BaL 4.01.14 - Schumann's Symphony no. 1 in B flat "Spring"

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am
Building a Library
Erica Jeal with a personal recommendation from recordings of Schumann's First Symphony

Available recordings:-

Berlin RSO, Hermann Abendroth
Suisse Romande Orchestra, Ernest Ansermet
Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim
Robert Schumann Philharmonic, Frank Beerman
New York PO, Leonard Bernstein
VPO, Leonard Bernstein (CD & DVD)
Czech Chamber PO, Douglas Bostock
LPO, Sir Adrian Boult
LSO Youdani Butt
Bergen PO, Aldo Ceccato - arr. Mahler
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly (Blu-ray)
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly - arr Mahler
Swedish CO, Thomas Dausgaard
Czech PO, Lawrence Foster
Berlin Radio SO, Max Fiedler
VPO, Wilhelm Furtwangler
Orchestra Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Sir John Eliot Gardiner
BPO, Bernard Haitink (DVD)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestr, Bernard Haitink
COE, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln, Heinz Holliger
New Philharmonia, Eliahu Inbal
RLPO, Marek Janowski
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paarvo Jarvi (CD & DVD)
Suisse Romande Orchestra, Armin Jordan
BPO, Herbert von Karajan
BPO, Rudolfe Kempe
LSO, Istvan Kertesz
Moravian PO, Noriaki Kitamura (download)
New Philharmonia, Orchestra, Otto Klemperer
Israel PO, Paul Kletzki
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Franz Konwitschny
LSO, Josef Krips
BPO, Rafael Kubelik
BRSO, Rafael Kubelik
Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, Gustav Kuhn
Tasmania SO, Sebastian Lang-Lessing
Cleveland Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf (download)
Philadelphia Orchestra, James Levine
VSO, Fabio Luisi
NHK SO, Jun Marki
ASMF, Sir Neville Marriner (download)
Stuttgart RSO, Sir Neville Marriner
LPO, Kurt Masur
VPO, Zubin Mehta
NYPO, Dimitri Mitropoulos
VPO, Dimitri Mitropoulos
Boston SO, Charles Munch
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti
VPO, Riccardo Muti (2 versions)
SWR Stuttgart, Sir Roger Norrington
RPO, Grzegorz Nowak
Belgian Radio & TV Orchestra, Alexander Rahbari
Estonian SO, Gennay Rozdestvensky (edited Szell)
Staatskapelle Dresden, Wolfgang Sawallisch (BaL choice 1999)
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Michael Schonwant
Dresden Staatskapelle, Peter Schreier (download)
Seattle SO, Gerard Schwarz (download)
St Louis SO, Jerzy Semkow
Staatskapelle Dresden, Giuseppi Sinopoli
German Radio Philharmonic, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
The Authentic Orchestra, Derek Solomons (download)
VPO, Sir Georg Solti
Spria Mirabilis (Blu-ray/DVD)
Silesian PO, Karol Stryja (download)
Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell
Philharmonia Orchestra, Christian Thielemann (download)
Budapest SO, Tamas Varsary
Koln RSO, Hans Vonk
Polish National Radio SO, Antoni Wit
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Christian Zacharias
SWR Baden-Baden, Hans Zender (download)
Baltimore SO, David Zinman
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, David Zinman

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Phew!

[richardfinegold]

Phew!

Amen! What a heroic effort that was.

I am familiar with the 4 in my collection--Szell, Karajan, Kubelik (BRO), and Barenboim with the Berlin Staatkapelle. I hate to be critical after that Herculean effort, Alpie, but the Barenboim seems to be missing from your list. I purchased it after hearing the concert performance a couple years ago in Chicago, when DB came through with his new Orchestra in a nose thumbing Victory Lap after leaving his post here. I hope that set is still available. My current favorite is Karajan, whose Schumann set, IMO, is one of his finest achievements
I would like to hear a couple on your list, namely Dausgaard (which received rave reviews from critics here), Chailly, and Furtwangler. I'll be checking Spotify
for those.

[amateur51]

Phew!

Great work as usual EA!


Two by Mitropoulos and one by Munch, which I know and like. Quite a ... cornucopia

[richardfinegold]

Amen! What a heroic effort that was.

I am familiar with the 4 in my collection--Szell, Karajan, Kubelik (BRO), and Barenboim with the Berlin Staatkapelle. I hate to be critical after that Herculean effort, Alpie, but the Barenboim seems to be missing from your list. I purchased it after hearing the concert performance a couple years ago in Chicago, when DB came through with his new Orchestra in a nose thumbing Victory Lap after leaving his post here. I hope that set is still available. My current favorite is Karajan, whose Schumann set, IMO, is one of his finest achievements
I would like to hear a couple on your list, namely Dausgaard (which received rave reviews from critics here), Chailly, and Furtwangler. I'll be checking Spotify
for those.

I just checked Arkivmusic for Barenboim, which lists his Chicago and his Berlin sets as still available. I see used copies of the Berlin complete set on Amazon for $6. The Dausgaard seems to be in short supply although still listed as available.

[gurnemanz]

Exhaustive list! but one good version I have is not included

Masur - LPO (His Rhenish in the same series was BaL Budget choice in 2006.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I just checked Arkivmusic for Barenboim, which lists his Chicago and his Berlin sets as still available. I see used copies of the Berlin complete set on Amazon for $6. The Dausgaard seems to be in short supply although still listed as available.

Thank you for that. I've added the Berlin version, but the Chicago version is not generally available in the UK as far as I am aware.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Exhaustive list! but one good version I have is not included

Masur - LPO (His Rhenish in the same series was BaL Budget choice in 2006.)

Thank you. Now added.

[Barbirollians]

Sawallisch , Szell, Kubelik ( BPO - albeit that the sound is better on LP ) and Furtwangler for me.

[pastoralguy]

Karajan on DG for me. (And those wonderful covers too!) Mind you I love Bernstein's with the Philharmonic from Vienna. There's a lovely 'twang' from one of the 'cellists in the first movement!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I have Furtwangler, Karajan, and both Kubeliks - an HIPP recording would be a nice addition.

EDIT: Oh! And Muti with the Philharmonia on cassette.

[vinteuil]

- an HIPP recording would be a nice addition.

... such as the John Eliot Gardiner?

[pastoralguy]

I'd forgotten that I'd recently bought the Chaiily set on Decca for a fiver in Oxfam recently. Very fine playing and conducting.

[silvestrione]

Amen! What a heroic effort that was.

My current favorite is Karajan, whose Schumann set, IMO, is one of his finest achievements
.

Aren't there two Karajan versions, the 60s one that came out on DG Originals with the Brahms 1, and the 70s one in the complete set?
I prefer the sound of the first.

Edit: embarrassingly, the above is all rubbish!

[Barbirollians]

Erica Jeal of course kicked off last year's BALs too with a Sibelius 2 BAL that led to 200 replies on here - not all of them very complimentary about her style and I was one of those not very impressed.