Schubert's 9th Symphony - Recordings that you like

[knight66]

And I have found a Furtwangler. But to counter it, I cannot find my Jansons version of Mahler 6th. I know a six on its head becomes a nine, but this does not mollify me.

Mike

[Holden]

CD, on Tahra. I don't know if it's still in print.

Listening to it right now. Originally, I picked it up due to figuring it wouldn't be around for much longer - being on Tahra; but it really is a splendid Schubert 9th, now that I'm going through it again (after I've properly acquainted myself with the piece)!

Edit: I forgot the orchestra! It's the Hesse Radio Symphony Orchestra; from a radio broadcast, IIRC.

Thanks - just found it on Ebay and made the purchase. As a great fan of both this work and Fricsay I'm looking forward to this.

[The new erato]

Just noticed this. It might be of interest to some that Leibowitz was the composition teacher of Petterson.

[M forever]

But please don't hold that against Leibowitz.

[The new erato]

Under release. anyone know this?

[hautbois]

Rolf's recent transfer of the 1943 Paul van Kempen Concertgebouw performance is quite breathtaking, considering the time of the performance.
http://docent.cmd.hro.nl/otter/lastweek.htm

Howard

[Lilas Pastia]

I've discussed both the Schuricht and van Kempen performances here or maybe in the "What are you listening to" thread, page 23582 or so. In short, both are utterly individual (and different from one another); they give of the 9th a very different conception than we are used to in the more classical readings that tend to sound rather similar and generally distinguish themselves mostly through orchestral playing, which repeats are taken, and if that infamous diminuendo on the last chord is observed or not. The Schuricht is in goodish old sound, the van Kempen in roughish old sound. After you've listened to Schuricht in I and II you won't listen to the work in the same way again.

[rubio]

Any comments on these Schubert performances by Jochum/BRSO?

[Lilas Pastia]

It's an excellent disc worth buying (DG Originals). Personally I found more illumination in the 5th symphony (beautifully lucid and firmly shaped yet utterly beguiling) than in the more conventionally presented 9th. That, too, is excellent, but there have been at least half a dozen versions just as good since. The 5th is excellent mono, the 9th very good early stereo.

[Lilas Pastia]

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by René Leibowitz. This is a typical early 60s Reader's Digest production. They commissioned the RPO and some other orchestras as well as leading conductors to record masterworks of the symphonic repertoire. The RPO at that time was still Beecham's fabled orchestra. Among those, many became classics: Barbirolli's RPO Sibelius 2, Horenstein RPO Dvorak 9, etc. They spared no effort and everything was recorded in Kingsway Hall or other such excellent venues by top of the game professional engineers.

So what we have here is a team of crackerjack musicians and technicians  giving the Great C Major the Aston Martin treatment. Absolutely SUPERB brasses, athletic strings that go through hell but don't break a sweat in the manically fast, scurrying figurations of the finale, colourful and personable winds, you name it. Did I mention the timpani? No? That's because they are unaccountably too reticent and don't make much of an impression. Black mark here. As for the conducting, well, it's typical Leibowitz: exciting, rythms fanatically strict without any bending of line or relaxation for the more lyrical spots. First time ever I hear the coda of I taken in tempo without any broadening whatsoever. He outmunches Munch. In short: big, bold and driving in I, very dramatic and almost scary in II, fast and metronomic in III (no time to smell the roses at that speed), and vibrant, militant, unfeeling in IV.

Altogether a 9th for the road if one is running from the cops. I'll listen to it again because it is soooo well played and recorded - BTW this is from an lp copy in amazing sound. Almost no clicks and pops. Suitable for cd reisue at budget price, with room to spare for a 30 minutes + coupling.

[Gustav]

Heinz Roenger, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

[Lilas Pastia]

Wow! This is very interesting !! What's your opinion ?

This week I listened (for the first time ever!) to Böhm's DG BPO version from the early sixties. Very well recorded, beautifully played, perfectly proportioned. Altogether a kinder, gentler take on the work than his later (live) SD version. I think I detect a more 'classical' approach in Böhm's 60s music making. Later on he became both more impulsive and emphatic, with a sharper sense of rythm. Although slightly slower, his interpretations have a greater sense of propulsion, are more fluid and often have more character.


Listening to the DG Japan disc of Strauss works that pairs Don Juan (BP 1963) and Ein Heldenleben (WP 1976) is very intructive in that respect. Don Juan is brilliantly laid out, it's like cruising on a mountain road in a BMW. With Heldenleben, the road is gone and we are airborne, taken on a balloon tour of the straussian landscape. Exhilarating, aerial and so beautiful in sound that any criticism is left at the door. Absolutely no sense of the bar line, totally fluid music making. When I hear it, I just can't imagine it could be done better or, indeed, differently. In a nutshell: although musically and technically perfect, the Schubert and early Strauss recordings do not have the character and beauty he would later achieve in his Indian Summer years.

[M forever]

Have you heard Böhm's recording of Ein Heldenleben with the Staatskapelle Dresden from 1957?

I think I detect a more 'classical' approach in Böhm's 60s music making. Later on he became both more impulsive and emphatic, with a sharper sense of rythm. Although slightly slower, his interpretations have a greater sense of propulsion, are more fluid and often have more character.

I think most people would describe the later style more as "classical" and the former more as "romantic" although I think both are not very apt terms.

[Holden]

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by René Leibowitz. This is a typical early 60s Reader's Digest production. They commissioned the RPO and some other orchestras as well as leading conductors to record masterworks of the symphonic repertoire. The RPO at that time was still Beecham's fabled orchestra. Among those, many became classics: Barbirolli's RPO Sibelius 2, Horenstein RPO Dvorak 9, etc. They spared no effort and everything was recorded in Kingsway Hall or other such excellent venues by top of the game professional engineers.

So what we have here is a team of crackerjack musicians and technicians  giving the Great C Major the Aston Martin treatment. Absolutely SUPERB brasses, athletic strings that go through hell but don't break a sweat in the manically fast, scurrying figurations of the finale, colourful and personable winds, you name it. Did I mention the timpani? No? That's because they are unaccountably too reticent and don't make much of an impression. Black mark here. As for the conducting, well, it's typical Leibowitz: exciting, rythms fanatically strict without any bending of line or relaxation for the more lyrical spots. First time ever I hear the coda of I taken in tempo without any broadening whatsoever. He outmunches Munch. In short: big, bold and driving in I, very dramatic and almost scary in II, fast and metronomic in III (no time to smell the roses at that speed), and vibrant, militant, unfeeling in IV.

Altogether a 9th for the road if one is running from the cops. I'll listen to it again because it is soooo well played and recorded - BTW this is from an lp copy in amazing sound. Almost no clicks and pops. Suitable for cd reisue at budget price, with room to spare for a 30 minutes + coupling.

Lilas - see post #4. I couldn't agree with you more.

[Lilas Pastia]

Have you heard Böhm's recording of Ein Heldenleben with the Staatskapelle Dresden from 1957?


I think most people would describe the later style more as "classical" and the former more as "romantic" although I think both are not very apt terms.

No, I never heard it. I suppose it would be quite different form both the WP or BP one? If I 'read' him well, I think Böhm had the knack of entering into, and extracting from the best orchestras what constitutes the essence of their musical culture. I may go out on a limb here, but I suspect that's one reason why he never travelled much (except for the occasional opera season in New York or Orange).

The late 70s WP (and LSO ) recordings definitely seem 'freer': more spontaneous and subject to some really surprising turns of phrasing that I would not expect to hear in his staighter, tighter previous readings. His Mozart symphonies as recorded in Amsterdam (mid-fifties), Berlin (mid-sixties) and Vienna (late-seventies) are a case in point. I have and love all three (39-41, 35-36+38-41 and 29, 35, 38-41 respectively). They show more alacrity and energy early on, more balance and weight in the middle, more gravitas, drama and tenderness  later on. But, throughout, the music breathes and you can sense the players expressing their collective personality without constraint. The kind of thing Solti or Muti have always been incapable of.

[Lilas Pastia]

Lilas - see post #4. I couldn't agree with you more.

Well, that's the post that alerted me to its existence .

And out of the blue an angel dropped a rapidshare link into my inbox. Life is good! 

[DarkAngel]

I have large collection of Schubert symphonies especially 9th and recently found a couple really great ones that are not known to most people......

 

The 1984 live Tennstedt/LPO for BBC Legends is about as exciting as any straight up version of the 9th (do not confuse this with BPO studio version) has all the thrill you expect from great live version with good sound. The brass gets extra prominence here compared to Karajan/BPO which gives more drive and excitement when needed. It had escaped my attention for long time because it is a one off and Tennstedt never attempted a complete Schubert set and does not have a well known Beethoven set

The Brahms Tragic Overture also gets a thrilling performance.....

The 1990 Norrington/LCP for EMI is despised by some for its leaner clarified textures and sharp brass, really gives you a fresh exciting take on this symphony. If you have Norrington's LCP Beethoven set you know what to expect, he tries to be unorthodox and sometimes really fails (like Berlioz Sym Fantastique) but here he hits a home run......extremely cheap used at Amazon USA. Makes good companion to the 2CD LCP set for Virgin:

[Drasko]

Don't know how I missed this, probably wasn't around when the thread was active. Anyhow, there are three performances I particularly like:

#1 Czech Philharmonic / Franz Konwitschny (Supraphon)
Joyous, bubbly, easygoing, relaxed but not without power when needed, gorgeous colors in best Czech tradition and Konwitchny steering things with light hand without meddling too much.

#2 Chicago Symphony / Carlo Maria Giulini (DG)
Massively sounding orchestra handled in velvet glove by Giulini. Frightening reserves of power wed to incredible attention to detail in lyrically flowing performance.

#3 Vienna Philharmonic / Herbert von Karajan (late 40s, EMI)
Driven, hard-hitting, brutal, dark and violent vision from Karajan.

Also like Boston/Munch, Berlin/Furtwangler, Bernstein/NYPO   

[mjwal]

I missed this thread too - I definitely wasn't around at the time. I second Giulini and Furtwängler (preferably live), don't know the others. My favourite recorded performance, however - not so much concerning the orchestral execution, which is decent and no more - is the interpretation by Erich Kleiber w/ RSO Cologne on LP (it has probably been reissued in the meantime), which has spontaneity and (for me) a perfect balance between pain and pleasure. I've got Szell, too, but found it a trifle too precise at last hearing. I would love to read some more reasoned recommendations.

[DarkAngel]

I missed this thread too - I definitely wasn't around at the time. I second Giulini and Furtwängler (preferably live), don't know the others. My favourite recorded performance, however - not so much concerning the orchestral execution, which is decent and no more - is the interpretation by Erich Kleiber w/ RSO Cologne on LP (it has probably been reissued in the meantime), which has spontaneity and (for me) a perfect balance between pain and pleasure. I've got Szell, too, but found it a trifle too precise at last hearing. I would love to read some more reasoned recommendations.

 

If I only keep two I go with these two.....

Szell is just magnificent and leaves me inspired with every listen, the only puzzle is why this has not been remastered as a newer release (even though current stereo 1957 sound is quite good) Munch/RCA is very good (especially in newest RCa hybrid remaster), but I feel Szell has a better feel for scherzo with its undulating mid tempo melodies, he has a Vienese central europe feel that escapes other conductors like Munch, the final is as powerful and dramatic as any version I have heard. There are many very good stereo versions that are close:
Munch/RCA
Bernstein/NYPO/Sony
Solti/Decca Legends
Sinopoli/DG
MacKerras/OAE/Virgin

Furtwangler's 1952 BPO needs little introduction, a classic in anyones book with very good mono sound. The only slight critique I have is he tends to accentuate the fast/slow tempos too much......going very slow then exploding into a fast release......I think Szell has a better overall handle on tempo transition. The overall grand structure however is handled masterfully by Furtwangler and justly deserves classic status. I wish it had a more logical pairing to fill out CD......

After listening again above I ordered the Music and Arts 1951 live symphony by Furtwangler for some variety