BaL 29.11.14 - Schumann: Symphony no. 2

[teamsaint]

I need another set of the Schumann symphonies like a proverbial hole in the head but Jayne's advocacy of Ticciati is so strong that I'm about to press the "Buy" button on the Linn website. The recordings were made in my local hall in Scotland (which I know well) so I'll be interested to hear how it sounds. My Chord Hugo DAC doesn't seem to have any problems with 192k so I'll just have to be patient as it'll take several hours to download, given the woeful broadband speed here in France.

Ticciati's Second Symphony will, though, have to be really wonderful to displace the Abbado as my favourite recording of this, my favourite among the four symphonies. Abbado's performance sounds, well, absolutely right. Even finer than my erstwhile favourites, Sinopoli and JEG. And the overtures on the CD are just as good.

they are available to try in the Naxos library , HD, but I wonder if sound quality is that high?

I listened to #3 this morning, and it was good, very interesting in places, but I suspect that the finer nuances may not have survived Library/ipad/marantz......

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes I'm almost in your situation too HD (save that I don't have any 'modern' sets of the symphonies). Very persuasive, as is the comment in one of the other reviews I've read that compared with Nézet-Séguin (who I think bustled everything along too much), Ticciati lets things breathe more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/ar...zet-sguin.html (isn't it quaint how the conductors are all "Mr." this that and the other - how curious our American cousins are... )

http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...robin-ticciati

[BBMmk2]

Don't mind if I do !

Seriously though, Bbm - get a grip and try the symphonies! Maybe you need a leaner approach like Nézet-Séguin/COE or Holliger/WDR SO rather than the more plush, 'traditional' performance style which may have put you off?

The two versions of No 2 I have on CD are part of the complete sets by Szell/Cleveland and Sawallisch/Dresden (the latter in both the original CD issue and the refined Japanese pressing advocated so passionately by JLW). As mentioned before and often, I am an unrepentant fan of the Sawallisch performances and recordings, plus the playing of one of my favourite orchestras. They are among that select handful of performances of any music that seem to me so "right".

I've never warmed to the more fleet, chamber-style Schumann (even though we are told it is more authentic, having regard to the forces for which he was writing etc etc). But latterly, I've been listening a lot to a more 'modern' approach to the 2nd Symphony, having recorded one day (from Essential Classics or TTN, can't remember which) the Holliger / WDR performance - and I like it a lot.

At the risk of spoiling this BAL, it will be interesting to see if Mr Wigmore remains consistent with his own view, expressed on classical-music.com (the online offshoot of BBCMM), and echoing mine, that:

"Sawallisch’s searching, far-seeing 1972 recording, gloriously executed by the Dresden Staatskapelle, still leads the field, despite memorable recent offerings from the likes of Gardiner, Sinopoli and Thielemann. Richard Wigmore"



Or have Nézet-Séguin or other newcomers turned his head... ?

Maybe your right, Cali. The rather overblown romantic view of these works, need a revision of opinions from this forumite! Maybe some of the supposed authentics could be reheard again/ Has Jeggers done these? I do rather like what he has achieved with the ORR. Perhaps the recording that you have mentioned, the COE and that French guy, might be the choice. As I do rather like the thinned out performances. so maybe that is the road to take? As I do rather like this orchestra as well.

[amateur51]

Maybe your right, Cali. The rather overblown romantic view of these works, need a revision of opinions from this forumite! Maybe some of the supposed authentics could be reheard again/ Has Jeggers done these? I do rather like what he has achieved with the ORR. Perhaps the recording that you have mentioned, the COE and that French guy, might be the choice. As I do rather like the thinned out performances. so maybe that is the road to take? As I do rather like this orchestra as well.

It's the care and the authoratitive research so manifest in Bbm's posts that makes reading them compulsory.

[Barbirollians]

I like Sawallisch and Kubelik in this symphony plus the retouched Szell but agree that the recent Abbado is superb.

[Pianorak]

(isn't it quaint how the conductors are all "Mr." this that and the other - how curious our American cousins are... )

I think the Germans are to blame for that.

[Nick Armstrong]

Maybe your right, Cali. The rather overblown romantic view of these works, need a revision of opinions from this forumite! Maybe some of the supposed authentics could be reheard again/ Has Jeggers done these? I do rather like what he has achieved with the ORR. Perhaps the recording that you have mentioned, the COE and that French guy, might be the choice. As I do rather like the thinned out performances. so maybe that is the road to take? As I do rather like this orchestra as well.

A very few key strokes later and Hey! Presto:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-Symphonies-Orchestre-Révolutionnaire-Romantique/dp/B000006PKI

But NB Jayne's recommendation of: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-Sym...ciati+schumann

Bbm - open yer lug'oles on Saturday morning and see what grabs you!

[BBMmk2]

A very few key strokes later and Hey! Presto:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-Symphonies-Orchestre-Révolutionnaire-Romantique/dp/B000006PKI

But NB Jayne's recommendation of: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-Sym...ciati+schumann

Bbm - open yer lug'oles on Saturday morning and see what grabs you!

I most certainly will, Cali! thanks. Despite the price of the Jeggers,I might go with that, as the other works I do not mind, especially under Jeggers!

[Nick Armstrong]

I might go with that, as the other works I do not mind

Big of you, Bbm! I'm sure the shade of Robert Schumann is relieved to hear it!

[verismissimo]

Sorry Cali!! (Have a virtual Spitfire!)

Now we have that openminded commitment from BBM, Cali, how about a similar one from you re opera? Maybe starting with Die Entfuhrung - young WAM at his most scintillating!

[Nick Armstrong]

Now we have that openminded commitment from BBM, Cali, how about a similar one from you re opera? Maybe starting with Die Entfuhrung - young WAM at his most scintillating!

Continuing your wild swerve off-topic, I had a wonderful road trip last week with that Fleming/Gerhaher "Capriccio", which I had decanted into the iPod - pure gold! Great music and some (not all) great singing - I'm very committed to that!

[verismissimo]

Continuing your wild swerve off-topic, I had a wonderful road trip last week with that Fleming/Gerhaher "Capriccio", which I had decanted into the iPod - pure gold! Great music and some (not all) great singing - I'm very committed to that!

Capriccio - pure joy, Cali.

[BBMmk2]

Capriccio - pure joy, Cali.

As is Schumann's Symphony no.2! :)

[jayne lee wilson]

A very few key strokes later and Hey! Presto:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-Symphonies-Orchestre-Révolutionnaire-Romantique/dp/B000006PKI

But NB Jayne's recommendation of: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-Sym...ciati+schumann

Bbm - open yer lug'oles on Saturday morning and see what grabs you!

Bear in mind - there is now a bargain-price Archiv Collectors' edition of the JEG Schumann Cycle** which runs to 5 CDs and includes some of his best vocal works (Mignon & Paradies). But I'm afraid, last night, I didn't care much for JEG's way with the 1841 4th... for me, too unwieldy and abrasive, with energy and impact but not a lot else...this approach suited Ov-Scherz-Fin better though. When it came out, the cycle did deserve its acclaim as it broke new ground orchestrally, texturally, but I think it has been bettered by Dausgaard, Harnoncourt etc., not to mention the two new kids on the block, Ticciati & Y-N-S. I was somewhat disheartened by the Nige-Meister's criticism of the Nezet-Seguin within his IRR Ticciati review, but given other commentary I guess I'll just have to find out for myself... still, consolation that it is in hi-res. ...AND I think JEG would do Schumann better now, as per his recent Beethoven 5/7/2/8 on SDG, all a deal warmer, more expressive and better played by a much more cultured vintage of the ORR. I hope he revisits them.

**Even the sound seems a little dated on this reissue, though it may be better on the original discs. But I'd expect Archiv to take care...

[visualnickmos]

At the risk of being thought of as a stick in the mud, I've just listened to Otto Klemperer's recording with the Philharmonia, (EMI) and I have to say, it is actually rather good.