Schumann: Symphonic Works
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Michael Schønwandt
freedom from portentousness and unwarranted indulgence...If you are in the market for a chamber-scale performance of these four works in up-to-the-minute sound, you'll not go far wrong with...
Schumann: Symphonic Works
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Michael Schønwandt
Purchase product
freedom from portentousness and unwarranted indulgence...If you are in the market for a chamber-scale performance of these four works in up-to-the-minute sound, you'll not go far wrong with...
About
This double hybrid SACD set from the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and its chief conductor Michael Schønwandt brings together all four of Robert Schumann’s symphonies. It also includes two lesser known works, the incomplete early Symphony in G Minor, WoO 29 ‘Zwickau’, and an arrangement by Hans de Vlieger of the last of the Six Fugues on the name BACH, Op. 60, originally written for the pedal piano.
The numbering of the symphonies produces a degree of confusion in that the Symphony in D minor from 1841 was fundamentally revised by Schumann in 1851 and was then given number 4. The recording on this CD is a reconstruction of the original version and is in fact Schumann’s ‘Second’.
Danish conductor Michael Schønwandt was Music Director of the Royal Orchestra and the Royal Opera in Copenhagen from 2000-2011, and associated with the company since 1979. In September 2010 he took up the position of Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also held posts as Chief Conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (1992-1998), Principal Guest Conductor of the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (1987-2000), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra. Alongside this he has been chief conductor of Collegium Musicum since its foundation in 1981.
Michael Schønwandt has recorded all of Carl Nielsen’s symphonies on CD for Dacapo and directed the Royal Danish Orchestra on the DVD release of Kasper Bech Holten’s staging of Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung. Since 2010 he has been chief conductor and artistic director of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic in Amsterdam, and has been principal guest conductor of the Staatsoper in Stuttgart.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
January 2014
freedom from portentousness and unwarranted indulgence...If you are in the market for a chamber-scale performance of these four works in up-to-the-minute sound, you'll not go far wrong with these, at medium price.
14th January 2014
These performances are a pleasure to listen to. Everything seems just right - tempi, phrasing and dynamics. Gripping, thrilling and invigorating are adjectives which come to mind...If you have had any doubts about Schumann’s symphonies, give these a try. You certainly won’t be disappointed.
