Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3, 5, & 6 (Great Recordings Of The Century) [Original recording remastered]

Franz Schubert (Composer), Sir Thomas Beecham (Conductor), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Sir Thomas Beecham
• Composer: Franz Schubert
• Audio CD (May 4, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00000IOC2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,068 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Time has somewhat tarnished these once highly regarded recordings. EMI's early stereo engineering was hit and miss, and not even these new remasterings can fully tame the strident string tone and hollow-sounding tuttis. Yet the performances have many virtues, including rhythmic élan, well-chosen tempos, and winsomely characterized solo playing. Above all else is Beecham's flair for shaping and projecting melodies with a cute little accent here, a dynamic surge there, and enough felicitous turns of phrase to keep the listener smiling. It's true that other conductors have elicited leaner, tauter ensemble work from their musicians (Carlos Kleiber's Third with the Vienna Philharmonic, for instance, and Fritz Reiner's neatly regimented Fifth with the Chicago Symphony). However, if you desire this uplifting group of works on one well-filled disc (and who wouldn't?), Beecham has the field to himself. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes God Smiles, July 22, 2000

By 

MG Nagy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3, 5, & 6 (Great Recordings Of The Century) (Audio CD)

I purchased this disc for three reason: Schubert's symphonies are my favorites, I wasn't familiar with the Beecham recordings, and I wanted to see what the "ART" remastering process was going to do the recording.

Beecham and the RPO: I have never heard music where the conductor and orchestra were this sympathetic (empathetic might be a better term) to the work. For the first time, I've heard these symphonies performed as if they were written by Schubert, for the conductor and orchestra recording. Simply stunning.

On a technical (recording) level, there is much less tape hiss present than any other orchestal recording I've heard from the period (1956 & 1960). No. 6 is the "noisiest" (1956), with slight hiss in No. 5 (1960), and almost none in No. 3 (1960). Overall, hiss present is not to the detriment of the listening experience. There doesn't appear to be any sacrifice of air. Decay sounds natural, and soundstage is good. I don't know if this is due to "ART" remastering, but you can here sticky valves, pages turn, and chairs squeak.

Simply a wonderful disc.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Old World Schubert, May 23, 2004

By 

Jeffrey Lipscomb (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3, 5, & 6 (Great Recordings Of The Century) (Audio CD)

Hearing these wonderful performances in this excellent EMI transfer is an unalloyed delight. The sound here is FAR better than both EMI's earlier CD issue and the original LPs. I think Amazon critic Jed Distler is in error here - the sound may not be state of the art, but it is very pleasant indeed.

Distler also cites the Carlos Kleiber/VPO Third, and Reiner's "regimented precision" in the 5th as preferred alternatives. I disagree. The Kleiber strikes me as hard driven and charmless (his live Chicago account on Melodram was more sympathetic). Reiner is sure "regimented" all right: I think it sounds rather uptight and pushy. If you are looking for a more "classical" approach to the 5th, the Fritz Busch account was the "mot juste." Hopefully it will be on CD shortly: the Winterthur Symphony was a lesser ensemble than Reiner's Chicago, but they gave Busch a brisk but subtly nuanced Schubert 5th that I much prefer to Reiner's.

In the 6th, Beecham really has no competition: this is THE Schubert 6th. If I were to pick one CD to persuade a newcomer that Beecham was not only the greatest British conductor, but one of the greatest of ALL conductors, it would be this utterly delightful issue of early Schubert symphonies.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unlikely 5-star, July 12, 2001

By 

michael seefeldt (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 3, 5, & 6 (Great Recordings Of The Century) (Audio CD)

Took time from my Crumb and Beethoven and Mahler and Kronos and Henze and Shostakovich and was brilliantly and delightfully surprised. Sure the recordings are over 40 yrs old, and Beecham's biases are not lost on me, but this disc shines with bright, lively yet reserved spontaneity; the woodwinds are alone worth the price, and what Beecham does by way of shaping I only wish Schubert could have heard (seems they weren't even published till a half century after he died). You won't go wrong, especially on the originally twinned Third and Fifth.