Reissue CD Reviews
Carl Schuricht conducts = GRIEG: Overture, ”In Autumn,”; BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor; GOETZ: Violin Concerto in G Major; VOLKMANN: Overture, “Richard III,” - Stuttgart Radio-Sym - Hanssler
Recordings from 1952-1960 in excellent sound by an indispensable conductor
Published on October 17, 2005
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Carl Schuricht conducts = GRIEG: Overture, ”In Autumn,” Op. 11;
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26; GOETZ: Violin Concerto
in G Major, Op. 22; VOLKMANN: Overture, “Richard III,” Op. 68 -
Hansheinz Schneeberger, violin (Bruch)/ Roman Schimmer, violin (Goetz)/
Stuttgart Radio-Symphony Orchestra
Hanssler CD 93.149 66:56 (Distrib. Allegro)****:
Along with conductor Hans Mueller-Kray, it was Carl Schuricht (1880-1967) who shaped and developed the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra into the kind of responsive instrument which Sergiu Celibidache, Neville Marriner and Georges Pretre could further evolve into the sound it has today. Schuricht made his debut in Stuttgart 5 November 1950, and he retired from work with the ensemble in March 1966. The present collation offers performances Schuricht led 1952-1960 of rather neglected repertory in excellent sound. Only the Bruch G Minor Concerto has a prior recording history with Schuricht, his having inscribed it with Georg Kulenkampff in the late 1930s.
The rendition here captured, from September 15, 1960, has a solid if not revelatory soloist in Hansheinz Schneeberger, the performance rather literal but high flown, with lush orchestral tuttis, particularly in the segue between the first two movements. More rare is the 1868 one-movement Concerto in G by Hermann Goetz (1840-1876) from 10 April 1953 with a plaintive Roman Schimmer, whose lean and fast vibrato reminds me of Alfredo Campoli. The music plays more like a romantic concert-fantasy than a full-blown concerto, but the last movement does permit the soloist some room for bravura display. The opening work, In Autumn of Grieg from 2 December 1954 has both the lyricism of the composer’s song Autumnal Storm, Op. 18, No. 4 and the urgent drama of Peer Gynt. Robert Volkmann (1815-1883) is a composer entirely contemporaneous with Schumann, Brahms, and Wagner, and his 1870 tone-poem after Shakespeare could easily pass as an example in the genre by Liszt, Smetana, or Dvorak. We seem to hear passing allusions to Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides and Dvorak’s Hussite Overture, but the melodic tissue is colorfully individual. The performance, from 12 September 1952, emanates stealthy menace and militant power, with a Scottish war-song dispelling the tyrant’s grip, as the winter of our discontent yields to the son of York. Excellent wind and string ensemble from the Stuttgart players. Containing indispensable Schuricht materials for the connoisseur, this disc is a keeper.
--Gary Lemco
Hanssler CD 93.149 66:56 (Distrib. Allegro)****:
Along with conductor Hans Mueller-Kray, it was Carl Schuricht (1880-1967) who shaped and developed the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra into the kind of responsive instrument which Sergiu Celibidache, Neville Marriner and Georges Pretre could further evolve into the sound it has today. Schuricht made his debut in Stuttgart 5 November 1950, and he retired from work with the ensemble in March 1966. The present collation offers performances Schuricht led 1952-1960 of rather neglected repertory in excellent sound. Only the Bruch G Minor Concerto has a prior recording history with Schuricht, his having inscribed it with Georg Kulenkampff in the late 1930s.
The rendition here captured, from September 15, 1960, has a solid if not revelatory soloist in Hansheinz Schneeberger, the performance rather literal but high flown, with lush orchestral tuttis, particularly in the segue between the first two movements. More rare is the 1868 one-movement Concerto in G by Hermann Goetz (1840-1876) from 10 April 1953 with a plaintive Roman Schimmer, whose lean and fast vibrato reminds me of Alfredo Campoli. The music plays more like a romantic concert-fantasy than a full-blown concerto, but the last movement does permit the soloist some room for bravura display. The opening work, In Autumn of Grieg from 2 December 1954 has both the lyricism of the composer’s song Autumnal Storm, Op. 18, No. 4 and the urgent drama of Peer Gynt. Robert Volkmann (1815-1883) is a composer entirely contemporaneous with Schumann, Brahms, and Wagner, and his 1870 tone-poem after Shakespeare could easily pass as an example in the genre by Liszt, Smetana, or Dvorak. We seem to hear passing allusions to Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides and Dvorak’s Hussite Overture, but the melodic tissue is colorfully individual. The performance, from 12 September 1952, emanates stealthy menace and militant power, with a Scottish war-song dispelling the tyrant’s grip, as the winter of our discontent yields to the son of York. Excellent wind and string ensemble from the Stuttgart players. Containing indispensable Schuricht materials for the connoisseur, this disc is a keeper.
--Gary Lemco
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