Customer Reviews

Schubert: The Complete Symphonies, Vol. 2

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

 

 

Once again (as he did in his traversal of the earlier Schubert Symphonies) Wolfgang Sawallisch scores with tuneful, dynamic and emotionally satisfying accounts of these later Schubert masterworks. His view of the Fifth is flowing and fragrant. Ditto the Sixth, with dynamics and drama added. The Unfinished unfolds nicely, with appropriate shadings and good representation of both the wistful and tragic elements. As for the "Great C Major", it echoes with a fine balance of buoyancy and charm. I only wish there was a little more propulsive drive in the final movement. The contribution of the Dresden Staatskapelle is uniformly excellent, as is that of the Philips recording crew. It's hard to go wrong with both this later(volume 2) and earlier (volume 1) Philips sets.

Sawallisch is as great a conductor as any we have seen in our century--just ask any musician who's played for him. There is not a false note to be heard in his seemless interpretations, especially here with his beloved Schubert. The orchestra is fist class, with a rich, golden sound, anf the recording is masterful. This is a keeper.

Sawalish's fifth is bright, vigorous, and graceful, especially in the slow movements. You get a rich sound from the woodwinds in this recording which is absolutely gorgeous in the eighth and ninth symphonies. The sound was nice, a little close, which is interesting as it reveals the interplay between the strings and woodwinds. For the money, you can't beat this: great conductor, beautiful orchestra, lots of Schubert.

Another wonderful two-disc set from Phillips with a renowned conductor and one of the world's best orchestras. Like some of the other Phillips compilations I own, such as Mozart's chamber quintets and Die Zauberflote (also featuring the fantastic Staatskapelle Dresden) this recording has a really beautiful full sound, and the performances are very sharp but not mechanical at all. If you like some very energetic, and yet thoughtful music, you really can't go wrong with Franz Schubert. Like Mozart, it's sad to think what he could have accomplished if he had lived longer, but what an incredible amount of music he produced in only 30 years of life. Grab this one now!

Among the most memorable available recordings about Schubert' s symphonies, this set should be included among them. Wolfang Sawalisch was always a clever conductor with this sharp sense of the music conceived as continuous, where every single bar occupies its place as the pieces of a puzzle, it's not only a question of how the music be sound, but how it must be expressed.

Through his fruitful career this conductor who was born in 1924 gave us countless proofs about his immense musicality and mercurial display of skills with a variegated amount of composers.

And this set of works find to Sawalisch in plenitude of his musical powers. Delicate phrasing, sense of the color, taste and expression are depicted as he was painting a huge canvas. There' s nothing superfluous, you shouldn't forget the deserved fame he has as famous conductor of Operas. His version of Wagner's Meistersingers or the well known Carmina Burana (to my mind this is the most incandescent performance ever recorded) are enough motives to choose this priceless performances of the highest level.

The composer Franz Schubert is one of my favorites, and included on this CD is the beautiful Symphony No.8 in B minor. To anyone who loves the works of Schubert, I recommend this CD set, the music is just beautiful.