gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONESEPTEMBER 2019127THEGRAMOPHONECOLLECTIONSELECTEDDISCOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHY:
DPA PICTURE ALLIANCE ARCHIVE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
personal vision is far more tangible. Listen
to the codas of the first or third movements
for playing that underscores Kubelík’s
teasing a reticence and vulnerability
even out of Schumann’s most resolute
statements. Rob Cowan’s advocacy of this
cycle over the decades was not misplaced.
Not all conductors have tackled
Schumann’s Second successfully a further
time. Riccardo Muti’s first traversal with
the Philharmonia resulted in a vigorous
and unmannered account, with strings
a little rough in the Scherzo’s main theme
but elsewhere (the finale in particular)
an uninhibited verve that still makes
compulsive listening. Forward two decades
and Muti’s remake with the Vienna
Philharmonic (8/96) brings immaculate
playing and sophisticated sound but little
in the way of an evolving or perceptive
interpretation to justify the venture.
As for Giuseppe Sinopoli, his earlier
account was determined by a psychological
profile of the composer (discussed in
his lengthy booklet essay) and results
in an interpretation, ranging from
sombre gravity to emergent elation, that
resembles no other. Would something
of this individuality were present in his
remake (9/95), with its overtly generalised
expression and playing from the Dresden
Staatskapelle whose overheated response
sounds at best simulated and at worst
contrived. Not a reading (or cycle) by
which to remember a singular conductor.
Conversely, Kurt Masur altered tack
notably from his rather staid traversal
with the Leipzig Gewandhaus (9/76)
when recording them anew with the
London Philharmonic. Incisiveness is
the key to one of the deftest Scherzos
yet realised, then an Adagio whose
swiftness belies its impact, unfolding
with seamless and cumulative intensity
(likely recorded in a single take) that
holds good throughout the effervescent
finale. From a time when ‘authentic’
and ‘chamber’ versions were coming
into fashion, Masur reaffirms the validity
of a full orchestral response.
As too, in his more opulent manner, does
Daniel Barenboim. His earlier version (4/78)
found the Solti-era Chicago Symphony
in combative form, making for a powerful
while sometimes overbearing account
that has not aged well. Without radically
altering approach, his remake with the
Berlin Staatskapelle brings an appreciably
more sensitive response, the richness of
its strings offset by limpid woodwind and
sonorous brass in a reading which is the
highlight of his second cycle: a timely
reminder that ‘big band’ need not equate
with blowsy or insensitive.ThomasDausgaardprovides‘anobjectlessoninresourcefulness’DATE / ARTISTS RECORD COMPANY (REVIEW DATE)
1937 New York Philh SO / Enescu Opus Kura M b OPK2112/3
1941 NBC SO / Toscanini Naxos B b 8 110836/7 (8/00)
1954 VPO / Mitropoulos Orfeo M C627 041B (6/05)
1968 New Philh Orch / Klemperer Testament M SBT1482 (8/13)
1969 VPO / Solti Decca B b 448 930 2DF2 (12/70R, 8/99)
1969 BPO / Szell Testament M SBT1378 (12/05)
1971 BPO / Karajan DG B b 477 7932GB3 (9/72R, 7/90R)
1972 Staatskapelle Dresden / Sawallisch Warner Classics M b 2564 60759 4 (2/74R, 11/93R)
1977 Philh Orch / Muti Warner Classics B b D 371497 2, 097993 2 (2/79R)
1978 Bavarian RSO / Kubelík Sony Classical B g 88697 88411 2 (10/79R, 7/93R)
1983 VPO / Sinopoli DG F 410 863 2GH (4/84)
1985 VPO / Bernstein DG F 453 049 2GTA2 (11/86R)
1990 LPO / Masur Warner Classics B 0927 49814 2 (12/91R)
1995 COE / Harnoncourt Warner Classics B c 2564 69928 5 (11/96R)
1996 Champs-Élysées Orch / Herreweghe Harmonia Mundi M b HMG50 8190/91 (9/96R)
1997 Orch Révolutionnaire et Romantique / Gardiner Archiv M c 457 591 2AH3 (6/98)
2003 Staatskapelle Berlin / Barenboim Warner Classics M b 2564 61179 2 (5/04)
2005 Swedish CO / Dausgaard BIS F Í BIS SACD1519 (5/07)
2008 Vienna SO / Luisi Orfeo M b C717 102H (9/10)
2009 Royal Stockholm PO / Oramo Sony Classical F 88697 43707 2 (9/10)
2010 SWR SO Baden-Baden & Freiburg / Gielen Hänssler Classic F CD93 259
2010 Robert Schumann Philh / Beermann CPO M b Í CPO777 536 2 (12/10)
2012 WDR SO Cologne / Holliger Audite F AUDITE97 678 (10/14)
2015 Dresden Fest Orch / Bolton Sony Classical F 88985 37212 2 (2/17)
2018 Staatskapelle Dresden / Thielemann Sony Classical M b 19075 94341 2 (7/19)OLD INSTRUMENTS, SMALL BANDS
The vogue of period-instrument recordings
came and went relatively swiftly. Early
exponents such as Derek Solomons and the
Authentic Orchestra (10/90) now sound like
quaint period pieces, with Roy Goodman
and the Hanover Band (3/95) characterful
rather than convincing. Roger Norrington
recorded the latter two symphonies
with his London Classical Players, only
tackling the cycle with the Stuttgart Radio
Symphony – the Second (3/01) beinga thoughtful reading,
whatever his concept
of ‘pure sound’ or
the true extent of
his adherence to
the score.
John Eliot Gardiner
nominally takes
the palm for an
‘authentic’ rendering
of acute rhythmic
clarity and coursing
animation, while
not quite precluding
a more considered
response to the
music’s overly
introspective or
ambivalent aspects.
If, ultimately, his
pulsating virtuosity
feels too much its
own justification,
Philippe Herreweghe’s more understated
while more probing approach should not
be found wanting, abetted by playing of real
finesse, with an emphasis on detail that is
never intrusive: Schumann the ruminative
poet rather than histrionic dramatist.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt opted for the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, with whom
he had earlier recorded an incendiary
Beethoven cycle. If his Schumann is less
striking, this surely lies in the nature of
the music rather than any interpretative