ROBERT SCHUMANN: Symphonies No. 1 in B flat “Spring,” Op. 38; & No. 2 in C, Op. 61 – Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Lawrence Foster – PentaTone Classics

by | Apr 7, 2008 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | 0 comments

ROBERT SCHUMANN: Symphonies No. 1 in B flat “Spring,” Op. 38; & No. 2 in C, Op. 61 – Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Lawrence Foster – PentaTone Classics multichannel SACD PRC 5186 326, 71:13 ****:

The title Schumann applied to his first symphony (actually he had written two movements of an even earlier symphony but gave up on it) seems to suggest program music thru all four movements. But the composer had deleted the programmatic titles for each movement, saying he wanted to “depict” – not to “paint.”  The work is certainly spring like, light and in some sections almost dance like.

How he could create such a work considering his serious tribulations at the time is amazing. He hadn’t been able to perform as a concert pianist for about nine years due to a weakness in the fingers of his right hand.  (The cause of that thought to be either overuse of a mechanical finger-strengthening gadget or perhaps a mercury treatment for syphilis – though both may be apocryphal.) What is uncontested is that his mental disease was already becoming apparent in severe bouts of depression, and he was also an alcoholic.

Never mind, this suitably vernal-sounding symphony is probably the composer’s most-performed, and has had some fine standard stereo entries – of which I lean toward Leonard Bernstein’s set of all four.  There are at least two other SACD entries of the Spring – from Eliahu Enbal, also on PentaTone in a RQR four-channel reissue (with No. 3) and from Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra on BIS (with that unfinished symphony). I’m not one of those to have multiple copies of well-known symphonies to compare, but I find this new version to be well-played and benefitting from one more channel (center) than the RQR release. (I understand PentaTone and Foster are recording the other two Schumann symphonies this very month.)

However, I have to say I think I prefer the earlier 1971 PentaTone of the First. The performance seems just a bit more energetic, the orchestra is miked more closely, and I get a superior hall impression – one of those wonderful British town halls, you know. I don’t miss the center channel a bit, and I’m getting a slight blaring on the brass and high strings on the right channel of the new recording which the RQR disc is free of.  However, both are first rate.

I hadn’t heard the Schumann Second for some time and enjoyed the work immensely.  Like the First, it often sounds like Beethoven is looking over Schumann’s shoulder.  The Scherzo is more restless than in the First, having almost a demonic quality. And the ten-minute-long third movement Adagio, with its drawn-out very sad melody, almost seems prophetic of the slow movements of Mahler yet to come. The symphony also has a more impressive finale than the First, and in a most convivial mood – bringing out the sun to drive away the clouds of the Adagio before it.

Conductor Foster was born in Los Angeles of Romanian parents. He is a noted guest conductor and opera conductor. He has directed the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon since 2002 and next year will take the helm of the Orchestre et Opera National de Montpellier.  He has conducted the Czech Philharmonic before, and this recording was made during a live concert in Prague’s Dvorak Hall.

 – John Sunier

 

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