Search - Sir Thomas Beecham :: Great Recordings Of The Century - Schubert: Symphonies nos. 3, 5, & 6 / Beecham, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Thomas Beecham Great Recordings Of The Century - Schubert: Symphonies nos. 3, 5, & 6 / Beecham, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Genre:Classical Time has somewhat tarnished these once highly regarded recordings. EMI's early stereo engineering was hit and miss, and not even these new remasterings can fully tame the strident string tone and hollow-sounding tuttis. Ye... more »t the performances have many virtues, including rhythmic élan, well-chosen tempos, and winsomely characterized solo playing. Above all else is Beecham's flair for shaping and projecting melodies with a cute little accent here, a dynamic surge there, and enough felicitous turns of phrase to keep the listener smiling. It's true that other conductors have elicited leaner, tauter ensemble work from their musicians (Carlos Kleiber's Third with the Vienna Philharmonic, for instance, and Fritz Reiner's neatly regimented Fifth with the Chicago Symphony). However, if you desire this uplifting group of works on one well-filled disc (and who wouldn't?), Beecham has the field to himself. --Jed Distler« less
Time has somewhat tarnished these once highly regarded recordings. EMI's early stereo engineering was hit and miss, and not even these new remasterings can fully tame the strident string tone and hollow-sounding tuttis. Yet the performances have many virtues, including rhythmic élan, well-chosen tempos, and winsomely characterized solo playing. Above all else is Beecham's flair for shaping and projecting melodies with a cute little accent here, a dynamic surge there, and enough felicitous turns of phrase to keep the listener smiling. It's true that other conductors have elicited leaner, tauter ensemble work from their musicians (Carlos Kleiber's Third with the Vienna Philharmonic, for instance, and Fritz Reiner's neatly regimented Fifth with the Chicago Symphony). However, if you desire this uplifting group of works on one well-filled disc (and who wouldn't?), Beecham has the field to himself. --Jed Distler
CD Reviews
Charming Performances
Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 04/24/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Beecham was always at his best where lyricism and light touch were needed.
In these works his ability to impart such qualitites to an entire orchestra is readily apparent. Schubert's music sparkles and dances under Beecham's leadership. I have several excellent modern versions, but these under Beecham remain my favorites, especially the performance of the 6th symphony.
Note: Mr. Distler, a reviewer frequently cited by Amazon, always seems to feel it necessary to bring in other performers by way of comparison. And he never writes a review without flip-floping, going back and forth. He's always writing "on the one hand" and then writing "then again, on the other hand...". In this review he starts out attacking the sound, then he compliments the conductor, then he knocks the conductor's hold on ensemble by praising two of music's most notorious martinets, then ends by saying it's a wonderful performance. Good grief. Just once I wish he would stick to the recording at hand, say yeah or nay, and be done with it."
UNALLOYED PLEASURE
Klingsor Tristan | Suffolk | 03/14/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Some recordings are just hors concours. It's not necessarily that they are the `best' version available - that's far too absolute and arrogant a judgement to pass. It's rather that there will never be anything quite like them again. Yes, they are superlative performances - by definition. But there's something more, something perhaps indefinable, but instantly recognisable. We will not see their like again - though we may see something else equally as impressive. The first Callas Tosca is probably one; Furtwangler's Tristan another. I'd include Beecham's Boheme and perhaps his Carmen, too. Toscanini's Otello, definitely; Giulini's Verdi Requiem and Britten's own War Requiem, yes; Solti's Ring possibly. And so on. Readers will have other additions of their own, no doubt. But chances are they will tend to be large-scale works.
Here's a very strong candidate for that honour roll which is on a smaller scale. These are perfect gems of performances of these early Schubert symphonies, all three. Beecham brings to bear all his renowned wit, subtlety, rhythmic élan and inimitable melodic phrasing to lift them way above their usual allotted position as minor works in the Schubert canon. I defy you to restrain a smile of unalloyed pleasure from spreading across your face as you listen to this disc as Sir Thomas exercises the magic to which, at times like this, one believes only he holds the key. These days there are many other estimable performances of these symphonies, many of them far more authentic, but not one of them is quite in Beecham's `class'.
A Great Recording of the Century? Most definitely."
Beecham perfectly caught the spirit of early Schubert
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/20/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The special allure of these performances is that they keep a smile on the listener's face. Beecham was rough and ready technically, and the sonics are showing their age--though not badly at all in this excellent new remastering--yet none of that matters. Beecham elicits such naturalness and good humor in these performances, you realize that behind the simplicty Beecham has lived with Schubert for many years.
Go back to the Sym. #5 and 6 he recorded on 78s in 1938 and 1944 (they are available in terrific transfers on Dutton) and you'll hear the same elan, the same deft touch with melody. Beecham connoisseurs prefer those earlier versions for their extra dash of dramatic contrast, but these sunnier recordings in stereo are exemplary in their own right--they bring the kind of joy one never hears, alas, in even the best modern readings.
P.S.--Making the original LPs used up many recording dates, odd considering how spontaneous eveyrthing sounds. Sym. #3 and 5 come from several sessions in Paris and London across a year's span in 1958-59, while Sym. #6 took two separate London sessions in 1955."
Mesmerizing
David Saemann | 08/25/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"These performances are informed by a late 19th Century view of Schubert. Today, with perfromances available by Abbado and Halasz, we are used to the early symphonies of Schubert going by briskly with a lot of snap and elan. Beecham had a more expansive view of Schubert, even in works he wrote in his teens. The tempos in the middle movements of No. 3 and the last movement of No. 6 are quite slow, although, in fairness to Beecham, I have heard Sir Colin Davis and the N.Y. Philharmonic choose a similar tempo in No. 6 in a 1993 performance. Nevertheless, I never feel that Beecham's tempos drag. He always has a delectable touch with the woodwind phrasing or the violins' bowing that makes his interpretations delightful. Indeed, some people might not be accustomed anymore to hearing these works played by a full orchestra. All I can say is that their ensemble is stunning, and they play with verve and panache. Beecham always insisted that his Royal Philharmonic was the finest orchestra in the world, and on the basis of this CD it would be hard to disagree with him. The sound engineering in Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5 is superb, full, with lovely tone, and beautiful presence. No. 6 is an earlier recording, and the sound here is more passable than ingratiating. Still, whatever Schubert symphony CDs you have in your collection, you must consider adding Beecham's to them. His Fifth is even better than Bruno Walter's, which is the recording I grew up on and which I never expected to be surpassed."
