Gramophone – September 2019

126 GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 gramophone.co.uk

THE GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION

PHOTOGRAPHY:

BRIDGEMAN IMAGES, MALCOLM WALKER/EMI RECORDS

ofNewYork–actuallytheNewYork
Philharmonic during late-night sessions
for American Decca, where a need
for minimal retakes saw him curb his
spontaneous instincts. It is a vivid and
cogent reading even so, much praised by
AP in a review (1/55) that doubtless raised
Bernstein’s profile this side of the Atlantic,
and arguably preferable to the CBS
remake (9/63) where a more generalised
expressiveness and self-consciousness of
phrasing undercuts any more considered
evolution. Two decades on and Bernstein
revisited the piece with the Vienna
Philharmonic, derived (as was his latter-day
practice) from live performances, which
preserves that frisson of excitement when
first violins launch into overdrive in the
Scherzo’s coda or the Mahlerian breadth
of the Adagio. If the outer movements
verge on the overbearing, this is hardly
to deny the chemistry between conductor
and orchestra in having adumbrated so
immediateandpersonalavision.

Therelationshipofliveperformanceand

studio recording is thrown into sharp relief

not least by Otto Klemperer, whose account

with the New Philharmonia (8/69) has a

doggedness and even stolidity suggestive

of an orchestra not fully responsive to (or

even comprehending?) its conductor’s

intentions. A live reading from October

1968, however, reinforces Klemperer’s

view of recording as a preparation for

performance: the outer movements

generate a magnetic intensity which could

only result from that unanimity of purpose

born of shared conviction.

No less revealing of this dichotomy

(if such it be) is George Szell, whose

remake (8/63) was long an interpretative

benchmark for this piece. He expounded

at length about the veracity of Schumann’s

scoring, defending it against Mahler’s

reorchestration and instead thinning

out the texture to clarify the woodwind

contribution. Such is evident in this studio

recording,theClevelandOrchestraatits

imperious best as though

an elite force on strategic

reconnaissance. Szell’s

live performance with the

Berlin Philharmonic is

more accommodating to the

music’s emotional ebb and

flow, with appealing suavity

in the Scherzo’s Trios and

sustained pathos in the

Adagio. Outer movements

lack nothing in formal

control or cumulative

impetus, making for

a thrilling close to Szell’s

final European concert

and one that should be

on any shortlist.

THE MODERN ERA

The turn of the 1970s saw

several ‘big hitters’ taking

on this piece as part of

complete cycles. That by

Georg Solti still impresses

as much for the quality of

the Vienna Philharmonic’s

playingasfor the recorded sound, though

its rhythmic immediacy is not balanced

by comparable expressive poise. That

by Herbert von Karajan is reckoned the

highlight of his Schumann traversal, yet

not even the burnished splendour of the

Berlin Philharmonic can offset a certain

aloofness in response, eschewing the

work’s ambiguities by ruling them out

of the interpretative equation. That by

Wolfgang Sawallisch is rightly admired for

the unforced naturalness of its direction

and similarly unaffected playing from

the Dresden Staatskapelle; however, the

thought arose on rehearing it that a certain

impersonality could well have constrained

more individual traits.

One reading of this era to have

demonstrably improved with age is that

by Rafael Kubelík. If the Bavarian Radio

Symphony are not quite the equal of the

Berlin Philharmonic, with whom Kubelík

recorded his first Schumann cycle (8/65),

theirresponsivenesstohisdistinctly

THE LIVE CHOICE
BPO / George Szell
Testament M SBT1378
Szell’s reputation for removing all trace of
spontaneity from his studio recordings has
been overstated, yet
this account from Berlin
reveals an intuitive
response that is only
possible in the live
context. Compulsive
music-making.

THE CLASSIC CHOICE

Bavarian RSO / Rafael Kubelík

Sony Classical B g 88697 884112

His Berlin cycle may be technically more

secure but Kubelík’s later Munich traversal

has greater humanity,

allowing his never-

indulgent approach

freer rein. This ‘dark

horse’ among Schumann

cycles has become an

acknowledged classic.

THE CHAMBER CHOICE

Swedish CO / Thomas Dausgaard

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Schumann cycles with chamber forces have

proliferated over recent years. That from

Thomas Dausgaard

and the Swedish

Chamber Orchestra

is still the inest in its

astute combination

of textural clarity and

expressive immediacy.

King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway, the Second’s dedicatee;and George Szell, a doughty champion of the work