Search - R. Schumann, Lawrence Foster, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra :: Robert Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1 "Spring" & 2 [Hybrid SACD]

Lawrence Foster, Czech Phil, Schumann: Syms 1 & 2: Elegant,

Dan Fee | Berkeley, CA USA | 03/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Immediately let me concur with the positive reviews already posted. These readings of the first two Schumann symphonies are as well played as any currently available in the catalog, plus have that extra frisson of full, rich presence which can result from a variety of effective super audio surround sound methods in contemporary recording. Some of this is due to the venue, Dvorák Hall of the Rudolfinum in Prague. The danger of that setting involves its cavernous-sounding spaces; yet the engineers for this recording have struck a very workable, clear, full-frequency balance between the reflections of the hall and the pungent tonal identity of the Czech Philharmonic.



So far as I can tell, the conductor Lawrence Foster has not fiddled with Schumann's orchestration. Even as strict a reader as George Szell could not resist the temptation. I prefer my Schumann orchestrations in two modes, the original, and perhaps Mahler's revisions. Otherwise, I am quite content if leaders and players leave well enough alone.



Comparison markers for these works are many, and those many include very fine performances. My fav shelf already has Sawallisch (Dresden), Klemperer (Philharmonia), Mehta (Vienna), Solti (Vienna), Kubelik (Bavarian Radio), Jerzy Semkow (St. Louis), Szell (Cleveland, in SACD stereo), James Levine (Berlin, & searching hard for Philadelphia), Marek Janowski (Royal Liverpool), Bernstein (Vienna), von Karajan (Berlin), Haitink (Amsterdam), and the most recent add, three discs of super audio released on BIS with Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. With Dausgaard you also get the original plus the revised versions of the fourth symphony. I also top off this mix with sets of Gustav Mahler's re-orchestrations of the original Schumann, one from Aldo Ceccato on BIS, and one from Ricardo Chailly in Leipzig, plus a marvelous-sounding HIP Set with Herreweghe on Harmonia Mundi. Done yet? Well I also really like David Zinman's complete set of all four symphonies, with what sounds like a reduced size Tonhalle band in Zurich, and I still like his older big band readings from Baltimore on Telarc.



The reason for getting this one, too, involves sound plus performance.



I have been a hard fan of the Czech band for a long time, going all the way back to Karel Ancerl, Vaclav Neumann, Charles Mackerras in Prague, and the under-rated Lovro von Matacic. I watched, or more to the point, listened, as Vladimir Ashkenazy stepped in during a crisis time to buoy up Czech spirits; and it is rewarding to now hear what Lawrence Foster is up to, in Prague. I think Foster is sometimes as under-rated as von Matacic was, though each conductor rates much higher in my own listening. I recall some fine discs on Decca London when Foster led the RPO in Richard Strauss. Then his reach went even higher when some really stunning work was released with the regional orchestra of Barcelona y Catalunya in Spain. To me, Foster passes the old Walter Legge test: Can a conductor get a fifth rate orchestra to play up higher, like a second rate orchestra? (Leos Svarosky also passes this test, with flying colors.) A corollary marker might be: Can a conductor lead a first rate orchestra without the professional players going on high level automatic pilot?



For an example of this point, compare any routine high level reading by Boston, then spin the very special way they play for Abbado on a couple of interim DGG discs (Debussy, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin). Automatic pilot does not sound like a very bad reading with any of the top bands, until you hear that band playing off, automatic pilot.



In these two Schumann symphonies, the Czech's are all wide-awake. No automatic pilot. Thanks to the mid-hall listening position, the strings balance well with both brass and woodwinds. This is a true, big band approach to Schumann, like Sawallisch in Dresden, Levine in Philadelphia or Berlin, and so forth. A special sparkle stems from Foster being able to get all the band departments moving, alive, responsive, coordinated in excellent musical time and purpose - lethargy or inertia can drag down big band readings of these Schumann works, sometimes. Foster gets the Czechs to phrase very elegantly without going soggy; and I do like his sense of musical paragraphs. Hear how alertly, how beautifully the Czechs play - strings especially - in the slow movement of each symphony. In faster or more scherzandi passages, Foster encourages the Czechs to play with Mendelssohn Midsummer Night's Dream music lightness and point. For these reasons, and more, I'll take Foster any day over, say, Yakov Kreizberg, among my options in the existing Pentatone catalog. (Just how my ears hear it.)



Now, let's contact Pentatone right away to ask if they can get Julia Fischer to do the violin concerto, and maybe Peter Jablonsky or Juana Zayas to do the piano concerto? Or, how about a complete Mendelssohn incidental music from Prague - led by Foster, with Gabriela Benackova and Dagmar Peckova?



How about getting Leos Svarosky on board, too, while we are at it? He is a real find of a dark horse sleeper candidate among Pentatone choices who might be waiting in the concert hall wings.



The remainder of a full set of all four symphonies is due, shortly. If the last two symphonies are as good as these first two, we have yet another very competitive and very musical option, added to our cornucopia fav shelves. I simply cannot think of any real reason not to get these performances, unless one strenuously objects to big band readings of the Schumann symphonies. Other than that caution, open the wallets, full steam ahead. Kudos to the Pentatone engineering teams, too. They so far seem to be mastering a challenging number of different recording venues, and that is a feat all too easily missed when it comes to appreciating these and other Pentatone discs."