# SS 01.08.15 - Schumann #1 "Spring"



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening! 
*
*For your listening pleasure this weekend:

*Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)*

Symphony #1 in B-flat major "Spring", Op. 38

1. Andante un poco maestoso - Allegro molto vivace
2. Larghetto
3. Scherzo: Molto vivace - Trio I: Molto piu vivace - Trio II
4. Allegro animato e grazioso

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A little Schumann this weekend. Haven't listened to old Robert in a little while. I usually go for Bernstein, Szell or Chailly but this weekend I'll mix it up and go with something different.

View attachment 73133


Herbert Von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic


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## Jeff W (Jan 20, 2014)

realdealblues said:


> View attachment 73133
> 
> 
> Herbert Von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic


We're playing poker here, right?









I'll call your Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic and...









I'll raise you John Eliot Gardiner with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique!

I love this symphony as much as every other Robert Schumann symphony!


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

Sticking with Bernstein here!


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## shadowdancer (Mar 31, 2014)

I will go with Mr Kubelik


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## leroy (Nov 23, 2014)

I'll try this one


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I have the Wiener PO/Solti set but admit to not playing Schumann's symphonies all that much:


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Scads of choices with online streaming here. I'll go with Sawallisch/Dresden.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Gardiner and the ORR for me.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

I have Szell, Kubelik and Karajan. So I'll try Dausgaard and the Swedish CO


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## Easy Goer (Apr 9, 2015)

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra - Franz Konwitschny


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I have often felt that Schumann's first is quite a proving ground for many conductors. Few are those that have convinced me with their choice of tempi, several mentioned above. I think I'll fall back on someone who succumbed to tragedy at the hight of his career:










London Symphony Orchestra u. István Kertész (BBC Legends)

/ptr


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

I have quite a few options here. My usual go-to choice is Wolfgang Sawallisch & the Staatskapelle Dresden and it remains entrenched as my favourite cycle. It has a wonderful swing to it.

For the Saturday Symphony, I think I'll go a little different and choose four performances to spread over tonight and of course tomorrow.
1. Bernstein & the Wiener Philharmoniker (DVD)
2. Klemperer & the Philharmonia
3. Gardiner & the ORR
4. Szell & _*his*_ Clevelanders


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## clara s (Jan 6, 2014)

A few years ago, my cousin gave me a recording of Schumann's Spring symphony,
with Vienna P.O. under the wand of Mitropoulos.

Although later i understood the intonation problems between the conductor and the orchestra,
I really enjoyed the music, and especially the fourth movement, attracted me a lot.

Later I heard it with Christoph von Dohnanyi and it was good.

Now, it is time to remember it again, I will try Sir Gardiner or Herr Karajan

nice choice for this week


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I have this set but must say I prefer the Gardiner


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I'll put on Gardiner's neglected stepsister, the Hanover Band. Then I'll try to squeeze in Zinman's version.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

Haydn man said:


> View attachment 73152
> 
> I have this set but must say I prefer the Gardiner


I'll go with this late Lenny.


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## padraic (Feb 26, 2015)

The only one I have of this is Chailly/RCO

Anyone like Levine? He did a Schumann cycle with the Philly Orchestra on RCA and with Berlin on DG.


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## Steatopygous (Jul 5, 2015)

If I can find it, I will play Fricsay with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Otherwise Haitink and the Concertgebouw, just to be different from the recommendations above.


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Oramo & Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra


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## omega (Mar 13, 2014)

I shall listen to Riccardo Muti conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra:








And I think I'll continue with Gardiner on Spotify...


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

AClockworkOrange said:


> I have quite a few options here. My usual go-to choice is Wolfgang Sawallisch & the Staatskapelle Dresden and it remains entrenched as my favourite cycle. It has a wonderful swing to it.
> 
> For the Saturday Symphony, I think I'll go a little different and choose four performances to spread over tonight and of course tomorrow.
> 1. Bernstein & the Wiener Philharmoniker (DVD)
> ...


I really underestimated Otto Klemperer in Schumann. Although it isn't my overall favourite recording of the Symphony, it is incredibly beautiful and flows wonderfully thanks in no small part to the Philharmonia. Klemperer has a wonderful grasp of the music- something he illustrates further on the Second Symphony - playing as I listen.

I would put Klemperer ahead of Bernstein in the First Symphony, just behind Sawallisch and Szell. The Gardiner, much like the Zinman is a recording I need to listen to more before I can comment them.


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## Guest (Aug 1, 2015)

Wow. So much love for Gardiner.

I'm intrigued.

I had his box of Beethoven, which was terrifically exciting. Once. After twice, I never listened to it ever again.

And my first thought here was that I had also had his Schumann and hated it. But that was the Norrington I had. 

So, being generally favorable about Gardiner, I'm very interested.

I have Paul Paray, myself, which I do not recommend. Not because it's no good, but because I only have it because that's the recording of the third I favor, and I don't listen to the other ones. Maybe I should. If I did, I could maybe recommend it, eh?

What I really need to do is listen to some Schumann chamber works. That's a huge gap in my listening. Perhaps the hugest. Every time I hear some quartet or piano trio or other, I think, "wow, this guy really had a gift, eh?"

Anyway, I promise to listen to Paray's Spring before I return. Either that or I never intrude on this thread again.


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

Just finished listening to Muti and the Philharmonia. I own this set and have enjoyed all four performances however I can't give any opinion of how that stack up to others. I'm going to listen to the Gardiner ORR as well to get some perspective.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Two recs for me.

*Schumann*: Symphony 1 "Spring", w. VPO/LB. Recorded 1984, Musikverein, Vienna. Balance Engineer: Klaus Scheibe.

*Schumann*: Symphony 1 "Spring", w. BPO/HvK. Recorded 1971, JC Church, Berlin. Balance Engineer: Volker Martin.


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## Steatopygous (Jul 5, 2015)

Vaneyes said:


> Two recs for me.
> 
> *Schumann*: Symphony 1 "Spring", w. VPO/LB. Recorded 1984, Musikverein, Vienna. Balance Engineer: Klaus Scheibe.
> 
> *Schumann*: Symphony 1 "Spring", w. BPO/HvK. Recorded 1971, JC Church, Berlin. Balance Engineer: Volker Martin.


Isn't that a wonderfully typical Karajan cover? Spotlit conductor, designed to look glamorous and Olympian and spiritual, his name twice the size of the merely incidental composers. As the old line has it, Mozart was born in Salzburg, famous as the birthplace of von Karajan.
Bernstein, no shrinking violet, almost looks modest by comparison. His name is below the composer's, for example.


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## phlrdfd (Jan 18, 2015)

I usually go for Sawallisch/Dresden first in Schumann. It's just the right orchestral sound for this music, IMO.


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

I just tried the Gardiner ORR on for size and it fit very nicely! And Gardiner was the only conductor who took the Scherzo 'molto vivace' as indicated. It was a bit disconcerting at first but rang true in the end and seemed most faithful to the composers intentions. I wish my streaming service did a better job: two of the movements abruptly ended ended before the final chord. Shame on you Google Play!

Another great Symphony Saturday. My familiarity with Schumann 1 has grown by leaps and bounds.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

I've heard many versions over the years, but in this case, the first I heard (in 1971) remains the benchmark performance for me - Charles 
Munch / BSO.

Munch seemed to "get" this work more than anyone else I've heard since then.

My recording also features his magnificent performance of the Manfred Overture.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

Kubelik, Solzhenitsyn and then Gardiner over the course of the weekend. I've owned the Kubelik set for a long time, and I don't tend to buy alternate recordings of orchestral works. But I am a Schumann enthusiast (Schumannic, as the film title had it, a little insensitively by today's standards?).

Kubelik and the BPO are jolly good but the recording is elderly and not stellar. I was surprised by how good Ignat Solzhenitsyn and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra were, live, on their own label. But Gardiner and the ORR were best of all, wonderfully transparent with light, clear orchestral textures. A revelation, and a set I'll be purchasing.


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## PeterF (Apr 17, 2014)

I have 4 versions - Sawallisch / Dresden , Szell / Cleveland , Foster / Czech Phil. , Ceccato / Bergen Phil.

Think I will play the one by Foster with the Czech. Phil.


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## kanishknishar (Aug 10, 2015)

solti did best with this work. true master at work. 


i will listen to his recording...........................


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