I'll have to listen to the Cluytens for sure! Just to share-- my first taste of the Unfinished at age 13 was Carl Schuricht with the Vienna Philharmonic on Richmond Stereo. My grandmom picked it up for me at a bargain bin at Cowtown in NJ. and I've never found a more satisfying recording for me personally. First of all, the first subject shimmy-shimmies in the strings I've never found to be more precise and sonically present with a great sense of pulse... bringing out all the nifty little syncopations and intervalic interplay between the seconds and violas. And then the scary expressionistic climaxes and the epic swell at the end of the 1st mvmnt are all executed with great sweep-- just over the top! Also, that magic carpet (the image that came to me at the time of those prismatic shifting modulations in the C# subordinate theme of the 2nd mvmnt) I've found nowhere more engaging than Schurichts- again because you can hear everything. Maybe the Richmond Stereo sonics were just right for bringing out the intricate nuances with such presence--- which often gets lost or sounds enemic, especially in the relatively pale "light" of the digital universe or in Klieber's famous but imo 'meh' rendition. I still remember my impression while discovering this symphony for the first time with this recording, just how attractive, striking and luxurious a work it was. I was excited to get this from my grandmom because of the Mozart on side 1. I was just discovering classical music and was riveted on Mozart at the time. But on this record, all the magic was on side 2! One more thing: even at 13 I was onto the expressionistic scariness of those first movement bits. My neighborhood friends and I made a "haunted house" in my basement, and we played the huge first mvmnt development climax while a cedar wood wardrobe slowly opened and a corpse emerged behind a gloomily lit cemetery. I think we almost ran upstairs when we first tested it out. Ha!
I only recently had the notion that Mahler's symphonies seem closer to Schubert's than to Beethoven's, but I can't really say why. I'll give your suggestion some thought. It's not what I'd have come up with myself, but it might open a door. Thanks!
Maybe it's just me. But, when getting into Schubert, after hearing the 8th, I was expecting something different from the 9th. The 8th begins with its foot planted in romantisicm, and the 9th seems to take a step back towards classicism, albeit, gloriously done.
I'll be provocative and use the 'F' word. Furtwangler's studio recording is slowish, dark and troubled, with a bass line that rumbles in a very disquieting way - Alfred Brendel thought it miraculous; whether that's a good sign, I'm unsure. But it IS well worth a listen, placing the symphony in the same world as Winterreise.
Dave and Schubert, a great morning indeed!
I'll have to listen to the Cluytens for sure! Just to share-- my first taste of the Unfinished at age 13 was Carl Schuricht with the Vienna Philharmonic on Richmond Stereo. My grandmom picked it up for me at a bargain bin at Cowtown in NJ. and I've never found a more satisfying recording for me personally. First of all, the first subject shimmy-shimmies in the strings I've never found to be more precise and sonically present with a great sense of pulse... bringing out all the nifty little syncopations and intervalic interplay between the seconds and violas. And then the scary expressionistic climaxes and the epic swell at the end of the 1st mvmnt are all executed with great sweep-- just over the top! Also, that magic carpet (the image that came to me at the time of those prismatic shifting modulations in the C# subordinate theme of the 2nd mvmnt) I've found nowhere more engaging than Schurichts- again because you can hear everything. Maybe the Richmond Stereo sonics were just right for bringing out the intricate nuances with such presence--- which often gets lost or sounds enemic, especially in the relatively pale "light" of the digital universe or in Klieber's famous but imo 'meh' rendition. I still remember my impression while discovering this symphony for the first time with this recording, just how attractive, striking and luxurious a work it was. I was excited to get this from my grandmom because of the Mozart on side 1. I was just discovering classical music and was riveted on Mozart at the time. But on this record, all the magic was on side 2! One more thing: even at 13 I was onto the expressionistic scariness of those first movement bits. My neighborhood friends and I made a "haunted house" in my basement, and we played the huge first mvmnt development climax while a cedar wood wardrobe slowly opened and a corpse emerged behind a gloomily lit cemetery. I think we almost ran upstairs when we first tested it out. Ha!
I’m with you on this, Dave. Definitely prefer the ‘dramatic’ readings.
Listening to Schubert's 8th on period instruments is like eating chicken bones.
Hello Mr.Hurwitz,
Would you please do a review of the A.C. box ?
Thinking about it.
Schubert's music is always concerned with death, a forerunner to Mahler.
I only recently had the notion that Mahler's symphonies seem closer to Schubert's than to Beethoven's, but I can't really say why. I'll give your suggestion some thought. It's not what I'd have come up with myself, but it might open a door. Thanks!
Schubert
Maybe it's just me. But, when getting into Schubert, after hearing the 8th, I was expecting something different from the 9th. The 8th begins with its foot planted in romantisicm, and the 9th seems to take a step back towards classicism, albeit, gloriously done.
I'll be provocative and use the 'F' word. Furtwangler's studio recording is slowish, dark and troubled, with a bass line that rumbles in a very disquieting way - Alfred Brendel thought it miraculous; whether that's a good sign, I'm unsure. But it IS well worth a listen, placing the symphony in the same world as Winterreise.