Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 1-4; Rosamunde ballet music / Weber: Der Freischutz Overture

Carl Maria von Weber (Composer), Franz [Vienna] Schubert (Composer), Herbert von Karajan (Conductor), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
• Composer: Carl Maria von Weber, Franz [Vienna] Schubert
• Audio CD (February 15, 2005)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B0002XV2YI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,276 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #28 in Music > Classical > Ballets & Dances > Ballets
  • #30 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Languages > German
  • #38 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Historical Periods > Romantic (c.1820-1910)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Karajan's Schubert Cycle Reissued for Cheap!, March 13, 2005

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Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 1-4; Rosamunde ballet music / Weber: Der Freischutz Overture (Audio CD)

EMI's new "Gemini" series is a breath of fresh air amidst all the smoke being put forth recently by the major classical labels. While Sony is deleting most of their classical budget discs, BMG is raising theirs to mid-price and UNI is convinced that 3CDs are always better than one, EMI decides to start a two-fer line that sells for significantly less than the competition, not to mention their own "Double Forte" series. It might not be as cheap as the old "Seraphim" series, but they could certainly be charging more for quality recordings such as these.

Herbert von Karajan's Schubert Symphony Cycle, made between 1975-78 for EMI with the Berlin Philharmonic, has been available previously on CD in the "Karajan Edition." However, those discs, released as four single titles with two Symphonies each, were twice the price of these new reissues. These performances of Symphonies 1-4 plus some Rosamunde excerpts are certainly solid, but Karajan was never celebrated as a conductor of Schubert. One wonders if that is why DG had a young Lorin Maazel record the Schubert Symphonies with the Berliners instead of Herbie at the dawn of the stereo age, and that ultimately EMI had him record this Cycle because it was something he hadn't yet done for DG. In any event, I would certainly recommend the Bohm boxed set on DG or the Kertesz on London/Decca (see my review of the latter) ahead of these performances. But considering how cheap these two double discs are, maybe picking up an extra Schubert Cycle is worth it after all.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Karajan's best, despite lovely execution, January 15, 2008

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 1-4; Rosamunde ballet music / Weber: Der Freischutz Overture (Audio CD)

By the mid-Seventies Karajan had achieved a degree of orchestral perfection with the Berlin Phil. that remains legendary. It's hard to back down from the super-gleaming, streamlined ensemble he preferred to the simpler mode of Schubert. The orchestral sound has been considerably tamed, however, and the wind soloists play with conisderably refinement. Nor is Karajan bored by the simplicty of the teenge composer's structure; these readings show some excitment and charm -- sample the whirlwind string playing in the finale of the Fourth, for example.

But the absence o f faults isn't the same as the presence of virtues. To my ears, Karajan hasn't come close to the heart of Schubert's tender, haunting, and ultimately transcendent style. He's not alone; Carlos Kleiber delivers a mercilessly knife-edged Thrid on DG, a real pity given that he commercially recorded only five symphonies. At the other extreme, I find Colin Davis's Schubert cycle on Philips too often tepid and undernourished. The secret is to find as much Beethoven as possible in these early works while not losing Schubert's lyrical charm. Harnoncourt manages to do that in his cycle, and I trust Mr. Richman when he points the way to Kertesz also, though I haven't heard those accounts.

In any event, Karajan's Schubert feels all wrong to me, as much as I admire him on almost every other front.

5.0 out of 5 stars I liked this recording, February 12, 2009

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P. Hickey "Thyroid Evangelist" (Millersville,MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 1-4; Rosamunde ballet music / Weber: Der Freischutz Overture (Audio CD)

I really liked this recording of Schubert's early symphonies, it is nice to have them in this two disk set. I found the analog to digital transfer to be done well and the audio engineering was good. Beautiful playing as usual by the Berlin Philharmonic.