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| EMI Sawallisch Edition (Mid price) (CD) CMS7 64815-2 (two discs: 148 minutes DDD). From HMV SLS867 (2/74). |
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| [Symphony] Symphonies [No.] Nos. 1 and 2—selected comparison: |
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| BRSO, Kubelik (9/75) (R) (SONY) CD48269 |
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| [Symphony] Symphonies [No.] Nos. 3 and 4—selected comparisons: |
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| BRSO, Kubelik (9/75) (R) (SONY) CD48270 |
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| BPO, Furtwangler (6/86) (DG) 427 404-2GDO |
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Having just replayed Sawallisch's Schumann cycle straight through for the umpteenth time, I can confidently reaffirm its considerable qualities: vaulting spontaneity, warmth verging on ardour (especially in the Adagio of the Second Symphony), executant brilliance and remarkably lifelike sound. Sawallisch is no hard-nosed literalist: time and again one notes instances of telling rubato, most especially in the slower sections of the Second Symphony and strategic points around main climaxes. But unlike the gratuitous affectations of certain rivals, these gestures grow out of the music's natural course, accentuating salient points in the argument rather in the manner of Furtwangler—although Sawallisch's actual approach to, say, the First and Fourth Symphonies is nothing like Furtwangler's.
Occasionally the emergent sound picture approximates Wagnerian thunder, especially in the outer movements of the Second and Fourth symphonies. The Dresden brass have a brash, rasping edge and the strings generous reserves of tone, although the recording reports the latter as rather thin in texture. The winds are mellifluous and the timpani have amazing presence—virtually every thwack sounds as clear as if it were recorded yesterday. Sawallisch observes the repeats in the first movements of Nos. 1, 2 and 4 (there isn't one in No. 3), but passes on No. 4's (important) last movement repeat. Had he divided his first and second violins, then this set would—for me, at least—have proved definitive. Rafael Kubelik's roughly contemporaneous Bavarian set (Sony Essential Classics) does have separated violin desks. It mightn't have the physical impact of Sawallisch's, but it does encourage an even greater poetic yield and costs less.
Incidentally, how many readers suspect the influence of Schumann's Scherzo (Overture, Scherzo and Finale, 1845) on Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" (Die Walkure, 1850)? Once compared, they cannot fail to remind you of each other.
RC