BaL 27.12.14 - Schubert: Symphony no. 8 in B minor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am
Building a Library
Chris de Souza with a personal recommendation from recordings of Schubert's tantalisingly truncated Symphony No. 8, the 'Unfinished Symphony'

Available versions:-

Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Claudio Abbado
VPO, Claudio Abbado
North West German PO, Hans Abendroth
BPO, Daniel Barenboim
BPO, Daniel Barenboim (DVD/Blu-ray)
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Eduard van Beinum
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein
Staatskapelle Dresden, Herbert Blomstedt
BPO, Karl Böhm (mono)
BPO, Karl Böhm
VPO, Karl Böhm (DG)
VPO, Karl Böhm (Orfeo)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Musikkollegium Winterthur, Douglas Boyd
English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten
Orchestra of the 18th Century, Frans Brüggen
NBC SO Guido Cantelli
Philharmonia Orchestra, Guido Cantelli
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Sergiu Celibidache (download)
RAI Köln, Sergiu Celibidache
RAI Rome, Sergiu Celibidache (download)
BPO, André Cluytens
Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard
Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis
Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis (live)
Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnanyi
Buffalo PO, JoAnn Falletta (completed Brian Newbold/Mario Venzago)
Hungarian State Orchestra, Janos Ferencsik (download)
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
National SO, Anatole Fistoulari
Royal Danish Orchestra, King Frederick IX (download)
Ferenc Fricsay
RAI Turin, Wilhelm Furtwängler
VPO, Wilhelm Furtwängler
VPO, Wilhelm Furtwängler (Stockholm)
BPO, Wilhelm Furtwängler (Feb 1952)
BPO, Carlo Maria Giulini (live 1977)
Chicago SO, Carlo Maria Giulini
LSO, Carlo Maria Giulini
Philharmonia Orchestra, Carol Maria Giulini (download)
RIA Milan, Carlo Maria Giulini
The Hanover Band, Roy Goodman
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Halasz
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Halasz (DVD)
Ulster Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
French National Radio Orchestra, Pablo Heras-Casado (DVD)
Royal Flemish PO, Philippe Herreweghe
BBC SO, Jasha Horenstein
Anima Eterna Brugge, Jos van Immerseel
Boston SO, Eugen Jochum (download)
BPO, Herbert von Karajan (DG)
BPO, Herbert von Karajan (EMI)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan 1957 (download)
Köln Radio SO, Joseph Keilberth
VPO, Istvan Kertesz
VPO, Carlos Kleiber (BaL choice 2004)
NDR Hamburg, Erich Kleiber
Budapest SO, Otto Klemperer (download)
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer (live 1967)
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer (live 1968)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Klemperer (1963)
RAI Turin, Otto Klemperer
VPO, Otto Klemperer
Philharmonia Orchestra, Paul Kletzki
USSR SSO, Paul Kletzki
Bavarian State Orchestra, Hans Knappertsbusch
BPO, Hans Knappertsbusch (3 performances)
Slovak PO, Zdenek Kosler
LSO, Josef Krips
VPO, Josef Krips
Rafael Kubelik (EMI)
St Petersburg SO, Vladimir Lande
BPO Fritz Lehmann
Bavarian Radio SO, Lorin Maazel
BPO, Lorin Maazel (download)
VPO, Lorin Maazel
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Sir Charles Mackerras
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras
Kammeracademie Potsdam, Antonello Manacorda
Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Sir Neville Marriner (completed Newbould)
LPO, Kurt Masur (live)
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Lovro Matacic
Israel PO, Zubin Mehta
VPO, Riccardo Muti
Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, Alezander Melik Pashayev
Concertgebouw Orchestra, William Mengelberg
Sinfonia Varsovia, Sir Yehudi Menuhin
Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski
Leningrad PO, Evgeny Mravinsky
National SO of the Leningrad Philharmonia, Evgeny Mravinsky
Boston SO, Charles Munch
Prague SO, Václav Neumann
Camarata Salzburg, Sir Roger Norrington
London Classical Players, Sir Roger Norrington
SWR Stuttgart, Sir Roger Norrington
Bamberg SO, Jonathan Nott
Saito Kinen Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
BBC Northern SO, Kurt Sanderling
Sir Malcolm Sargent
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Philharmonie Festiva, Gerd Schaller
Staatskapelle Dresden, Peter Schreier (download)
Stuttgart Radio SO, Carl Schuricht
VPO, Carl Schuricht (download)
New York Chamber SO, Gerard Schwarz
Czech PO, Karel Sejna
Berlin State Opera Orchestra, Franz Schalk
Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli
Staatskapelle Dresden, Giuseppe Sinopoli
Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Ignat Solzhenitsyn (download)
Neue Orchester, Christoph Spering
Chicago SO, Sir Georg Solti (DVD)
VPO, Sir Georg Solti
Leopold Stokowski (DVD/Blu-ray)
Nova Scotia Symphony, Georg Tintner (download)
NBC SO, Arturo Toscanini
Budapest SO, Tamás Vásáry
Camarata Salzburg, Sándor Végh
Saarbrucken Radio SO, Marcello Viotti
Bavarian State Orchestra, Bruno Walter
Philadelphia Orchestra, Bruno Walter
VPO, Bruno Walter (2 versions)
Köln Gürzenich Orchestra, Günter Wand
Munich PO, Günter Wand
Deutsches SO Berlin, Günter Wand
Deutsches SO Berlin, Günter Wand (DVD)
Moscow PO, Dmitry Yoblonsky
SWR Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Hans Zender
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, David Zinman

[Roehre]

Only 135. Is that all ?

thanks as usual for all the trouble EA, much appreciated.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Only 135. Is that all ?

Rest assured, there'll be flood of others I didn't notice.

[Petrushka]

Chris D'Souza has a pretty thankless task in sifting through this lot!

My default version for many years has been Karajan and the BPO on EMI - a deep, dark, dramatic reading that looks forward to Bruckner.

However, I'll not be surprised if this is another winner for Abbado in his excellent recording with the VPO in Lucerne, newly released from a 1978 concert.

[Tony Halstead]

Rest assured, there'll be flood of others I didn't notice.

including 2 ( two) George Szell / Cleveland recordings, both very fine, but maybe not 'qualifying for review' as they may be currently 'unavailable'..?
'More's the pity' as they say...

[richardfinegold]

including 2 ( two) George Szell / Cleveland recordings, both very fine, but maybe not 'qualifying for review' as they may be currently 'unavailable'..?
'More's the pity' as they say...

Szell and Cleveland have been my prefered as well, but I didn't realize there were two of them.
I recently acquired the Blomstedt complete set but I have spent more time listening to the other ones than the Unfinished.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

VPO/Furtwangler 1950 is absolutely stunning and I've yet to hear anything to equal this. I have Carlos Kleiber, which is rather good too and Kertesz, which has a virtually inaudible opening to the 1st movement, though on the exposition repeat it's much better.

Oh, and I have Charles Groves performing the Gerald Abraham completion.

[Tony Halstead]

VPO/Furtwangler 1950 is absolutely stunning and I've yet to hear anything to equal this. I have Carlos Kleiber, which is rather good too and Kertesz, which has a virtually inaudible opening to the 1st movement, though on the exposition repeat it's much better.

Oh, and I have Charles Groves performing the Gerald Abraham completion.

As an oboist maybe you could turn your critical faculties towards to 2 Cleveland/ Szell recordings and tell us what you think about those crucial oboe solos in the 2nd movement?
It seems perfectly clear from the Szell/ Cleveland history and chronology that Szell adored the Viennese orchestral sound, in particular insisting that the Cleveland Orchestra horns should use the USA-made 'Conn 8D' horns as being the most 'similar to Viennese' horns in sound ( although of course being 'German-style' instruments).
Regarding his Cleveland oboe players, he had at that time ( before he sacked him at 1 minutes's notice!) the almost beatific 1st oboist MARC LIFSCHEY whose sound with its rather 'tight and restrained ' vibrato can be heard on many Cleveland Orchestra recordings in the late 1950s to early 1960s .

[Beef Oven!]

Giuseppe Sinopoli - Philharmonia, DG.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

As an oboist maybe you could turn your critical faculties towards to 2 Cleveland/ Szell recordings and tell us what you think about those crucial oboe solos in the 2nd movement?
It seems perfectly clear from the Szell/ Cleveland history and chronology that Szell adored the Viennese orchestral sound, in particular insisting that the Cleveland Orchestra horns should use the USA-made 'Conn 8D' horns as being the most 'similar to Viennese' horns in sound ( although of course being 'German-style' instruments).
Regarding his Cleveland oboe players, he had at that time ( before he sacked him at 1 minutes's notice!) the almost beatific 1st oboist MARC LIFSCHEY whose sound with its rather 'tight and restrained ' vibrato can be heard on many Cleveland Orchestra recordings in the late 1950s to early 1960s .

Fascinating. I haven't heard the Clevelanders in this work.

[amateur51]

Great work Alpie

Not a plea for inclusion, merely that if you see it you might try to hear it ...

Marlboro Festival Orchestra/Pablo Casals.

[Don Petter]

I think there are probably quite enough already, and forgive me if these are in there somewhere, but these three of the recordings that I have still seem to be available:

RPO, Beecham (download)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-L-Symphony-Schubert-Unfinished/dp/B0055YMU54

Philharmonia Hungarica, Maag

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Symphonies-Philharmonia-Hungarica/dp/B00005NURA

Concertgebouw, Mengelberg

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Andromeda/ANDRCD9109

[Rolmill]

I find I also have:

Putbus Festival Orchestra/Keitel (Arte Nova) and CSO/Reiner (RCA)

The Keitel is OK, lightweight but surprisingly slow in the first movement, not really a contender imo. I haven't listened to the Reiner for years, but I recall that it is not quite as impressive as the excellent Beethoven 5 coupling.

[LeMartinPecheur]

OMG, I've just discovered I don't own a single CD recording of the 8th (unless one's lurking somewhere on a BBC MM filed under its coupling...).

Still, I might remain content with Kertesz, Marriner and Kubelik (EMI) on LP...

...and Wood and Goossens on 78s

[LMP does wish it to be noted that he doesn't quite date back to the 78 era: his collection of same came to him from his grandfather (inc. the Wood) or via s/h shops and donations]

[BBMmk2]

We did this at the school where I work. They did a splendid job of it too! I have Karl Bohm(DG) and CoE, Abbado. I much prefer the Abbado here.( Biased I think! :) )