Customer Reviews

Schumann: Symphonies No. 3 "Rhenish" & No. 4 / Manfred Overture

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Of course, if you do, you probably already have these well-crafted performances by Kubelik and the BRSO from the 1970s. If you don't, well, dude, they are better recorded than Kubelik's set with the Berlin Philarmonic on DG from the 1960s and just as well-played. I don't think anyone will top Szell's performance with the Cleveland Orchestra of Schumann's 4th from the recently re-released Columbia Masterworks set, but I wouldn't let that stop you. Prices and performances like these don't come around too often. So if you like every classical music lover's favorite manic-depressive, get these while you can. BTW, the cassette sounds great in the car, or even in my Ford truck!

Rafael Kubelik's second Schumann Symphony Cycle with the Bavaria Radio Symphony Orchestra is still overshadowed by his earlier, legendary Deutsche Grammophon cycle performed by the Berlin Philharmonic. However, I believe the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra plays with more warmth and enthusiasm than its peers in Berlin. Kubelik's account of the 3rd Symphony is one of the most electrifying I have heard, easily surpassing Leonard Bernstein's, for example and his version of the 4th Symphony is almost just as fine. Those interested in a great Schumann symphony cycle should consider this CD and its companion as first choice.

When great cycles of the Schumann symphonies are mentioned, I don't know why this one rarely if ever comes up. To my mind, it's vastly superior to the Szell/Cleveland cycle, if one wants to stray no further than this label, and the recorded sound is far superior, too. (I'm befuddled over the glowing reviews the Szell gets--I love Szell, but I find these generally ordinary performances in gray sound.) Here we have the Bavarian Radio Symphony, whose enthusiasm for this music is obvious. (Either that or it's their enthusiasm for Kubelik--he has produced other joyous discs with them.) They play in a very unmannered, spontaneous way that suggests that 80 musicians just happened to arrive at the same interpretive idea at the same moment. The tempi are medium, there are some tremendous dynamics, and the sound is fat and ripe without wallowing in excessive Romanticism or a thick, muddy sound. Schumann has been savaged by critics for generations for what are considered to be poorly-orchestrated symphonies, but I don't hear any evidence of it here. The color and warmth are second to none, with a truly spring-like No. 1, a No. 2 that has some of the most transparent orchestration and thrilling string writing in the repertoire (what fun the scherzo must be to play). Kudos to Kubelik for making the coda NOT sound like it's Beethoven-derived by underplaying the da-da-da-daaa march rhythm.

The Third Symphony first movement, in a rollicking 6/8, is filled with vigor and forward momentum, while at the same time the counterpoint never gets smothered as it does on some other recordings (Karajan's, for example--he seems to have some difficulty picking through Schumann's rich textures, though I like his performances a lot). More importantly, though, is his sure sense of structure in this, Schumann's longest symphony. It's hard to explain in a brief review, but some interpretors get lost in the forest here. Kubelik's sense of pacing, build and tension and release are second to none here, making this one of the great Thirds I've ever heard.

The Fourth is one of the all-time great readings of this work. While not quite on a par with the immortal Furtwangler, there are some dark moments in the development section of the first movement that are absolutely stunning, although WF competely outconducts Kubelik (and everyone else) in the finale. I found myself drawn into this powerful music like I am with few conductors.

Kubelik's attention to dynamics is particularly notable; here especially these recordings triumph the Szell set with their big, fat (but never tubby) mid-Romantic, mid-European sound. There are many other fine Schumann cycles out there: Bernstein's last with DG (marred by mannerisms, however; what a surprise), Haitink's with the Concertgebouw (a little stodgy in places, however), Karajan's set with the BPO (though it's a bit thick in places). Sawallisch with the Dresden Staatskapelle is also very solid, though not particularly imaginative, and well-recorded. In addition, Marriner once record a superb No. 2 (now sadly out of print) and of course there's Furtwangler's immortal 4th. These recordings deserve to be up there with the best of them, and are, as I said, better than the set by Szell.

These are probably the best performances of the Schumann symphonies I've heard (not that I claim to have heard all of the classics); they are no-fuss performances, good-natured, genial and straightforward, superbly shaped and argued and never pushing the music too much. Kubelik seeks and finds the warmth and glow of this music; perhaps a little laidback, at least compared to some alternatives, but then many other performances are exactly undermined by attempts to push the music too much. The performances here do by no means hang fire - there is smoldering power and deep energy in these performances - but it is sufficiently constrained so as not to rip the music apart. The third is grand and noble, flowing with honey and thunder and the fourth is blazing with controlled power.

Of course, the sunny glow and velvety, rich textures achieved are no less due to the Bavarian orchestra, who really gives a superb performance (wonderful brass, in particular the horns). I don't think a more fervently dramatic approach is necessarily wrong - one might want, perhaps, to have, say, Sawallisch's recording as well - but I have to say that these ones remain my first choice. I haven't heard Kubelik's earlier efforts with the Berlin Philharmonic, but apparently it cannot stand up to the newer one in terms of sound quality at least - not that the sound quality is demonstration class by today's standards, but it is clear and well-balanced. Strongly recommended.