Which Schubert symphony set?

[marvinbrown]

I love Wand. I bet that set is good, Marvin.

  It is Dave  .  It's one of those sets that gets a lot of attention, my attention  .  Highly emotional and passionate interpretations.  It's funny because these are the only Wand recordings I have in my collection  . Perhaps I should check out Wand's Bruckner symphony cycle??

  marvin

[Lilas Pastia]

With all due respect I can't think of a duller set than Marriner's. I find it almost shockingly unidiomatic. It shorts the music's rythmic diversity: the drive, lilt, sway, the pauses and suspensions, the transitions between paragraphs, all go for naught. Everything is smartly straightjacketed into an all-purpose alacrity.
I generally like Marriner in Haydn, some Bach, Vivaldi, even Schumann, Brahms and Bruckner , but Schubert seems to elude him like water in the hand.

Muti's is also not very good because one hears Muti first, Schubert second. But it has the Vienna Philharmonic, so I eventually forget about the conductor. His faults are not very egregious, but it's definitely not my first choice.

I'm curious to hear comments about the DG late-fifties Maazel versions of symphonies 2-6 and 8.

[eyeresist]

I've never heards any from the Stein, Viotti or Suitner sets, but I certainly wish I had. The Viotti has had some very good reviews, and I've heard great stuff from the other two conductors.

I'm not in favour of sets as a rule. Most conductors fail to differentiate between the early, middle or late styles of his symphonies - much the same usually occurs with Beethoven or Sibelius. That being said, I much prefer symphonies 1-3 to 4-6. The last two are obviously on another plane altogether and that's where the 'complete set' concept fails miserably. Most of the greatest interpretations will be found on single discs. And when it comes to the 8th and 9th, style and competence are insufficient. Indeed, being content with just that is an insult to Schubert's genius.

Apologies for not including an "Other" option - I completely forgot about Wand and Viotti (and another by Vegh?). As to the problem of the complete set, I guess I hope to find the ideal Schubert conductor, who knows and understands the composer well enough to deliver the goods in works from all periods. At least, it can be interesting to gauge where a conductor does best and where he falls down.

I have Maazel in 2, 3 & 4 on Australian Eloquence. I wasn't especially impressed: competent but not notable in any respect.

I'm surprised no-one has any Menuhin. The samples I found on Amazon are most appealing:

Symphonies 1-6 (EMI)

Symphony No. 9 (Warner Apex)

[mn dave]

Perhaps I should check out Wand's Bruckner symphony cycle??

I have some of his Bruckner and can encourage this idea.

[Lilas Pastia]

I used to have Wand's 1-2 and 9 on LP and liked them very much. But I recall reading some less than glowing reviews. Reacquaintance seems to be in order.

[FredT]

I'd love to find the Maag set. Have Muti and it'll do but Maag..a very fine conductor totally into the music and not himself. His modesty probably limited his exposure, much like Georg Tinter. Good musicians, honest men. I can appreciate their art.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

I browsed every page of posts in this thread and there wasn't a "Schubert Symphonies" entry among them.

Rather than start a new one, why not revive this puppy for collected purposes.

Mine is to present for your consideration and merciless critique my #SchubertSymphonyCycleSurvey, which I have updated earlier today, so that it may be less incomplete. (Added were Harnoncourt "0", Gaigg, and Holliger.)


A Survey of Schubert Symphony Cycles


P.S. Above, I voted Suitner. But it might as well have been Bruggen.

Other favorites include Harnoncourt I, Wand, Immerseel, and SURPRISE: Marriner.

[Todd]

I did not know that Holliger had recorded all of them yet.  I really want that set to be boxed up.  His Schumann cycle confirms his conducting bona fides.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

I did not know that Holliger had recorded all of them yet.  I really want that set to be boxed up.  His Schumann cycle confirms his conducting bona fides.

Best Haydn conductor I've ever heard (live). And I just asked about whether there are plans to box the set up; I'll let you know if I hear anything back.

[Todd]

Best Haydn conductor I've ever heard (live).

Hopefully he records some.  London, Paris, Chunnel, Sturm und Drang, I don't care, just gimme, gimme, gimme.

[Jo498]

Holliger's 83, so he'd better hurry up...

[Scion7]

Individually, this:



and this:



... I haven't heard the others in his cycle, which eyeresist didn't list.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

... I haven't heard the others in his cycle, which eyeresist didn't list.

I don't think there is a cycle, is there? He recorded the 4th,8 th, and 9th for DG with the CSO.
4 & 8 with the BRSO for Sony,
and only No. 8 for Columbia,

if I am correct...

[Todd]

I don't think there is a cycle, is there?

There is not.

[Scion7]

I stand corrected ... and shamed.   

[ritter]

There's also this live Schubert Fourth, with Giulini conducting the Spanish National Youth Orchestra, from a celebrated series of concerts in 1998. It's an "official" release (not bootleg), but received very limited distribution. I got it used some years ago, and enjoyed it very much.

[Todd]

There's also this live Schubert Fourth, with Giulini conducting the Spanish National Youth Orchestra, from a celebrated series of concerts in 1998. It's an "official" release (not bootleg), but received very limited distribution. I got it used some years ago, and enjoyed it very much.

I've not heard that one, though I own the DG recording.  I forgot which critic wrote it, but Giulini is one of the few conductors to actually make the symphony live up to its "tragic" name.  He was a great Schubert conductor at his peak.

[Jo498]

Giulini/CSO is way to massive for my taste. "Brucknerian Schubert" (same goes for the Dvorak 8+9, the earlier EMI Dvorak is better IMO).

[Todd]

I think Brucknerian Schubert is a fair description.  That's why I like it.  The DG Dvorak 9 can be too heavy, but this is a specific case - one of a handful in my personal listening experience - where the recording medium matters.  I have the CD version, but the LP version sounds appreciably better, particularly in the strings.  The slowness is there (as is distortion and limited dynamics), but the heaviness is not.  It's not a top three or five type recording, but it is something.  The EMI is sufficiently different that I rate them as roughly equal qualitatively.

[Jo498]

Of the Schubert I think the Chicago 8th works best. I couldn't understand the reputation of the Schubert 9th at all. I eventually got rid of that Chicago set because I found it overall slow and rather "cold". Brilliant execution, pretty good sound, but rarely idiomatic. Although even slower (I think) I like the later Vienna Bruckner and Brahms much better than most of the Chicago/LA. (I don't think I have heard any of Giulinis late Sony recordings.)