gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 129THE GRAMOPHONE COLLECTIONshortcomings. Rhythmic quirks or over-
emphases are few in a reading attentive to
both those heroic and introspective aspects
of the composer’s muse. After this, the
frequently brash extroversion of Yannick
Nézet-Séguin’s account with the COE
(5/14) becomes overbearing well before its
grandstanding peroration.
Smaller ensembles are prominent
in later Schumann cycles, that from
Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish
Chamber Orchestra standing out for
its clarity of texture and sharpness of
articulation, yet also for its subtlety of
phrasing which never sells this music
short. Here the lithe energy generated in
the outer movements is complemented
by the deftness of the Scherzo’s Trios
and harmonic lambency of the Adagio;
Dausgaard’s handling of momentum in the
finale is an object lesson in resourcefulness.
By comparison, the refinement Claudio
Abbado (A/13) gets from Orchestra Mozart
cannot avoid that encroaching blandness
common to other of his late recordings.
Robin Ticciati (9/14) secures a more
differentiated response from the Scottish
CO but his fastidious approach lacks the
emotional presence of Dausgaard.
The past decade has brought no
slackening in new recordings or
interpretative approaches. The Second is
a highlight of Sakari Oramo’s cycle with
the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic – an
unexpectedly weighty account, not least
an Adagio whose emotional depth is
heightened by unfolding at an unbroken
pulse, then a finale whose ultimate elation
seems the greater for being so hard-won.A pity Oramo overrides the metrical
consistency of the first movement’s final
chords, something previously heard on
Leopold Stokowski’s freewheeling 1950
version (11/02). Fabio Luisi gets this just
right on his imposing ‘central European’
version, in which the Vienna Symphony
need not fear comparison with any local
rival. If there is a failing, it is in his rather
dour take on a finale which clinches
the formal design but not its expressive
trajectory. Michael Gielen is occasionally
guilty of over-earnestness, though his
unerringly conceived account, eloquently
played by the SWR Symphony, tangibly
integrates all four movements into an
unbroken and cumulative unity. A pity this
Schumann cycle remained incomplete.
Such unity is not absent from Simon
Rattle’s version (7/14), yet his self-
conscious approach, with its over-attention
to detail and polished if low-key response
by the Berlin Philharmonic, offsets
a firmer recommendation. Preferable are
Frank Beermann and the Robert Schumann
Philharmonie of Chemnitz, using an
edition by Joachim Draheim which clarifies
various textural ambiguities in a taut but
flexible reading that neither skimps on this
music’s emotional affect nor constricts its
inherent dynamism; part of yet another
cycle to have fallen under the radar.
Antonio Pappano (10/16) secures
a generous response from his Santa Cecilia
forces (strings especially) yet there are no
revelations here, nor with Michael Tilson
Thomas’s stylish traversal (11/17) in
San Francisco, akin to David Zinman and
PHOTOGRAPHY: the Zurich Tonhalle (5/04) in impressing
MANFRED ROTH/ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGES
Heinz Holliger’s Schumann in Cologne displays ‘leanness, impact, clarity and creative acumen’more as the result of a fruitful long-term
association than for genuine insight. More
absorbing than either is Ivor Bolton and
the Dresden Festival Orchestra, its fusion
of period astringency and interpretative
alacrity rendering Schumann’s
orchestration (not least his timpani-writing)
in a persuasive light. Still in Dresden,
Christian Thielemann secures burnished
playing from the Staatskapelle that,
avoiding the wilfulness of his Philharmonia
account (1/98), exudes an ambivalence and
even agitation Pfitzner would surely have
appreciated nine decades before.
This leaves Heinz Holliger with the
WDR Symphony of Cologne as prime
recommendation. Long crucial to his work
as composer and conductor, Holliger’s
Schumann has all one might wish for – the
leanness of a chamber orchestra, impact
of larger forces, clarity of an authentic
approach and creative acumen of one
conscious of his role as being more than
merely putting musicians through their
paces. Some examples from each movement
illustrate this: in the first, his emphasis
on the Un poco più vivace transition
(1'54") as it prepares for then motivates
the ensuing Allegro; in the Scherzo, his
consistency of pulse which integrates the
Trios (1'39" and 4'15") and underlies
the (relative) acceleration into the coda
(6'24"); in the Adagio, his handling of the
spectral interlude (3'57") that links each
half while emotionally heightening the
latter; and, at 4'00" in the finale, after the
movement has reached near-stasis, his
winsome underlining of the quotation from
Beethoven’s song ‘Nimm sie hin denn,
diese Lieder’ (the last of the cycle An die
ferne Geliebte) which then makes possible
the ultimate affirmation.
Almost 175 years since its completion,
Schumann’s Second Symphony can, more
than ever, be heard as the true embodiment
of musical mid-Romanticism, as well as
being the salient symphonic achievement
from that interregnum stretching between
SchubertandBruckner.THE ULTIMATE CHOICE
WDR SO Cologne / Heinz Holliger
Audite F AUDITE97 678
Schumann has long been central to
Heinz Holliger’s creative thinking.
His Cologne account – part of the most
inclusive overview of Schumann’s
orchestral works to
date – fuses chamber-
like clarity, authentic-
style astringency
and full-orchestral
immediacy for
astounding results.