Customer Reviews

Schumann: Symphonies 1-4; Manfred Overture

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had the Sony Classical Kubelik's version on K7. I decided to compare the versions recommended by Grammophone, Penguin & NPR to decide which one I would buy on CD.

At my surprise, I found Kubelik's version bland compared to others.

To my ears, Gardiner is too much rushing the score and the orchestra with periodic instruments sounds too thin and bright. At first, I liked it but then realized I was not really engrossed as I like it. Not surprising, as contrary to many people, I do not really go for his archetyped systematic way of playing music esp. romantic music (IMHO).

Then Bernstein's is joyful, full of go but sometimes desarticulated (1st symphony), impressive though.

And finally, Szell's is the one that sings & swings to me even during quiet movements it still gives me the goosebumps. I feel drawn into the music. The only drawback is the sound quality, the sound can seem a little muffled compared to other versions.

Fantastic set, one of my favorite of a huge pile--the one I seem to go back to most frequently.

If you buy this and the CDs are in non-removable cardboard sleeves inside the packaging (they should be), CAREFULLY take the discs out and put them in jewel cases for the remainder of their (or your) lives. The idiotically designed packaging actually scratches up the discs--primarily the second one (the glued inside (!!) seam rubs up against the surface). I'm meticulous with my CD handling and discovered, to my horror, that this has happened with nearly every set I own in this series!

I've encountered worse elsewhere--trendy avant-garde labels are the worst, they might as well package CDs in sandpaper or include a crowbar [If the moron who designed the breathtakingly idiotic packaging for the KAIROS Morton Feldman disc ever reads this, be warned, I will track you down someday and ruin your career as a designer]; it's amazing that at this late date in the evolution of the CD packaging designers still haven't developed the right sensitivities or simply yielded wholly to the imperfect but better-than-anything-else stock jewel box. Why that ingenius package that would actually automatically lift and free the disc when opened never caught on (despite the added 10 cent per unit cost, that I, for one, would gladly have absorbed) is anybody's guess.

[Post note: Amazing, I publish this solely to cue people that there's a problem with the packaging on this and I get a "not helpful" vote! What a putz!]

The original LP recordings of the four Schumann symphonies, Manfred Overture, and (sadly not included) Piano Concerto have been a benchmark for all others since they were first released in the late 50's, and for very good reason. The performances are simply magificent. Yes, Szell did make some adjustments in Schumann's original instrumentation to achieve better balances, but the results are always effective and musical. The Symphony No. 2 was a "calling card" piece for the Cleveland Orchestra and Szell on tour and you will never hear it more beautifully performed than you will on this recording. The SONY packaging is wonderful with plenty of vintage Szell photographs and an excerpt of a very articulate article written by Szell in support of Schumann's orchestral works. Buy this now; you won't regret it!

Brian Knox (review entered below) makes some interesting points about these famed recordings. Szell has a great (and altogether deserved) reputation as a conductor of classical directness and integrity. But - and there is a but with these great recordings - these recordings are not altogether as satisfying as their almost legendary reputation might suggest. There is an unexpected 'plushiness' to Szell's balances that mutes and dulls the edge of these genuinely exciting symphonies. There is just a little too much of the armchair and too little of the open-window.

This is a consequence of Szell's (wholly legitimate) view of these symphonies and their sound-world, of his revisions to the scores and of the recorded balances. Christoph von Dohnanyi (still with the great Cleveland Orchestra) lets far more sunlight and fresh-air onto the scene. So too does Klemperer - a fantastic but rare set (marred a little by his ponderous view of the 2nd symphony). David Zinman with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich is bright, buoyant and wonderfully alive (an outstanding version of the 2nd symphony).

But the real point is that these symphonies are superb works and any of these sets would provide much enjoyment.

The Schumann symphonies, vastly underrated. His particular genius ranged to the dark beauty in these pieces as well. They are lyrical, inventive and moving. And the recording features the best modern style performances one can find. Szell's interpretations are lucid and dramatic, even the slowest tempo flows. The sound is a bit stuffy, but perfectly adequate, and Szell's own liner notes are a fascinating read.

These definitive recordings show an unusually warm George Szell--not the cold hearted tyrant of legend--working out with the astonishingly polished Cleveland Orchestra. And for once the remastered Columbia/Sony sonics are deep and full and without high end distortion, faithfully reproducing the silky string sound of Severance Hall. These are essential recordings that confirmed Schumann's place as a major symphonist.

although i've been a frequent listener to late german romantics school (i.e. wagner bruckner r.strauss), i wasn't particularly fond of early german romantic symphonies (i.e. schubert, schumann, brahms), but this set of schumann's symphonies by szell/cleveland simply draws me in a way only comparable to karl bohm and his schubert/mozart. in sum, this set is simply irresistible music... i have to say among szell's recordings with cleveland of beethoven, brahms, schumann, and bruckner, i value his schumann the most for its natural phrasing... as the booklet says, szell certainly has an affinity with schumann's music.

This recording has opened up an appreciation of Schumann that I did not have before. Powerful and expressive performance by Szell.

I'm going to make this a review of all the major recordings of the Schumann Symphonies, up to the moment of October, 2011, with an overall recommendation of the winner. This is after many years of listening to and thinking about many versions of these evergreen masterpieces of charm and Romantic imagination.

First, one of the best is certainly this one, by George Szell and his great Cleveland Orchestra, originally recorded for Epic in the late 50s and early 60s. My main impression of these performances is of the color which Szell gets from his orchestra. Many critics have complained about Schumann's orchestrations, based on their ignorance of the size of the orchestra of the 1840s-1850s. It was about 50, not 90-strong, so much of the "grey" sound they complained about was based on the practice of playing anything written before 1870-1890 as if it had been written in 1890. They played Beethoven as if it was Bruckner, and did the same for Schumann, for the most part. Szell avoids that, even though (I believe) he doesn't reduce the size of the ensemble, but judiciously adjusts balances and prunes some of Schumann's own mistakes in orchestration, most of which seem to have come from his late period when he was a very bad conductor in Dusseldorf, and seems to have become more conservative, perhaps due to concern about his future reputation, and edited his works, changing who knows what youthful great inspriration for more mature mediocracy. The later version of the D Minor Symphony is a perfect example. Brahms preferred the earlier, much more lighly orchestrated and perhaps more radical version, while Clara forbade its publication, in favor of Robert's later, more conservative version, still great if played with care for balances. Szell plays all these lovable works with great care but with ample warmth and brilliance. I particularly like the playing of the "Spring" and D Minor Symphonies, while the Second was a Szell specialty which was frequently taken on tour. I also love the performance of the "Manfred" Overture, much better than any other I know, including Bernstein's with its almost shocking retardando for the coda. But, more on Lenny in his place. Of course, Szell avoids repeats, as always, but it doesn't matter here as much as it might in a performance of a more Classical work, such as a Mozart symphony, which Szell always excelled in and in which I always regret any cuts.

Next, let's look at the Sawallisch set on EMI with the Dresden orchestra. I don't know the newer recording he made with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2003, but it got good reviews in such respected organs of opinion such as the New York TIMES. In his older recording, I hear much that is similar to Szell's way of playing these works, but Sawallisch takes all repeats, all to the good. Also, the sound is better; actually, it's really only marginally so, since EMI has never been known as a recording company on the level of say Decca or DG in the matter of sound. But, the playing of the Dresdeners is wonderful, certainly on the level of the Clevelanders. The filler is the Overture, Scherzo and Finale, which gets an excellent performance of a work that should be better known, since it tells us clearly that Schumann was a man of the 1830s-1850s, who knew Mendelsshon and was a contemporary of Berlioz and Chopin, not of Bruckner. But, more of that later. Also recommended.

Filling out the "older" versions are both of the Bernstein sets, the first from the late 50s-early 60s, the same time as the Szell recordings, the second from the 80s. I used to really like Lenny's way with this music, and I still do, to an extent. Ultimately, though, I cannot really recommend either of his sets over those of anyone else here due to inferior sound in the earlier recordings, made for Columbia, with the NY Phil. in which the playing is crude and almost harsh, and the sound is boomy and over-resonant and much too loud, and the newer set,in which there's the continued tendency Lenny had to indulge in too-slow tempos for slow movements. Often, this can be interesting or even compelling, but inevitably, it's just not totally convincing. For example, in the 60s set, the slow mvt. of the C Major Symphony is about the slowest around (in stereo, anyway), and it certainly impresses with its passionate intensity, but it's really just too slow, and both Szell and Gardiner, among others, are more convincing due to more control and balance. In the 80's set with the Wienner Phil., the much better playing and sound are offset by such excentricities as Lenny's way with the slow mvt. of the "Rhenish." Typical of Bernstein's extreme nature or of his nature of extremes, this is much too slow, but it does gain in soleminity at times and clarity of sound, especially in the cadential chords, which are very beautiful, but it also loses any logic and momentum it might have had. It's a bit like some of Henry James's sentences in his late novels. You might get lost. It's an interesting experiment or maybe an example of late Lenny and his self-willed tendency to attempt to find what no one else had found. I really think alot of this tendency might be based on his own failings as a composer, but it was always there. In brief, Schumann wasn't Bruckner, so why play his slow movements as if he were? Sorry. I can't recommend.

In recent years, we really have had a renaissance in Schumann performances, probably because of the 200th year anniversary and because of the continued progress in the "period" instrument movement, begun in the early 60s, and now headed by such great conductors as John Eliot Gardiner, whose set of the complete Schumann Symphonies includes both versions of the D Minor Symphony as well as a fine recording of the G Minor fragment. There are other excellent contenders in the Schumann symphony market out there now, such as those recordings by Zinman and by Paavo Jarvi (out in November, 2011), the first using some "period" instruments and the second with vibrato-less modern strings and modern ensemble, but I must give the final prize to the Gardiner set, probably due to Gardiner's superior conducting and the excellent playing of his splendid "period" orchestra, given great sound by DG. The only drawback, perhaps a minor one, is the lack of the "Manfred" Overture, one of Schumann's finest orchertral pieces, but you can get that on the Szell set, so my final advice is to get the Gardiner set, by all means, but also get the Szell for the use of "standard" modern instruments and the inclusion of the wonderfully played overture. That way, you get the best of both worlds, and hear Schumann in ways which he would probably indorse.

All of these performances, except for the earlier Bernstein on Sony, are available for viewing/listening on Youtube. Listen and decide.

George Szell's deep, personal and profound understanding of Schumann shows in this unique and classic set that reveals the heart and spirit of these glorious works like no other. Through years of studying and performing these symphonies, Szell recognized the minor but obvious errors of balance in Schumann's orchestrations. Using subtle, nuanced and tasteful retouches that stayed absolutely true to Schumann, Szell's successfully clarified and enhanced the music.

Szell delivers a deeply satisfying read of each symphony, full of warmth, lyricism, restless passion, and nobility, and the orchestra's legendary sound is clean and stunning. Only those with ears of stone could say that this joyous set is cold, stiff or rigid.

There may be many worthy sets of the Schumann symphonies, certainly many messier and interesting ones, but none better than this one.