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

by | Oct 17, 2005 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

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

Related Reviews
Logo Pure Pleasure
Logo Crystal Records Sidebar 300 ms
Logo Jazz Detective Deep Digs Animated 01