Customer Reviews

Robert Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a great admirer of American conductor David Zinman I looked forward to this set that comprises his second set of complete Schumann symphonies. He had recorded them some years ago when he was music director of the Baltimore Symphony, and now he has recorded them again with his current orchestra, the Zurich Tonhalle. Music-lovers were set on their ears (inelegant phrase, that, in a music review, eh?) by the Zinman/Tonhalle complete Beethoven symphonies, and I suspect there may be some of the same reaction to this set. It is certainly different from his earlier traversal. And it is almost a polar opposite from the recently released Barenboim/Berlin Staatskapelle set; I state my preferences here--I don't much like the high cholesterol Barenboim set, which strikes me as fustian. There will be those who disagree, but at least you know my prejudices at the outset. This set seems to be saying to us that Schumann was a trailblazer rather than a keeper of an sacred flame. The things that strikes me throughout the four symphonies is how much Zinman treats Schumann's music with a combination of both ardor and momentum. Tempi are faster than we are perhaps used to but there is an intensity of musical utterance that prevents those tempi from sounding light or frivolous. This is a young man's music.

The 'Spring' Symphony, No. 1, was written quickly, in only a few days, and its argument is the quintessence of the awakening of not only the spring season but of a young person's passion. This is particularly evident in the headlong Scherzo which sweeps us along in its high spirits. One should note that Schumann wrote the symphony during the last days of winter and one can hear his eagerness for the warm breezes that would urge blossoms to burst forth. When we arrive at the finale, marked Allegro animato e grazioso, we feel the relief that comes when spring is truly here. Zinman and his band catch this feeling precisely.

The Second Symphony contains what for me is the most glorious orchestral music Schumann ever wrote: the third movement, marked Adagio espressivo. It can be played meltingly, even languorously, as Sinopoli does in his account, or rather solemnly as Barenboim does in his. Schumann wrote the symphony when he was in the midst of a depression and some commentators hear a melancholy in its strains. Not I. I hear nothing but a glorious song, one of great calm and serenity. And yet there is an undercurrent of uneasiness that suggests the calm may not be as deep as one might wish. And that is exactly what Zinman's version conveys. He does not swoon or moon over the delicious melodies of the movement. He does not over-accentuate that marvelous chain of trills in the high violins. He keeps moving. At first I was not sure I liked this approach, but the more I listened the more I began to feel that other versions were perhaps a bit maudlin, even goopy. The Tonhalle play as gorgeously here as one could possibly wish. There have been times when I felt, in other recordings, their strings were a bit thin, but not here. This is Romantic music played with a clear eye and no self-pity. [One notices, in that wonderful third movement, that Zinman allows his principal winds, as he had in some of the Beethoven symphonies, to add their small presumably improvised ornamentations to semi-cadences. Whether this is accurate performance practice of Schumann's time or not, it adds charm to the reading.]

The 'Rhenish' Symphony No. 3 is probably Schumann's happiest work. Four of the five movements abound with the joy of living. And probably they reflect Schumann's own happiness at the move he and Clara had made to Düsseldorf (on the Rhine) where he became the city's director of music. The symphony makes much use of dance rhythms and an outpouring of melody only exceeded in Schumann's lieder. The fourth movement, which seems slightly at odds with the merriment of the other movements, is a solemn chorale-like piece which features expert (and tuneful) counterpoint, but its meaning is not clear. Obviously he meant something by it, otherwise he would not have inserted it into the usual four-movement form of the usual symphony. It has been speculated that it commemorates an impressive ceremony, witnessed by Schumann, in which a cardinal was ordained. It is a beautiful piece of music, whatever its purpose within the overall form of the symphony. The fifth movement is cheerfully contrapuntal and quotes several themes from earlier movements. It gathers steam and ends the work in a celebratory mood.

The Fourth Symphony was actually the second Schumann wrote, dating from back in Leipzig and written for the Gewandhaus. But it was not well-received at its première and Schumann did not have the opportunity to publish it until much later after some revision, hence its numerical designation. Although in the usual four movements the score directs the conductor to take only a small rest between the movements and indeed it has the feel of a one movement work. It is a serious work whose portentous introduction announces that important things will be discussed. This is the symphony that most commentators refer to most when they mention Schumann's 'poor orchestration.' And many conductors have prepared their own re-orchestration of this symphony, with many alterations. (There is a recording by the Bergen Philharmonic under Aldo Ceccato of all four symphonies in Mahler re-orchestrations.) Serious though it be, Schumann's ability to dance and sing is in ample evidence. Zinman seems to see the work as less forbidding or serious than, say, Furtwängler and this is to the good. Further, his approach, using the original orchestration, lightens whatever muddiness that can accrue when solemn approaches are used. Perhaps there is a lesson in this. Perhaps it's not a serious as one has thought.

This set appears to be a new look at the Schumann symphonies. Zinman invests the works with a life and ardor not often heard in them; there are no clotted harmonies, no turgid rhythms. The Tonhalle plays brilliantly. Recorded sound is excellent. This is a wonderful set made all the more wonderful by the obscenely low asking price. Even if you own other sets of these works, you owe it to yourself to get this one.

An unqualified recommendation.

Scott Morrison

Anyone who has heard and appreciated Zinman's complete set of the Beethoven Symphonies with the Tonhalle Zurich, will get the point of this new issue, a complete set of the four Schumann Symphonies, again with the Tonhalle.

Zinman isn't afraid of setting tempos whose speeds are more commonly met by period instrument groups. As with the Beethoven readings, he uses newly edited sources, and plays everything to the hilt. The Tonhalle seems quite reduced in size in these recordings, such that strings zip along in an altered balance with brass and with woodwinds, compared to the older, slower, heavier performance manner most world orchestra's inherited from the nineteenth century bands (who tended to play in larger and larger halls as time passed and the middle class flocked to concerts as to social occasions).

Any past muddiness in the orchestral texture simply disappears in this edition. This clarity of texture is enhanced further with the genius of Zinman's verve. In some passages, chamber music textures are easily achieved, making you revise your opinions of Schumann's orchestral genius. Even going full tilt, Zinman keeps the touch light and lively and agile.

You feel as if you are meeting the young Schumann for the first time, especially as the First Symphony takes off. He has a glint in his eye, does this fellow. Small wonder that Clara's father realized he'd better rope off this visitor a bit around his daughters. This is the kind of Spring season that makes you want to leave the house, without a coat, finally unencumbered by winter. Let fall, all cold weather reticence, and heavy clothing. Depending on just how young you feel, this first symphony may make you want to strip down further, just to feel the Spring breezes on your skin in places where polite musical conversation isn't exposition, but falls back into a murmur, musing out loud about nothing and everything lovely in particular.

Fortunately, even with all this lightness and the reduced size of the Tonhalle, there is still enough weight to make the stronger musical points, though without the kinds of heavy, Romantic indulgence we have sometimes accepted as the norm. Indeed the alleged heaviness of Schumann's orchestrations is nowhere in evidence here. A quicksilver metamorphosis inhabits this music, and Zinman almost uniquely let it play among the high gifts of each department of the Tonhalle orchestra.

Continuing through the remaining three symphonies, Zinman just keeps making fresh magic in his performances of each of the remaining three. The second symphony's slow movement (for example) isn't the least bit ponderous, but doesn't lose one ounce of its lyrical heart in the alchemical process of its lightening. In fact, with the more transparent orchestral textures Zinman crafts with his marvelous Tonhalle players, you hear many passing moments of felicity in woodwind or string phrasing. These moments are there, too, in the older, heavier performances; but just easier to hear with Zinman. Can it be that Zinman will help you hear and re-hear your older Romantic readings of these symphonies? Seems possible, if you pay attention to the lessons he is teaching.

With the Third Symphony, Zinman manages to bring more shadow, more seriousness to phrasing. Tempos slow down, ever so slightly, so that maestoso can be conveyed, rhetorically. Zinman and band also pass the critical feierlich test in the odd movement, said to have been evoked on the occasion of a holy elevation of an archbishop at Cologne Cathedral. Throughout the horn and brass are burnished, with solos that carry drama and narrative substance. While in the first two symphonies the horns and trombones were blended more with the other brass and woodwinds, their special Solemnity is captured here, even with reduced forces. The slow movement, preceeding the feierlich one, is another miracle of musical inflection and phrasing, without for one second sounding indulgent or mannered. The spirit of chamber music is revealed in this music, every bit as much as the spirit of the symphony.

The Fourth Symphony provides a fitting conclusion to the set. I found myself wishing that Schumann had had more confidence in himself as an orchestral composer, so fetching is the music made throughout this set of four. Who wants it to end? But end it does, with Schumann setting out the ground rules for innovative cyclical form in music; lessons not lost on many of his contemporaries and descendants. As it happens, the added maestoso touches heightened in the second and third symphonies, continue into and throughout the Fourth. The tempo changes no longer seem so awkward, and a contrapuntal depth of story consistently emerges via the enabling consensus of the players.

Truly, there are other valid approaches to Schumann. I will still return to the shelf where sit older, prized red book CD performances. Sinopoli and Vienna doing the Second Symphony. Haitink and the Concertgebouw doing all four. And, can it be? Zinman and Baltimore on pre-SACD Telarc show how to play these symphonies with something like the old, burning Romance. I also listen to Solti, Kubelik, Karajan, Klemperer, Mehta - and as they become available again, James Levine with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The nice thing is, at this price, you really don't have to do without much except maybe a few pricey Lattes, just because you purchased this set. The sound is good enough to completely get out of the way of the music, letting you hear everything Zinman and Tonhalle are doing. The hall isn't especially present, except in those larger moments when it resounds, and the venue point is made.

Five stars, stars, stars, stars. Highly recommended. Do check out the earlier Zinman with Baltimore, now newly released on midpriced Telarc. And do look out for James Levine/Philadephia as they re-appear.

I have already had in my collection for a few years David Zinman's recording of all four Schumann Symphonies with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Telarc, and I thought those were just fine. They have a natural flow and balance, and a very nice kind of polish (helped by the Telarc technicians). 'Civilized' is what springs to mind, but with a touch of Romantic grandure.
Now these new recordings with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich are maybe even finer - at least different; even more zestful, more energetic; and also more relief in the soundpicture. The balances here are somewhat shifted, mainly that instruments/instrument groups and accents are often more pronounced, which makes the music sound even more fresh and lively, more in the vein of a period instrument performance, but then played with a combination of both modern and period instruments. (Period instruments are used for: horns, trumpets, alto trombone, tenor trombone and bass trombone; violins, violas, cellos, double basses, flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons are modern.) The best of both worlds, surely; whoever thought this up must be a d*mn genius, for it all blends perfectly and it all sounds completely true and natural. The First or 'Spring' Symphony (maybe the high point of this cycle) has maybe never sounded so invigoratingly fresh!
This freshness of playing is surely also helped by the crisp and direct recording, which is maybe even better than for Telarc: a little clearer and a little more acoustic space around the instruments. And also, everywhere the speeds are (almost) all consistently faster. I like that; it never sounds hurried to my ears. On the contrary, to my (amateur) ears these more 'pressing' speeds underline the consistent genius of Schumann and make these works sound like the coherent masterpieces that they undoubtedly are. And at the same time Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich invigorate the music with new energy and freshness.
This newly recorded cycle is a gem (not even considering the impossibly low price for which it sells!). I have done a long time with Zinman's earlier Baltimore set - which I still love -, and with this new addition I really will not be needing anything else for a very long time ... IMHO Schumann really is one of the greatest symphonists, and it is proved here - again - by Zinman. Simply wonderful!

I read the superlatives about this set and ordered it. The music lacks sweep, grandeur and passion. It has very precise sound, very precise playing and it is so tidy and neat I can't enjoy it. It seems to be measured out into bite-sized pieces or maybe teaspoons, a la Prufrock. Every digitized bit is precise, serially neat and easily digested, meaning the music lacks continuity and sweep - yes, sweep. I feel I am reading a book intended for a second-grader. I suppose one could get away with playing Haydn this way, but not Schumann. I will make the ritual recitation that I am familiar with von Karajan's set, Gardiner's, Muti's, both of Bernstein's, Szell's, Solti's, as well as Sawallisch's. The early Bernstein set with the New York Philharmonic is still my favorite, by far, just for the sheer joy of the performances and the great sound Bernstein elicited from the New York Philharmonic. Next comes Sawallisch, who brings you music that is voluptuous and glorious in its romanticism and accomplished musicality. Zinman is a gifted conductor and his set is well-recorded but I don't enjoy it. I'm glad it was not expensive.

I have to admit, Schumann's symphonies have always left me cold. Both as a player and listener, the symphonies only convinced me that Schumann was off his rocker pretty early on (anyone playing the 2nd movement of the 2nd Symphony has to feel that the man was nuts when he wrote it). If the performances aren't displaying Schumann's manic tendencies, then they result in the symphonies bogging down in unacceptably leaden tempi, which only result in making the pieces unlistenable.

At last, I have found in Zinman's collection an interpretation of Schumann that finally makes sense. With a streamlined orchestra and consistently brisk tempi, Zinman gives us coherent interpretations from beginning to end. Lean, tightly focused performances allow the listener to appreciate the subtleties of Schumann's structures that are so often lost in substandard performances.

If that were not good enough, Arte Nova has the decency to offer a 2-CD set at a price that costs less than many single CDs! Even if you are unsure about this interpretation, how can you go wrong with a price like that? It would be a bargain at twice the price.

Anyone seriously interested in the orchestral music of Schumann must give serious consideration to this exceptional collection.

David Zinman keeps a low profile and aims all of his energies toward making music, and 'making music' is precisely what he accomplishes in this set of all four of Robert Schumann's symphonies. While there are other individual recordings and some complete collections of these works that have found favor with the Romantic audience, this set provides Zinman and his Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra the access to the top of the mound!

Schumann's life and work are the topics of many poets, writers, critics, and scholars and at times his melancholia and sad demise overshadow his exemplary compositions. While most accept him as one of the most important lieder composers, standing proudly beside Schubert and Hugo Wolf, his symphonies are often consider passé. But Zinman and his orchestra grandly demonstrate that far from being secondary works, these four symphonies rival the majesty and imagination of Brahms, Mendelssohn, and even Mahler and Beethoven? Heresy? Just listen to these very alive, illuminating readings of these forward looking works and hear your ears and heart change their minds.

Each of the four works stands equally, though many (as this listener) may find the treasureable Spring Symphony (No. 1) the crowning performance. Zinman favors brisk tempi, clarity of phrasing, and the rapture of the Romantic vision and the result is simply some of the finest orchestral playing and sound on recording. Add to this the inexpensive price tag for this 2 CD set and there leaves no reason not to build your library with works that deserve a prime position. The recorded sound is rich and full while delineating every detail and nuance. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, September 05

This is an decent set and a good recommendation but after a few more listens I would rewrite this and downgrade it a star and a half (something you can't do when you re-edit a published review).

PRIMARILY

It's getting a bit tiresome reading reviews of new Schumann where each new entry "finally gets it right" or "reveals new and deep insights into Schumann's music" or other such rubbish. Szell's old set is great, Bernstein's first set is terrific, Paray's ancient recordings on Mercury are a revelation, and plenty think Furtwangler's Fourth is amazing. Then there's the completely unknown recent set with Florian Merz and a Dusseldorf orchestra--totally nutty and fun. There're plenty more, including Harnoncourt's readings that at times are transcendental.

Think about it. If Schumann was the incompetent, psychotic, lame-o that many paint him to have been, then why in heck did so much of his music, and especially these symphonies, stay in the repertoire for so danged long? I seriously doubt 150 years of playing "mud" (as many have described his so-called bad orchestration) would have endeared his music to too many. I seriously doubt that great conductors of previous generations couldn't have figured out how to make this music sound right; that it took a Gardiner or a Zinman to finally make sense of it.

Also, enough with the "crazy" thing. Bruckner was OCD big-time and nobody feels obliged to mention that in every review of a Bruckner symphony. Plenty of other great artists have gone bonkers and we let it go. To listen to Schumann looking endlessly for symptoms of bi-polarity is a waste of time. Sonata form is, almost inherently and by definition, "bi-polar." Exciting or emotional music is not "mania." Enough already.

[Added note: I'm bothered by the growing "hysteria" over some newer recordings that are, with reflection, competent and entertaining--like these--without being spectacular. I sense, and hopefully I'm wrong, a generation of listeners who haven't heard a lot of the old masters conducting or are, worse, avoiding them because of earlier recording technology limitations. I'm one of those grouches who argues that a grizzled German conductor who played skittle with Richard Strauss and drilled his orchestra like a Prussian officer may have had an edge--interpretation-wise--over, say, some modern 38-year-old suburbanite Julliard grad or similar who is wrapped up in a lot of PR and promotion hype. Sorry, but a wunderkind like Simon Rattle is not going to plumb the depths of Mahler as well as Bruno Walter, who was Mahler's assistant. The standard repertoire is, historically, fading fast, and with few exceptions (Shostakovich's, Britten's) there aren't many acknowledged and frequently played masterpieces after Bartok wrote the Concerto for Orchestra in the 1940s. Scary but true. So we're looking at a generation of conductors rapidly getting out of touch with the bulk of great Western art music]

I have to go with the minority opinion on this one. I honesty have a hard time appreciating Early Romantic Music which is true. I have an even harder time appreciating Schumann in this case played like Mozart's "Haffner" symphony four times over. The one reviewer was right on that said the playing lacked grandeur and sweep. Schumann was a full blown manic-depressive and the extremes in mood should be expressed. Instead the music is too light-hearted and lilting without digging down to the depths of emotional tumult. Giving this set three stars is the benefit of the doubt that I am wrong for I feel like giving it one star. Zinman, however, does play the notes correctly and gets the effect that he wants...I guess. This is something different, but not my cup of tea. I will probably be wanting to sell this soon.

This set by Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra must go right to the top of the heap of sets of the Schumann symphonies along with the Gardiner and Szell. The performance of Symphony No. 1 is just about perfect and is therefore the best available. There are no changes in the score, as there are in the other works here, but the playing has so much vitality and elegance that it leaps from the speakers as fully alive as when it was written. Tempos are brisk and attacks are clean in Zinman's Classical rather than Romantic approach, since Schumann is closer to Mendelssohn and Beethoven than to Bruckner. Balances are finely judged, frequently producing chamber-like textures, and all departments of this excellent orchestra play so well that special notice must be taken. It reminds me of the classic Szell recording or of the newer Gardiner, both outstanding performances.

As mentioned already, there are no obvious changes in the score used for Zinman's recording of the First Symphony, but for Symphonies 2-4, a new critical edition was used, and the results are frequently almost startling, revealing a new character of each of these well-known works. The most obvious revelation occurs in the "Rhenish" Symphony (the Third) in which the use of appoggiaturas changes the character of the main theme of the first movement. A new, almost Baroque quality emerges in this outgoing, open air music that somehow reminds us of Schumann's two contrasting characters of Florestan and Eusibius, of the first movement of Beethoven's "Eroica" (in the same key and with the same contrast of heroic and melancholy music), and of the spirit of J.S. Bach, which returns in the dramatic fourth movement. Zinman's performance of this entire symphony is probably the most convincing one available, since Schumann's method here of varied repitition rather than through-composed symphonic argument can make his first movement,at least, a bit wearing on the patience of even the most sympathetic listener. Zinman avoids this pitfall through finely judged tempos and a variety of timbres which throw new light on each familiar phrase. In the succeeding movements, the third and the fifth are really outstanding for the true intimacy of early Romantic warmth in the intermezzo third movement and for the sheer youthful jauntiness and spunk of the out-of-doors finale. As in all of these performances, the winds, brass, and tympani must come in for special mention, especially the latter, which is played with such zest that it drives the piece into a joyous dance. Schumann's least "symphonic" symphony, almost a suite really, the "Rhenish" really shines with special effect in Zinman's treatment.

Zinman's reading of the great Fourth Symphony, probably Schumann's best, is equally splendid, with new aspects of the score revealed as in his recording of the "Rhenish," but in the Second Symphony, which Schumann considered his best, the great third, slow movement proves to be a problem. Even though it's certainly very well performed, a certain lack of feeling is a serious flaw in an otherwise excellent performance of this very personal symphony. As the outstanding program notes tell us, Schumann quotes Bach in this slow movement (the tragic theme is brought back as triumphant in the finale) and includes a fugue, since his study of Bach's music saved his life and brought him back from the depths of his depression. Zinman is perhaps a bit too brisk here, though it really doesn't sound like it, since the basic note values aren't rushed, but a timing shows that Zinman takes it about two minutes faster than any other version I'm aware of, clocking in at about eight and a half minutes as opposed to about ten and a half minutes. At first, I thought a repeat was cut, but I don't think that's what happens. Instead, it seems that Zinman sees this movement in the same clear, Classical light as the rest of the symphony, and he certainly has that option, but I prefer Szell in this particular movement (and he's great in the rest of the C Major Symphony, as he is in the other three). I must say that many critics see this slow movement in the same way that Zinman apparently does, and Schumann himself compared his C Major Symphony with Mozart's last in the same key.

Finally, this is a great, indispensable set of Schumann's standard symphonies, and in excellent sound, is essential listening for everyone who thinks he or she knows these works. J.E. Gardiner's equally essential set must be added to our list, since it contains worderful performances of both versions of the D Minor Symphony, the early g minor symphony fragment, the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale, as well as the Konzertstuck for Four Horns, along with the standard four symphonies. And don't forget the Szell, still great after all these years. In this august company, Zinman takes a place of special honor. We only wait with great curiosity to hear Paavo Jarvi's entry into the Schumann symphony sweepstakes due to be released by RCA in November.

P.S. I've been hoping David Zinman would record the Brahms Symphonies next, and RCA has just released his new recording of the Brahms this month (11-11) as well as Schumann's 1st and 3rd with Paavo Jarvi.

Robert Schumann composed at the height of the Romance era, and his list of works are long and varied. Some of his most famous are his four symphonies, which are short enough in length and similar enough in style that they are often featured together in a set. This is one of those sets. The orchestration in this set is good, and the sound quality is great. The only drawback is some of the pieces are not performed as dramatically as in other albums. Still, this is a great buy for the cost and all four symphonies make for great listening.