Schumann Symphonies Complete Set

[Arcades Project]

For some reason, this set from the HB passed me by...I must try and get my hands on a copy. Is it still available?

Waldhorn having reminded me I have a copy of the set I've now played no. 2 as well as 3 & from my memories of JEG I prefer Goodman. How I forgot HB I don't know . At least it was filed under Schumann. If you can find a copy, Micky, they are fine performances with more volatility & spontaneity than Gardiner.

On modern instruments I do like Lausanne / Zacharias on MDG (& they are in SACD).

[Arcades Project]

For some reason, this set from the HB passed me by...I must try and get my hands on a copy. Is it still available?

Bryn's a bit pessimistic about the price http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-com...humann+goodman

'Classical Cabin' at £17.99 looks OK. & there's a copy EURO 24,61 in France (Bouquin Shop) "comme neuf." http://www.amazon.fr/gp/offer-listin...condition=used

[Roehre]

Yes, ferney. I picked up a very cheap copy of that set a couple of years ago. I think they're pretty good performances, though I'd still prefer Sawallisch and Kubelik (and Furtwängler for no 4). I didn't notice too much easy-going grace but perhaps Solti had something to do with that The horns, as ever with the VPO, sound wonderful.

solti is a little bit neurotic (Schumann's rhythms, but nevertheless) in 2. And his recordings were helped by some amendments in the scoring, listen to the very opening of 1 e.g. and compare with any other non-HIP recording. You will be surprised: IIRC the horns set in a third lower than usual.

[Bryn]

Bryn's a bit pessimistic about the price http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-com...humann+goodman

'Classical Cabin' at £17.99 looks OK. & there's a copy EURO 24,61 in France (Bouquin Shop) "comme neuf." http://www.amazon.fr/gp/offer-listin...condition=used

I was alluding to the fact that I had just grabbed the last of the £9.90 "Used - Like New" copies from the amazon.co.uk marketplace. That, to me, just about squeezes into the "bargain basement".

[Arcades Project]

I was alluding to the fact that I had just grabbed the last of the £9.90 "Used - Like New" copies from the amazon.co.uk marketplace. That, to me, just about squeezes into the "bargain basement".

That is indeed "bargain basement."

I remember (apart from remembering I had the set) where I bought it - Tower Records in Piccadilly. Now that is a while ago.

[Dave2002]

Possibly Bernstein's discussions on Schumann might be of interest. They are on Spotify here - http://open.spotify.com/track/7AXHqRS71bZj6CBXGIoabA

Bernstein makes some interesting points about the balancing, and how the conductor might need to rebalance the strings which he says are too powerful in some sections. If there are any HIPP recordings with smaller orchestras, and strings using gut strings, this might not be necessary.

HIPP Schumann?

[Bryn]

Possibly Bernstein's discussions on Schumann might be of interest. They are on Spotify here - http://open.spotify.com/track/7AXHqRS71bZj6CBXGIoabA

Bernstein makes some interesting points about the balancing, and how the conductor might need to rebalance the strings which he says are too powerful in some sections. If there are any HIPP recordings with smaller orchestras, and strings using gut strings, this might not be necessary.

HIPP Schumann?

Goodman and JEG, plus, admittedly using more modern string set-up, the SCO/Mackerras EIF survey of Symphonies and Concertos I saved to cassettes (and much later transferred to CD-Rs) from Radio 3 broadcasts.

[Arcades Project]

HIPP Schumann?

As Bryn says, Hanover Band / Roy Goodman; Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique / John Eliot Gardiner on 'period' instruments.

On modern instruments Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne / Christian Zacharias are HIPP influenced (& very good, IMO).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Which I also have, to add to my unique collection of Schumann symphony recordings no one else is interested in

Au cointreau, Rodney - I was "interested", but couldn't comment because I'd never heard (or even "heard of") two of the sets you mentioned (Beermann & Zacharias)

Thanks to everyone who mentioned the Goodman set - I've wanted to get a HIPP set, but didn't really get on with JEGger's, which sounds a bit "bossy". There's also a set on COL LEGNO with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento under Gustav Kuhn: small orchestra, modern instruments (I think), full price - but with an orchestra with a name like that, I find myself irresistably drawn to it! Has anyone heard it who can (en/dis)courage such a temptation?

[PJPJ]

.......
On modern instruments I do like Lausanne / Zacharias on MDG (& they are in SACD).

I prefer Dausgaard's cycle on BIS, having compared the two - he seems to me to have much more to say about the symphonies than Zacharias with his more sharply etched performances.

And for youthful-sounding vigour and tempi which don't hang about, do try Boult in good early stereo sound, and Munch for an uplifting Spring, either his early mono or later well recorded stereo releases. The latter is available from HDTT as a 24 bit transfer from a reel-to-reel tape; I found it very easy to get caught up in Munch's infectious enthusiasm.

[Dave2002]

I'm not quite sure in fact what HIPP would be for Schumann. Bernstein made the point about balancing the strings, but he also suggests that a large body of strings is needed - for example in the slow movement of number 2 - in order to get what he considered the right effect.

How does the Hanover Band version measure up?

[cloughie]

A little late entering the discussion - we are indeed blessed with many a good cycle - with several sets on my shelf it is difficult to choose and indeed recommend one single set but I always enjoy Solti's No2 and Furtwangler's No4. Celibidache's individual interpretations allow you to hear every note. By coincidence I caught the end of Abbado's new recording with his Mozart Orchestra on the car radio from CFM's Full Works programme - sounded OK but the test of No2 for me is the 2nd movt which I did not hear. Abbado has not recorded the Symphonies to date - will we get a cycle?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm not quite sure in fact what HIPP would be for Schumann. Bernstein made the point about balancing the strings, but he also suggests that a large body of strings is needed - for example in the slow movement of number 2 - in order to get what he considered the right effect.

This is the point: to get the intoxicatingly rich proto-Brucknerian* effect that Furtwangler and Karajan thought best, or the Mahlerian sound Lennie wanted, you need those large string choirs of the big, modern-instrument orchestra. Heard on the sort of forces Mendelssohn had available in Leipzig (for example), the effect can at first seem rather thin and watery - but once you get used to this sound, it can repay dividends - the difference, if you like between a watercolour and an oil painting. In fact, it can seem equally strange returning to the fuller sounds of the BPO after getting used to a HIPP performance. These works benefit from both treatments; each gives insights unavailable to the other. A bit like hearing the piano works played on the pianos available to Schumann after hearing Kempff play them on a mid-20th Century Steinway.

* = strictly-speaking, it's a "proto-Furtwangler's-Bruckner effect", Bruckner's Music sounding different on contemporary instruments from how it sounds under Furtwangler and his successors.

[Dave2002]

Just found this - I was looking for Haydn!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-Symphonies-Nos-1-4/dp/B007HKDVX4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1374575559&sr=8-5&keywords=derek+solomons

Derek Solomons with The Authentic Orchestra

It's on Spotify, so I'll check it out in a while. Somewhat surprisingly, after my modest successes of tracking down recordings by David Blum, there doesn't seem to be much available by Derek Solomons. As I said, I was expecting to find Haydn.

[Tony Halstead]

Hm... don't bother, it's pretty awful.
The 'authentic' layout of the orchestra allegedly follows the Leipzig Gewandhaus practice in Mendelssohn's time of seating the 1st violins on the conductor's RIGHT so that their sound is directed into the body of the orchestra rather than towards the audience. The 2nd violins therefore sit on the conductor's LEFT so that they sound er...um... LOUDER THAN THE 1st violins.
Grotesque.
Not to mention that the cellos don't sit together as a body of instruments at all, but are randomly distributed over the whole stage.