and Tristan; his classical period work I find too heavy.

Looking forward to the Schumann.

Sean

#75
Bernstein brings out some of the interesting counterpoint more than others but his tempo is a degree too fast and doesn't luxuriate in and draw out the sound as does Solti; the great opening chord is brought in as though it's Mendelssohn, while slow movements 3 and 4 by contrast I find affectedly slow. Great rapport with the orchestra though and he clearly believes in every note of the music.

André

I have visited the great Cologne Dom four times. Formidable as it it from the outside, it is a tamer beast when you pass the doors and start visiting the great nave. I think the reason is that the great nave is of more recent construction, with stained glass panels 'barely' 150 years old (more recent than in the time of Schumann's Rhenish). Some of its features (chapels, statuary) are definitely more modern than your average gothic behemoth.