Search - Schubert, Pinchas, Zuckerman :: Symphonies 2 & 3

A delightful grouping

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 06/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Pinchas Zukerman is not known for his conducting and, when he does conduct, his work has not been hailed for its greatness or depth of understanding. That may begin to change with greater exposure to this delightful CD of Schubert symphonies and the Mozartian rondo for violin and orchestra.



Zukerman leads the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in these works, the main ones being the youthful Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3. I've heard plenty of renderings of these works on my local Public Broadcasting station, which overindulges in programming of the early Schubert symphonies and those of Robert Schumann.



I did not have high expectations for this CD before hearing it and purchased it because of the grouping and low price from an Amazon vendor. I was very pleasantly surprised by the scintillating performances and the way Zukerman endows these works -- the Symphony No. 3 in particular -- with nice touches. Witness the slight ritard at the end of the second movement, or the way he varies the thematic material in the third movement, or the dramatic concluding pages of the finale.



A performance of this symphony by the younger Kleiber, which is far more driven than this music can endure, has continued to receive critical acclaim over the years, mated on an old DG CD with Schubert's two-movement Symphony 8. I never liked the way he force-fed the Symphony 3 and believe Zukerman has far greater the measure of this young but dramatic symphony. Zukerman can be metronomic at times but he puts great life and personality into this performance, abetted in an outstanding way by the Canadian musicians.



The rondo has Zukerman leading as the soloist. It is not among Schubert's top drawer works but has a certain charm if you can get over the lack of thematic material. All told, you can do a lot worse in the classical CD world than this coupling if this pairing is of interest to you. If that's the case, check this out and see if you like the sound bytes."