Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.

[PerfectWagnerite]

About 20, I could have overlooked one; it is an absurd number considering that I never really collected the piece on purpose...

As is common with warhorses, they find their way into box sets of all sorts and you just wind up with a boat load of them...

[MishaK]

As is common with warhorses, they find their way into box sets of all sorts and you just wind up with a boat load of them...

Especially relatively short warhorses that can be used as filler material. 

[Jo498]

About half of mine are in boxes, but two of them are boxes with Schubert symphonies only.

[Spineur]

What recordings do people own?

I have no favourite, but consider the Marriner set to be mainly for completists though:

- Mengelberg,CtGeb 1942 & 1939 (?)
- Abendroth,Leipzig (1950)
- Scherchen,Wiener StatsOper
- Szell,ClevelandSO
- Harnoncourt/CtGebouw
- Mravinsky,LeningradPO (1978)
- C.Kleiber,VPO (1979)
- Marriner,AcStM

I did get Philippe Jordan recording with the Wiener Symphoniker last year
[asin]B012BTVUFG[/asin]
motivated by the high resolution.  The sound and the interpretation are excellent.  However, I was hoping to get the three dimensional sound rendition of a concert Hall, and on that count, this fell a bit short.  The other performance I have is C. Kleiber with the Vienna Philaharmonic, also musically excellent.

[PerfectWagnerite]

i am so jaded by this piece i cant tell if it is good performance or bad.

[Jo498]

If you want something rather different, try Spering/op.111. It is by far the fastest recording I have heard and rather lean toned, so many will not find it dark or mysterious enough but it's consistent and achieves a dancing quality in the andante while keeping some tempo difference between the movements.
Whereas Brüggen (very slow in the first mvmt, not only compared to other HIPsters) takes both movements almost at the same tempo, only slightly slower in the andante.

[PerfectWagnerite]

I did get Philippe Jordan recording with the Wiener Symphoniker last year
[asin]B012BTVUFG[/asin]
motivated by the high resolution.  The sound and the interpretation are excellent.  However, I was hoping to get the three dimensional sound rendition of a concert Hall, and on that count, this fell a bit short.  The other performance I have is C. Kleiber with the Vienna Philaharmonic, also musically excellent.

I HATE when they call the last 2 symphonies 7 and 8.

BTW why does the backcover say MUSIKVEREIN? Doesn't the Vienna Symphoniker play at the Konzert Haus?

[Marc]

[...]
BTW why does the backcover say MUSIKVEREIN? Doesn't the Vienna Symphoniker play at the Konzert Haus?
[...]

Aufnahmeort: Musikverein Wien, 15. /16. November 2014 (,,Unfinished")
Musikverein Wien, 11./12. April 2015 (,,The Great")

http://www.wienersymphoniker.at/Home/Service-Kontakt/Presse/Presseaussendungen/Franz-Schubert

[MishaK]

BTW why does the backcover say MUSIKVEREIN? Doesn't the Vienna Symphoniker play at the Konzert Haus?

They regularly play there. When I visited Vienna I heard them in the Musikverein.

[Monsieur Croche]

This one does it for me, Schubert being early romantic, there should be in the playing manner much of what we associate with 'classical' delivery -- no schmaltzing about, clarity, and this one has an unstoppable continuum of forward motion in the way of its rhythmic drive.  Too, it is performed by an orchestra with about the number of players it would have had when 'new.'

There is such a wide variance in recordings and deliveries that it somewhat proves out my theory that much great music, suffering stylistic faux pax or entire misses, still comes through to the listener and is somewhat "indestructible."

Chamber orchestra of Europe, Maestro Abbado at the helm....
https://www.youtube.com/v/TSMsKW2gCHY

Enjoy.


Best regards

[vandermolen]

Well, my second-hand copies of the DGG Kleiber and Sinopoli versions arrived today and I have enjoyed both enormously. I marginally prefer the Sinopoli which is about five minutes longer than the Kleiber version and projects a rather 'darker' image, especially at the start. My favourite section, at the end of the first movement goes brilliantly in both versions and I'm delighted to have two rather different performances. Thanks again for all your suggestions.

[Leo K.]

As each year rolls by, I've come to love Newbould's completion of the 8th - it sounds convincing to my ear.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jo498]

The "completion" is also far less of a stretch than many others. The "finale" is a complete piece by Schubert and there is even a plausible hypothesis that the movement had been composed by Schubert as a finale to the b minor fragment and only later ended up in the incidental music. (Even if this hypothesis is wrong, the movement is nevertheless all original Schubert.)
The scherzo was sketched to a considerable extent to Newbould only had to complete and orchestrate the scherzo. As the scherzo usually is the simplest and most predictable movement not as daunting a task as e.g. completing the finale of the "Reliquie" D 840.

[vers la flamme]

This is one of my favorite works, as I'm sure it is for many of y'all. What recordings do you like?

For me, I like Szell/Cleveland and Blomstedt/Dresden. Been listening to the Harnoncourt/RCO lately too, it's a bit longer (I think he takes all the repeats?)

[Jo498]

There is only one repeat that makes a difference of ~3-4 min. in the first movement. (it's 110 bars, so at 110 beats/minute it would be exactly 3 min.) Tempi differ quite strongly among conductors, also in the second movement.
The piece works quite well both in more traditional "romantic" and in leaner or historically informed approaches. (One might consider that the piece was only premiered about 40 years after its composition, so there never was a performance in 1820s style...)

It's a piece I have known for so long and listened to so often that I rarely do so any more. I think it is hard to completely mess up the piece. The only recording I actively disliked was the old Harnoncourt/Vienna Symphony that was so leaden and grey that I could not stand it, it seems to have been on purpose, though, his Concertgebouw is much better (I have not heard the two live cycles (Berlin and CoEurope)). 
The Carlos Kleiber recording is justly famous, although too fast and lean for many tastes. The fastest and leanest I know is Spering/op.111 (HIP). Brüggen made slow and brooding recording on historical instruments.

[david johnson]

I usually enjoy the work regardless of who does it.  Kleiber is fine, as is the old Hvk/Philharmonia.

[vers la flamme]

Kleiber is good too, I forgot to mention it. It was one of the first classical CDs I bought actually.

[Brian]

My main complaint is when many conductors treat the piece as if it is two slow movements, making the first movement "profound" by playing it as an andante. Unfortunately, some of the HIP conductors who treat the first movement as a true allegro (like Dausgaard) also sacrifice all expressiveness and beauty. You don't have to choose one or the other!

To me the ideal performance would have a singing, lyrical string sonority and timings of around 12 minutes and 10 minutes for the two movements, including the exposition repeat. I don't know if this exists.

[MusicTurner]

Not a frequent listening of mine. But there's a good deal of repetitiveness and overall structure in the work, that perhaps make differences in recordings less important for appreciating it - as long as the performance is just not too pedestrian and/or unengaged.

[Jo498]

My main complaint is when many conductors treat the piece as if it is two slow movements, making the first movement "profound" by playing it as an andante. Unfortunately, some of the HIP conductors who treat the first movement as a true allegro (like Dausgaard) also sacrifice all expressiveness and beauty. You don't have to choose one or the other!

To me the ideal performance would have a singing, lyrical string sonority and timings of around 12 minutes and 10 minutes for the two movements, including the exposition repeat. I don't know if this exists.

It's partly Schubert's fault. Both movements are in triple time and some main melodies (like the "motto" of the first movement) go in whole bars, suggesting a moderate tempo for whole bars or a very flowing tempo for quarter/8ths. So it easily happens that the movements are assimilated to each other in tempo.
(This might have been one reason for the abandonment, because the Scherzo would be yet another movement in triple time and whole bars, although of course faster)
Weil and Spering are at under 12 and under 9 mins. for the movements of the Unfinished. AFAIR I found Spering more convincing despite being even faster although there is no question that the character of the music changes. I have too many recordings and not enough patience for thorough comparison but I think one solution in the first (or both) movements might be a bit more (tempo) flexibility.