Customer Reviews

Schubert: Symphony No. 8 - Unfinished / Symphony No. 9 - The Great (Karajan Edition)

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I've known Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony since I was a little kid, and it's always been one of my favorite classical works. But until I bought this disc, I never really *experienced* it.



Karajan's interpretation is very different from most of the others in that it's much, *much* slower. Maintaining the enormous energy level required for this symphony over a significantly *longer* period of time by playing it slowly - and startlingly evenly - is an amazing feat, and Karajan's ability to draw this performance out of these musicians demonstrates his genius.



My experiences listening to this recording have been visceral, primal, and purely powerful. That's an awful lot to say for a piece of music.

Karajan's this CD is one of the best interpretation of schubert's unfinished. It has depth and serenity of this symphony. His no.9 changed my view. I never like 'The great' But now I understand what Schubert intended. Especially trio part of third movement is so beautiful that I almost cried. You will never regret buying this CD.

Karajan seemingly could conduct anything, and he has a Schubert Unfinished on DG, in somewhat scrappier sonics than this EMI remake, which sounds committed. Not this one, though. When he was uninvolved, Karajan still kept the proceedings efficient and crisp, and the Berlin Phil. executes all the notes with disciplined expertness.

But Schubert is a special composer, one whose charm is mixed with a fragile poignany, and these performances miss both those qualities. If you want to hear the Schubert 8th and 9th run thorugh the Karajan machinery, this is the CD for you. I should add that his whole Schubert cycle is similarly impersonal.

These are tough, unsentimental readings of these symphonies. Unsentimental, yes...but not without feeling! Indeed, without the schmaltz, von Karajan brings out the sincere pathos of the music.

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"Karajan Edition" (1996) EMI Classics, digitally remastered to 20-bit with Abbey Road Techne.

Symphony No. 8 in b-minor (1975)
I. Allegro moderato [12.25]
II. Andante con moto [13.38]

Symphony No. 9 in C-major (1977)
I. Andante-Allegro ma non troppo [13.02]
II. Andante con moto [13.12]
III. Scherzo & Trio [14.16]
IV. Finale [11.56]
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Affirmatively valid realizations.
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Somewhat prefer Böhm's echt-Brucknerian reading of the b-minor Symphony.
Schubert: Symphonies
Schubert: 8 Symphonies
Franz Schubert: Symphonies 9 & 8 "Unvollendete"
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Karajan's great C-major Symphony here is superb: the clarity is astounding.
The strings, winds, and timpani glimmer with razor-sharpness.
Karajan conjures the phraseology with the etchant-relief of a poet or a master jeweler cutting a multifaceted gemstone.
The accents and voicing are brilliantly precise at every turn.
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See too:
Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9
Schubert: Symphonies 1-4; Rosamunde ballet music
Schubert: Symphonies 5, 6, 8 & 9; Rosamunde Overture
Schubert: Symphonies 8 & 9
Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9
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Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 8 "Unfinished" & 9 "The Great"
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Schubert: Symphony No. 9; Gesang der Geister über den Wassern
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