Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Hans Zender, SWR Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra :: Franz Schubert: The Complete Symphonies No. 1-8

A Fine Traversal of Schubert's Eight

M. C. Passarella | Lawrenceville, GA | 09/01/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've lived with these performances for a while now and am prepared to say that for the most part, I am very satisfied with Hans Zender's Schubert. One thing is certain: Hanssler's usually high production values are everywhere in evidence. The box is handsomely presented with good notes, including an interesting interview with Zender himself. And the recording is first-rate; it's crisp and clear with impact galore, so Schubert's often sparkling wind writing and those important brass and drum utterances shine through. Not to slight the strings: they have just the right sheen to them. While the recordings were made over a number of years and in several different venues, the clarity and sense of presence don't really vary much. Maybe the Fourth Symphony, recorded first, has a touch less crispness, but just the merest touch at that.



Now to the performances. Not so coincidentally, the Fourth Symphony is the most problematic, but still, this is an OK performance. It's just that the middle movements are played a little more slowly than is usually the case, Zender ignoring Schubert's tempo markings. As for the second movement, this may be a good thing. Taking it slightly slower than the original andante marking adds to the poignancy and beauty of Schubert's big melody. After all, Schubert himself gave this symphony its nickname "Tragic." But then Zender extends the portentousness to the third movement; here, the allegretto tempo that Zender takes instead of Schubert's vivace fails to build contrast and just makes the movement sound pedestrian and plodding--a big mistake. The last movement, too, is taken more slowly than some conductors do, but this just lets Zender build additional drama into the climactic sections, such as the bridge to the codetta, so he somewhat redeems himself here.



However, I have no quibbles with the tempi that Zender takes elsewhere. His interpretations mostly seem a model of sensibleness. Take the Great C Major Symphony. (It's usually numbered Nine, but in this collection numbered Eight, supposedly according to the latest Schubert scholarship. I guess this just means that the Symphony in E, D. 729, sometimes called the Seventh, is now to be lumped with Schubert's fragmentary symphonic works, even though it is a complete, four-movement work lacking only complete orchestration). Here, if you want to experience the "heavenly length" that Schumann rhapsodized about, you have to seek out one of the single-disc versions. Zender doesn't take the repeats, so Schubert's usually hour-long symphony is condensed to a businesslike forty-nine minutes. Otherwise, however, Zender approaches the symphony with sensitivity, letting Schubert's grand gestures breathe properly. The codas to the first and last movements, often either rushed or slowed annoyingly, are perfectly proportioned here, I think. Too, in the development section of the first movement, Zender takes the opening just a trifle slowly so that the delicious dialog for winds unfolds tellingly. Slight accelerandos here and there correspond with climaxes and seem well judged. The Andante is very much con moto as Schubert requests, but there is a nice contrast between the classical-sounding major-key music that purls along like an unperturbed stream and the minor-key exclamations for full orchestra that punctuate the work. The finale, repeats observed or not, is magisterial--just the proper hint of melancholy and world-weariness in the wind writing at the end of the development section before the juggernaut starts up again. Altogether, Zender's approach is flexible; the result: a very respectable version of Schubert's greatest orchestral work.



In the bubbling early works, Zender and his players bring the right measures of youthful energy and prettiness. I'm quite happy with Zender's performance of Number 3, my own favorite among the symphonies of Schubert's youth, and I can find nothing to criticize about the other performances, either. (The best individual movement among the early symphonies, the Scherzo of the Sixth, is given a whip-cracking performance, and this whole symphony is in fact treated to one of the best performances in the set.)



As to the Eighth, which will be many listeners' favorite Schubert symphony, this, too, is given a very fine performance. Again, Zender strives for clear contrasts. For starters, he takes the first movement at a faster clip than many conductors do; he's faster than Abbado by almost a minute, for example. In the second movement, the sweetness of the primary melody is effectively played off against the anguish of the minor-key episodes: Zender chooses tempi and dynamics that accentuate the odd duality that often exists in Schubert, but without exaggeration. Much is often made of the fact that Schubert's harmonies can turn on a dime from major-key sunniness to minor-key shadow without seeming preparation. But in movements such as the Andantes of both the B Minor and the Great C Major Symphonies, these contrasting sections form huge blocks that come together only by the sheer force of Schubert's gorgeous melodies. If the composer's melodic material weren't so memorable and so touching, we listeners would probably balk at the fact that such disparate material is yoked together in this way, like vast colliding air masses. Then again, maybe not; the approach seems pretty forward looking, if you think about it. Anyway, Zender's approach is properly Schubertian throughout. The subtle drama of this beautiful symphony makes complete sense in Zender's performance.



Overall, Zender and his orchestra bring a classical lightness and drive to their performances, eschewing the big-orchestra feel that earlier conductors imposed on the symphonies of Schubert's musical maturity. Clearly, in Zender's performances, the last two symphonies are utterances of the Classical Era, not proto-Bruckner. In this, Zender's approach is close to what I've heard of Claudio Abbado and the Orchestra of Europe's recordings on DG; on the other hand, Zender has consistently finer sound recording in his favor--and Abbado's is very good. I haven't heard the set from Nicholas Harnoncourt, but his well-regarded performances are supposed to accentuate even more the "modernity" of Schubert's music. I'm not sure I would want that. In fact, I'm happy enough with Zender to go out on a limb and say that, except for the less-than-thrilling performance of the Fourth Symphony, his set probably won't leave you pining for better-known names such as Davis, Marriner, Abbado--or Harnoncourt.

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Lyrical and Imaginative

Johnson Lee | Irvine, CA USA | 01/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Zender shows great insights on how Schubert is different from Beethoven or Mozart, in an absolutely beautiful way. His (or Schubert's) vision is fully realized by top-class playing by the SWR Orchestra. The set contains very imaginative version of 4th (you can almost visualize a man walking in haste in winter blizzard), and one of the most lyrical accounts of Unfinished, which I liked better than the harsh performance by Kleiber. Early symphonies are witty and playful in a very Viennese way.

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