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Schumann difficult

Posted by layman (A) on September 19, 2011 at 07:38:19

In Reply to: RE: Schumann Rhenish posted by Todd Krieger on September 17, 2011 at 19:44:36:

"Schumann is one of few composers whose symphonies I rarely hear done well, and a composer whose compositions really bring out the weaknesses in both conductors and symphony orchestras......"

I could not agree with you more.

These symphonies seem impossibly difficult for interpreters to get completely right. Many simply give up and resort to re-orchestrating these beautiful works...but in the right hands Schumann's original thoughts (and original orchestration) turn out to be mighty fine.

I have heard all the recordings mentioned previously and almost without exception, all these interpreters get lost in Schumann.

The least lost for a long time for me was John Eliot Gardiner (and his wonderful recording of all four symponies with the L'Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique), but now I have found the definitive, the absolute best...a conductor and an orchestra who absolutety "get" Schumann, who understand these works through and through...the Robert Schumann Philharmonic of Chemnitz conducted by Frank Beermann (SACD).

Many previous interpretations of the Schumann symphonies have great strengths, but they almost always have equal weaknesses too...not so with this interpretation which seems to combine the strengths of many of those that have gone before. Beermann's interpretation combines the clarity of orchestral line to be found in Gardiner's set and in Zinman's Tonhalle set, with the beauty and fully saturated tone colors of the Dresden Staatskapelle recordings (Sawallish and Sinopli) and Daniel Barenboim's Berlin Staatskapelle set, the zest and "foot-tapping" rhythm of Bernstein's VPO set and Gardiner's L’Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique set, and the intellectual clarity and firmness of Szell's classic interpretations.

The classic Kurt Sanderling recording of the four Brahms Symphonies with the Dresden Staatskapelle was recorded in the same venue as Beermann's (the gorgeous and opulent sounding Lukaskirche in Dresden). Sanderling's recordings are the nearest musical equivalent to Beerman's stunning achievement with the Robert Schumann Philharmonic. Yet the SACD sonics of Beerman's recording sound just a little fresher, firmer and more expansive. I have never heard better.

• Best Schumann   (Open in New Window)

Edits: 09/19/11 09/19/11 09/19/11

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