Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.

vandermolen · October 31, 2016, 03:20:07 AM

I'd be interested to know your recommendation for the above. I don't listen to that much Schubert but I like this work and wonder what your favourite recorded version is.
Thanks in advance as always.

Heck148 · October 31, 2016, 05:11:18 AM

Quote from: vandermolen on October 31, 2016, 03:20:07 AM
I'd be interested to know your recommendation for the above.

Toscanini/NBC - AT's way with Schubert is very muscular, powerful...plus he observes the Allegro moderato, not the so-often-heard, "Andante con rubato schmalzando" that disfigures this music. Toscanini drives it forward, with powerful phrasing, and excellent long-line momentum.

vandermolen · October 31, 2016, 05:14:51 AM

Quote from: Heck148 on October 31, 2016, 05:11:18 AM
Toscanini/NBC - AT's way with Schubert is very muscular, powerful...plus he observes the Allegro moderato, not the so-often-heard, "Andante con rubato schmalzando" that disfigures this music. Toscanini drives it forward, with powerful phrasing, and excellent long-line momentum.

Very many thanks - will look out for that one.

Jo498 · October 31, 2016, 05:53:09 AM

Klemperer is "massive" and somewhat severe but also remarkably fleet in the first movement (and observes the repeat). C. Kleiber is on the fleet side as well.
In many readings the two movements seem in a rather similar tempo as the common tempo for the first movement is very broad and not all conserve the contrast by broadening the andante (which should be rather fluent as well and even has a few almost dance-like passages) to a standstill.

I think it is also worthwhile to hear a "completed" version (with completed scherzo and Rosamunde entr'acte, recorded by Mackerras and others although it is not completely convincing.

mc ukrneal · October 31, 2016, 06:17:05 AM

Lots of options, few of them bad, but not really many great ones either. I'd suggest Sinopoli or Wand/Berlin as a starting point. I believe Sinopoli takes the repeat (don't remember with Wand). Wand actually has several - I was thinking of the live version on RCA label.

Pat B · October 31, 2016, 07:25:48 AM

Quote from: mc ukrneal on October 31, 2016, 06:17:05 AM
Lots of options, few of them bad, but not really many great ones either. I'd suggest Sinopoli or Wand/Berlin as a starting point. I believe Sinopoli takes the repeat (don't remember with Wand). Wand actually has several - I was thinking of the live version on RCA label.

For that matter Sinopoli has at least two (Philharmonia and Dresden).

MishaK · October 31, 2016, 07:27:05 AM

It's hard not to keep returning to Carlos Kleiber. I have all the others mentioned here, but the very subtle rubato makes for such a natural flow, the whole thing just kind of creeps up on you and draws you in.

Mirror Image · October 31, 2016, 07:31:54 AM

Quote from: vandermolen on October 31, 2016, 03:20:07 AM
I'd be interested to know your recommendation for the above. I don't listen to that much Schubert but I like this work and wonder what your favourite recorded version is.
Thanks in advance as always.

Bernstein's on Columbia (Sony) is my favorite even though it's almost on the verge of being Mahlerian, grotesque, and completely un-Schubertian.

Love it anyway...warts and all. I haven't heard Bernstein's DG remake, so I may have to check that out at some point.

vandermolen · October 31, 2016, 07:49:57 AM

Gosh, so many recommendations! Thank very much to you all. The Toscanini is very expensive so I'll be guided by budget as well as performances.
Thanks again.

Added later:

I ordered this due to the price and coupling, although I will look out for the others too.
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Bernstein, Wand, Klemperer and Kleiber all sound worth investigating. All conductors I admire although I know less of Kleiber than the others.

Jo498 · October 31, 2016, 07:58:20 AM

If you are not totally averse to used copies, you can get the Toscanini used on the amazon marketplace from ca. 3 GBP as a single disc of the RCA AT edition or about 8 GBP in a newer twofer (with Mendelssohn). Note that these seem the same recordings of the Unfinished, but in different remasterings/issues. I do not know if the "Immortal" series is considered an improvement vs. the older issues. (My hunch is that the differences are marginal.)

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There are countless recordings; it must be one of the most frequently recorded classical pieces...

vandermolen · October 31, 2016, 08:01:11 AM

Quote from: Jo498 on October 31, 2016, 07:58:20 AM
If you are not totally averse to used copies, you can get the Toscanini used on the amazon marketplace from ca. 3 GBP as a single disc of the RCA AT edition or about 8 GBP in a newer twofer (with Mendelssohn).

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There are countless recordings; it must be one of the most frequently recorded classical pieces...

Oh gosh, I could only see it for about £300

I may get this as well. Thank you.

Marc · October 31, 2016, 09:46:22 AM

Quote from: vandermolen on October 31, 2016, 07:49:57 AM
Gosh, so many recommendations! Thank very much to you all. The Toscanini is very expensive so I'll be guided by budget as well as performances.
Thanks again.

Added later:

I ordered this due to the price and coupling, although I will look out for the others too.
[asin]B000001GNF[/asin]
Bernstein, Wand, Klemperer and Kleiber all sound worth investigating. All conductors I admire although I know less of Kleiber than the others.

That's my very first owned-by-myself vinyl LP!
30 years ago or so....

I went home, listened to the 'Unvollendete' and was mesmerized.
Although, of this particular Sinopoli album, right now I might prefer his reading of Mendelssohn's 'Italienische'.

vandermolen · October 31, 2016, 12:53:33 PM

Quote from: Marc on October 31, 2016, 09:46:22 AM
That's my very first owned-by-myself vinyl LP!
30 years ago or so....

I went home, listened to the 'Unvollendete' and was mesmerized.
Although, of this particular Sinopoli album, right now I might prefer his reading of Mendelssohn's 'Italienische'.

How interesting! A good omen I think.

Jo498 · October 31, 2016, 01:00:42 PM

For some reason both of the Sinopoli covers feature the "Italian" ~~landscape~~ symphony in favor of the Schubert...

MishaK · October 31, 2016, 01:18:55 PM

Quote from: vandermolen on October 31, 2016, 07:49:57 AM
Bernstein, Wand, Klemperer and Kleiber all sound worth investigating. All conductors I admire although I know less of Kleiber than the others.

You need to remedy that. Which isn't hard because once past his apprenticeship years, Carlos Kleiber had a tiny active repertoire, so his official recorded output is easily surveyed. But everything he touched was gold.

mc ukrneal · October 31, 2016, 04:44:56 PM

Quote from: vandermolen on October 31, 2016, 07:49:57 AM
Gosh, so many recommendations! Thank very much to you all. The Toscanini is very expensive so I'll be guided by budget as well as performances.
Thanks again.

Added later:

I ordered this due to the price and coupling, although I will look out for the others too.
[asin]B000001GNF[/asin]
Bernstein, Wand, Klemperer and Kleiber all sound worth investigating. All conductors I admire although I know less of Kleiber than the others.

That's the one I meant. I hope you like it....

Holden · October 31, 2016, 05:21:11 PM

Quote from: Jo498 on October 31, 2016, 07:58:20 AM
If you are not totally averse to used copies, you can get the Toscanini used on the amazon marketplace from ca. 3 GBP as a single disc of the RCA AT edition or about 8 GBP in a newer twofer (with Mendelssohn). Note that these seem the same recordings of the Unfinished, but in different remasterings/issues. I do not know if the "Immortal" series is considered an improvement vs. the older issues. (My hunch is that the differences are marginal.)

[asin]B000026F6T[/asin][asin]B00000JPCF[/asin]

There are countless recordings; it must be one of the most frequently recorded classical pieces...

If the LvB symphonies and the Verdi Requiem are anything to go by the Immortal series are a significant sonic improvement on the AT series. I have the LvB and my only regret is that they used the 1953 Eroica recording instead of his 1949 version which I consider to be superior.

Heck148 · October 31, 2016, 07:18:28 PM

Quote from: Holden on October 31, 2016, 05:21:11 PM
....my only regret is that they used the 1953 Eroica recording instead of his 1949 version which I consider to be superior.

Agreed - '53 is very good, but '49 is one of the greatest ever of this masterwork.

Parsifal · October 31, 2016, 10:17:39 PM

I really love this one:

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(not the same as the one in his later Schubert cycle.)

Then there's this, already mentioned
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Finally there is this one
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This 1965 recording just blows my mind, in the way Karajan controls the orchestral timbre to create an otherworldly string sound in various crucial passages.

vandermolen · October 31, 2016, 11:30:39 PM

Quote from: Jo498 on October 31, 2016, 01:00:42 PM
For some reason both of the Sinopoli covers feature the "Italian" ~~landscape~~ symphony in favor of the Schubert...

Although isn't the painting of the one I bought of Goethe? It looks like he is in an Italian landscape too.

I can see that I'm going to have to build up a collection of different recordings of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony! Thanks for all the recommendations.

Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.

Mirror Image

Marc

Parsifal