Schubert: The 10 Symphonies [Box set]

Franz Schubert (Composer), Brian Newbould (Composer), Neville Marriner (Conductor), Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
• Conductor: Neville Marriner
• Composer: Franz Schubert, Brian Newbould
• Audio CD (March 11, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 6
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00006IU7X
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,859 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine Schubert Symphony Cycle from Marriner and ASMF, December 26, 2003

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert: The 10 Symphonies (Audio CD)

Phillips has recently released as a box set all of the recordings made by Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields of Schubert's symphonic scores, including orchestrated fragments completed by musicologist Brian Newbould. Without question, this is a historically important set of recordings since it was the first of several which introduced new scholarship into the performances of Schubert's symphonies. Whether it is as important a cycle as either Abbado's or Harnoncourt's is one I will leave to more astute music critics. However, I believe that these performances aren't nearly as riveting or as inspired as those which Abbado coaxed from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and those from Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The best of the performances have to be those of the 1st and 2nd symphonies, followed by the 8th ("Unfinished", though here "finished" courtesy of Newbould) and the 9th symphonies. Although my primary Schubert symphony recommendations are for the two cycles conducted by Abbado and Harnoncourt; Marriner's recordings are an intriguing alternative for a cycle recorded within the past twenty five years.

30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars typical Marriner, December 28, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Schubert: The 10 Symphonies (Audio CD)

Mr. Kwok is right in the fact that this set of recordings is historically important. Included in this set are Symphonies 7, 10, and two other unnumbered ones. In addition, the 8th symphony has been completed with an orchestration of fragments of the 3rd movement, and by adding the entr'acte of Rosemunde as a 4th movement, which is similar in structure to the other movements. (This has been done before.)
I was fascinated by the 7th and the 10th. (They didn't quite seem like the others. This might have been, and probably was due to the fact that Mr. Newbould orchestrated these. Although he does an exquisite job, it's just not quite like Schubert.) Anyway, these two unnumbered symphonies provide further insight into Schubert's symphonic progression. We usually have a gap between the first 6 symphonies and the very different 8th. This has now been filled in. The 7th symphony seems much like a combination of various aspects of the early symphonies and of the 8th. The 10th symphony sounds a lot like the 9th. Schubert gets more in depth with counterpoint than in any of the other symphonies. Schubert died before writing any of the 4th movement, so this is, essentially, the "'new' unfinished symphony" of the Schubert cycle.
This set is just what you'd expect from Marriner and the ASMF. It is graceful, together, crisp, you might even say it's dainty. The tempos are sometimes fast, but it seems they are deathly slow other times. The first movement of the 8th sounds like a funeral dirge, as it does with many other conductors. You can tell Schubert wanted the tempos much faster in some places. It would make his symphonies seem so much more exciting. If you're looking for sheer power, look elsewhere.
I am no Schubert expert, nor have I heard many other recordings of his symphonies. I would definitely recommend a listening-to of these. That much is imperative. As for a purchase, you could probably find better recordings elsewhere.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A landmark recording of a remarkable piece of music history, February 21, 2008

By 

D. Whitaker (Des Moines, Iowa) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Schubert: The 10 Symphonies (Audio CD)

A classical music buff looking at the title of this album could be forgiven for being confused. "The Ten Symphonies"? But Schubert only wrote 7 plus one "Unfinished"... Didn't he?

It turns out the story is more complicated. After writing his first six symphonies, Schubert completed a full outline for a seventh that he set aside and for some reason never returned to. He then completed the first two movements of a new symphony, which was eventually numbered "8" by musicologists and given the title "Unfinished." There was also a sketch for the third movement of the 8th that Schubert never completed, and a separate overture that musicologists have long suspected was originally intended to be the finale to the 8th. Schubert then composed his great symphony in C Major, now numbered 9 (although it has historically also been numbered 7 or 8). And finally, he completed the piano score for a tenth symphony. His sketchbooks also contain other symphonic fragments.

This set of recordings not only presents Schubert's completed symphonies, but also a remarkable achievement -- the recreation or realization, by musicologist Brian Newbould, of the 7th, the full 8th, and the 10th symphony. These realizations are not, in a strict sense, true authentic works of Schubert, but rather, as Newbould acknowledges, speculative "educated guesses" as to what those symphonies would sound like had they been completed. But they are nonetheless fascinating, and very listenable.

The performances of all tens symphonies, and the symphonic fragments, are solid, as one would expect from Neville Marriner and the Academy. All around, a unique experience.