Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Sandor Végh, Salzburg Mozarteum Camerata Academica :: Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, 8 & 9

Four Schubert Symphonies Played with Spirit and Grace

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 11/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a budget reissue of two CDs originally put out in the mid-1990s on the Capriccio label. I don't know if it has been remastered or re-engineered, but it is in sparkling sound which perfectly matches the performances by this chamber orchestra under one of the great violinists of the twentieth century, Sándor Végh. Végh spent many years in Salzburg as the conductor of the Camerata Academica des Mozarteums Salzburg and molded it into a masterful ensemble whose sound, he said, was intended to be that of an 'enlarged string quartet'. During his time -- 1978-1997 - they almost exclusively played music from the Viennese classics and were virtually unmatched. Their recordings of Mozart, early Beethoven and Schubert are jewels. Their rehearsal procedure was lengthy and rigorous, something one can hear in their playing. Other recordings in their catalog are the wonderful Mozart piano concertos with András Schiff are not to be missed, e.g., Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 12 (K414) & 14 (K449), Mozart: Concertos K242, K365, K466.



Schubert's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, D. 485, never ceases to delight and amaze me. It was written when Schubert was only nineteen and is one of his sunniest works. If one ever had any doubts about Schubert as an inventor of instantly memorable melodies, one has only to hear this work. Strangely, like the Great C Major Symphony, the Fifth Symphony was never given a public performance during Schubert's lifetime, although there was a private, amateur run-through under Schubert's watchful eye. Végh and the orchestra present us with a spirited, graceful, infectious reading. Symphony No. 6 in C Major, D.589, was the one chosen for a memorial concert two weeks after Schubert's death in 1828. It is a work that is often overlooked and not counted among the 'great' symphonies by Schubert, but it has many felicities, including a charming Scherzo with humorous alternation of sforzando chords followed by legato wind interjections.



Little needs be said about the Symphony No. 8, the 'Unfinished', which has been recorded hundreds of times. Nonetheless, this performance is one of the more graceful and nuanced ones. The Ninth, 'Great C Major', is one of the absolute peaks of the classical symphony, in spite of its having been called 'unplayable' by musicians of Schubert's time. The story is well-known of Schumann discovering the manuscript in 1839 while visiting Schubert's brother and shivering with joy at its beauty. Although this performance is not the equal of the great Solti recording Schubert: Symphony No 9; Wagner / Solti, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, it is a spirited yet refined reading. Kudos go to the violin section's tireless and precise playing of those killer triplets in the symphony's finale.



Scott Morrison"