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

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... such as the John Eliot Gardiner?

Very possibly - I have "issues" with JEGgers in some German repertoire, so I've neglected to sample his Schumann symphonies.

[jayne lee wilson]

My current favourites are Dausgaard/SCO on BIS (as CD, c/w an outstanding Overture,Scherzo & Finale, best I've heard) and Harnoncourt/COE on Teldec (originally c/w No.2, equally wonderful, but I think recently reissued as a cycle).

I do find older, heftier performances hard to take now, but there's still life in the old Mercury of Paray/Detroit SO - he keeps it light, agile, bit of a French accent perhaps. Very fond of Zinman/ZTO when it appeared, haven't played it for a while...

Pet Sounds... Bergen SO/Aldo Ceccato on BIS, this is the Mahler edition with lighter orchestration and some reduced/altered dynamics. Those amendments, the rhythmic poise, alertness and expressiveness of the playing, and an especially warm and open BIS recording, make this very appealing!

[richardfinegold]

My current favourites are Dausgaard/SCO on BIS (as CD, c/w an outstanding Overture,Scherzo & Finale, best I've heard) and Harnoncourt/COE on Teldec (originally c/w No.2, equally wonderful, but I think recently reissued as a cycle).

I do find older, heftier performances hard to take now, but there's still life in the old Mercury of Paray/Detroit SO - he keeps it light, agile, bit of a French accent perhaps. Very fond of Zinman/ZTO when it appeared, haven't played it for a while...

Pet Sounds... Bergen SO/Aldo Ceccato on BIS, this is the Mahler edition with lighter orchestration and some reduced/altered dynamics. Those amendments, the rhythmic poise, alertness and expressiveness of the playing, and an especially warm and open BIS recording, make this very appealing!

I agree with you about the Dausgaard, which I have listened to on Spotify and now ordered, and the Paray, which I have on an old and very scratchy lp. I'd like to get a cleaner sounding Paray; what do you recommend, jlw?

[jayne lee wilson]

The 1958 Paray seems only available in the original Mercury 2CD issue of 1999 with the other symphonies (unless it's in a Big Box somewhere..). No.1 is the stand-out performance. The others (1954-6) aren't as well recorded and No.4 is in mono, but it is a very enjoyable cycle, if now a bit expensive 2ndhand...

The late 1950s/1960 Gramophone reviews of the vinyls (by TH, WSM etc) weren't exactly kind to this cycle! Various comments about a lack of affection and exaggerated staccato...
... But good fun to read in the archive. It has scrubbed up well on CD, honest!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have several versions with the VPO:

Solti, Bernstein, Muti and Mehta. The Solti suffers from surprisingly wiry sound, but from the same company/venue, Mehta has far better sound.
But for sheer momentum, give me Bernstein every time.

[jayne lee wilson]

Anyone else recall Hans Vonk with the Cologne Gurzenich? It's sitting over THERE on an EMI Forte... haven't played it for ages, I recall Rob Cowan liking it a lot...
and the date of his Gramophone review is.... 11/96.

It's in an excellent 4-way comparison with cycles by Wit, Barenboim and Harnoncourt, just the sort of thing we loved Gramophone for then. "Just to catalogue the interpretative novelties would take almost an entire issue of Gramophone!" says Cowan of Harnoncourt's cycle. But he is VERY enthusiastic about the Vonk, so I must have a go at it later. Seek it out, do a www search and have fun...

Anyway, back to 11/97 I go to read that comparative essay at greater leisure...
...and it's an utter joy!

[Petrushka]

I have both Kubeliks, Karajan, Solti, Furtwangler, Sawallisch and Chailly but my favourite was my first - Josef Krips and the LSO. My LP was a Decca Eclipse coupled with a very fine 4th. Hope this one does well.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I have both Kubeliks, Karajan, Solti, Furtwangler, Sawallisch and Chailly but my favourite was my first - Josef Krips and the LSO. My LP was a Decca Eclipse coupled with a very fine 4th. Hope this one does well.

Wow! That was my first encounter with this work, but on an old, early DECCA LP (with a yellow/orange label) containing just the one work: Side One for the first two movements with the last two on Side Two. It was in the school Music library and I borrowed it one Half-Term holiday in about 1975.

[Petrushka]

Wow! That was my first encounter with this work, but on an old, early DECCA LP (with a yellow/orange label) containing just the one work: Side One for the first two movements with the last two on Side Two. It was in the school Music library and I borrowed it one Half-Term holiday in about 1975.

The Decca Eclipse LP from 1974 has a photograph of a Jacobean bed in the Crimson Room at Montacute House in Somerset. Not sure what it has got to do with Schumann but it's a striking picture anyway.

I also had another Decca Eclipse LP of the Schumann 'Spring' with Furtwängler and the VPO in a live 1951 Munich concert at around the same time. The Bruckner 4 was in part two and was on another Decca Eclipse.

[jayne lee wilson]

"This is the Spring Symphony. Schumann
Wrote it in autumn. Now it is June.
Nothing to deny, nothing to identify
The season of this music..."
(CHARLES TOMLINSON)

...Despite which I did find listening to it in December very discomfiting, so I skipped & sampled through Nos. 1 & 2 of the Vonk, and they are very, very good! That classic German Radio Orchestra sound, detailed and precise but full and weighty, especially strong basslines. Taped live in a fine acoustic (Koln Philharmonie early 1990s) and feeling like it. The world isn't short of great Schumann but these must take their place in the top group. Performances that serve the music and express it fully - really fulfilling, in excellent sound. (Shame though about the rapid fade on the final reverb to cut the applause...)

I see it's available as an EMI 3 now- - terrific bargain, then.

[visualnickmos]

What about Marek Janowski and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic? Is it a worthy recording?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

What about Marek Janowski and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic? Is it a worthy recording?

Does it exist?

[Petrushka]

Does it exist?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schumann-Royal-Liverpool/dp/B000001HNB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388342783&sr=8-2&keywords=janowski+schumann

[jayne lee wilson]

What about Marek Janowski and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic? Is it a worthy recording?

Ivan March's review of 1&3 is in Gramophone 9/87, and he's.... very happy with it!

[richardfinegold]

The 1958 Paray seems only available in the original Mercury 2CD issue of 1999 with the other symphonies (unless it's in a Big Box somewhere..). No.1 is the stand-out performance. The others (1954-6) aren't as well recorded and No.4 is in mono, but it is a very enjoyable cycle, if now a bit expensive 2ndhand...

The late 1950s/1960 Gramophone reviews of the vinyls (by TH, WSM etc) weren't exactly kind to this cycle! Various comments about a lack of affection and exaggerated staccato...
... But good fun to read in the archive. It has scrubbed up well on CD, honest!

I own both the Mercury Big boxes and am disapointed that the Paray is not included in either.