Search - Schumann, James Levine, Berliner Philmarmoniker :: Schumann: Symphonies 2 & 3 (Rheinische)

Two great performances, shamefully neglected

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ever since I started buying up out-of-print recordings by James Levine, I've come to realize that for roughly 15 years, from the late Seventies through the Eighties, he was making stupendoous orchestral recordings without much notice, either from record collectors or critics. This superb CD of the Schumann Second and Third Sym. from 1988 with the Berlin Phil. is a typical example. One never sees it recommended by the Gramophone (whose web archive doesn't list any reviews of Levine's Schumann) despite the fact that these readings are head and shoulders above the Sawallisch set (EMI) routinely given as a first choice. They are ahead of Levine's mentor Szell, as well, whose Schumann sounds rigid and unfeeling by comparison.



What makes these performances so striking is their inner life. Levine has a natural feeling for the flow of Schumann's expression, using rubato, accent, and balance to achieve marvelous effects I've never heard even from noted Schumann conductors like Bernstein and Karajan. What a shame that DG has so little faith in these performances as to keep them out of print. The Berlin Phil. plays with astonishing depth of emotion and flexibility, surpassing even their work under Karajan. Only the edgy, shrill sonics when played at loud volume detract from the sheer musical delight of this CD.



For anyone who wants to hear for themselves what Levine can do in this music, BMG/Sony has reissued an earlier disc of the Second and Fourth Sym. with the Philadelphia Orch., but good as that recording is, it cannot match this one for refinement and absolute alertness to every nuaance of Schumann's score. If you can run it down, this recording is a treasure."