Schubert: Symphonies, Vol. 4, No. 9 — Orchestral Songs (Chandos)
★★★☆☆
Many composers have tried to enhance on Schubert. Mahler made a string-orchestra model of the Demise and the Maiden string quartet, Joseph Joachim orchestrated a four-hand piano sonata, Liszt made the Wanderer Fantasy into one thing resembling a piano concerto. Even atonal Anton von Webern had a go. All with the perfect of intentions and with out hurt to the crystalline authentic, however you do marvel what worth they added.
Schubert, like apple strudel, doesn’t want sweetener.
What we have now on this album are little-known orchestral settings by well-known composers of 4 excellent songs. Benjamin Britten tacked on two clarinets and strings to the Trout. Max Reger insinuated horn and woodwind in Im Abendrot. The great Geheimes (Secret) is shared by Brahms with strings and horn. And Berlioz pulls out each single one of many orchestral stops within the galloping Erl King.
Soprano Mary Bevan offers radiant voice to those settings, contriving with nice poise to not get trampled underfoot by Berlioz or romantically compromised by Reger. The Britten rating, dated 1942, is emotionally indifferent, not a lot occupied with making a catch. Sweetest of all is a voice-and-ensemble Romanze that Schubert composed as an entr’acte in Rosamunde, excellent in itself.
The accompaniment comes from Edward Gardner and the high-quality Metropolis of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. As soon as the songs are completed, they let themselves down badly within the closing tracks with a pedestrian account of Schubert’s Nice C Main Symphony, falling roughly halfway between Beecham grandeur and Gardiner gyrations. This efficiency lacks character. Schubert must leap off the web page.
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Norman Lebrecht is among the most widely-read commentators on music, tradition and cultural politics. He’s a daily presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Wall Road Journal, Bloomberg, Standpoint, Sinfini and different publications. His weblog, Slipped Disc, is among the many most generally learn cultural websites on-line, breaking unique tales and campaigning towards human abuse and acts of injustice within the cultural industries.
