# SS 12.10.13 - Schubert #8 "Unfinished"



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Continuing on until Bix returns...

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

*Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)*

Symphony # 8 'Unfinished' in B Minor, D. 759

1. Allegro moderato
2. Andante con moto

---------------------

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


----------



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

This Saturday I'm going to listen to:

Charles Munch & The Boston Symphony


----------



## Guest (Oct 11, 2013)

I have 4 recordings of this incredible work - Szell/Cleveland; Wand/Berlin; Harnoncourt/Concertgebouw; Munch/Boston

They are all great recordings, but the one I find myself going back to most often is Munch/Boston.








Maybe I will break with tradition here, though, and listen to Wand. It has been a while since I have listened to that one.


----------



## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Okay, then, I'll take Willem Mengelberg's Concertgebouw perfrormance from over 70 years ago.
[November 1942]


----------



## DaDirkNL (Aug 26, 2013)

I am going to listen to Sawallisch and the Staatskapelle Dresden.


----------



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Philharmonia Orchestra/Sinopoli

(This whole idea of each of us listening to a different recording is going to get difficult once we get to more obscure works, say, those with only one or two recordings.)


----------



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

maestro267 said:


> Philharmonia Orchestra/Sinopoli
> 
> (This whole idea of each of us listening to a different recording is going to get difficult once we get to more obscure works, say, those with only one or two recordings.)


Yeah, like Havergal Brian's Gothic...lol. But seriously, when Bix started the thread I think he knew there would be instances like that. There have already been several cases of people listening to the same recording because it was the only one they had and that's fine with me. It's more about the idea of getting people listening.

Lots of people have different favorites for most of these so it's interesting to see what they choose. Sometimes instead of my favorite I will try to listen to one I haven't heard before. Give something new a try.

Some people haven't heard some of these works before and I'm glad they've participated. There are a few further on the down the list I haven't heard before, and some coming up I know I didn't like the first time I heard them, but I'm willing to give them all a chance.

I just think it's fun to participate as a group and be able to say I listened to all of them and even though I might have been busy that day, I still took the time to listen to something that I might not have otherwise listened too, or force myself to listen closer to things I might not have noticed before.

I just hope everyone continues to have fun and discover new works or recordings each week, or rediscover old favorites.


----------



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Harnoncourt & Concertgebouw only one I have. Maybe something from google music also.


----------



## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

I'm going to go with 'old reliable' in this symphony and listen to Furtwangler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic.


----------



## ProudSquire (Nov 30, 2011)

Roy Goodman and the Hanover Band has always been my preferred choice, maybe Carlos Kleiber for a second helping.


----------



## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

AClockworkOrange said:


> I'm going to go with 'old reliable' in this symphony and listen to Furtwangler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic.


I did the same. Great performance.


----------



## Bas (Jul 24, 2012)

I'm joining you later this evening with Bernstein and the Concertgebouw Orchesta!
And probably, because it is such an amazing work, I'll just listen my other recording too: Harnoncourt, also with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.


----------



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Listening to my chosen recording now, and I'm wondering why I don't listen to this piece more often. It's really "clicking" with me. The two completed movements are (relatively speaking) huge (on this recording, they're 16:40 and 12:32). It makes me think that, had the symphony been completed, it would have been on a scale similar to the C major "Great" Symphony.

While we're here, I'm a huge fan of symphonies in the key of B minor. Can't really pinpoint why I love this key so much, but I just do. A lot of my favourite music, I have since discovered to be in that key.


----------



## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

maestro267 said:


> Listening to my chosen recording now, and I'm wondering why I don't listen to this piece more often. It's really "clicking" with me.


If I may quote your opening line maestro267, I couldn't have said it better myself. For some reason, I don't seem to listen to this piece often but whenever I do I am always satisfied.

In my chosen recording, Furtwangler and his Berlin Philharmonic are in superb form. The recording quality is really good. To me the performance just has an aura to it. The tempo is well judged and the feeling the performance captures is, to me anyhow, powerful to say the least.


----------



## Guest (Oct 12, 2013)

Szell is occasionally a miss for me...I find his conducting precise but occasionally lacking in emotional power...I much prefer Karajan's Beethoven 1 to his for example. This, on the other hand, hits the nail on the head. Excellent recording, excellent symphony.


----------



## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

maestro267 said:


> The two completed movements are (relatively speaking) huge (on this recording, they're 16:40 and 12:32). It makes me think that, had the symphony been completed, it would have been on a scale similar to the C major "Great" Symphony.


Thanks for sharing that. One of my viewpoints concerning Schubert 8 is that, unlike Bruckner 9, for instance, I feel the loss in the impression of non-completion. This is exacerbated by the fact that, in the Second Movement particularly, there are promising skeins of melodic fragments that I'm convinced would have made interesting material for development in later movements.


AClockworkOrange said:


> In my chosen recording, Furtwangler and his Berlin Philharmonic are in superb form. The recording quality is really good. To me the performance just has an aura to it. The tempo is well judged and the feeling the performance captures is, to me anyhow, powerful to say the least.


My internet research shows a relatively brisk Furtwängler-Berlin recording (not quite 24 minutes) and an even more brisk Vienna performance. The Mengelberg, though, is a full minute faster than either. The rendition wears its age well- comparable in sound-quality to mono recordings made a decade-and-a-half later. To hear it again is to recognize that "magisterial" and "energetic" are not mutually exclusive terms.

[It's also amazing to consider that by this time in his life, Mengelberg had headed the Concertgebouw for 47(!) years]...


----------



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I enjoyed listening to Charles Munch & The Boston Symphony this Saturday.

I really like all of Schubert's symphonies and even if it is incomplete or "unfinished", it's still masterful. There's a lot of interesting things going on and with Munch's somewhat dark, relaxed view in this rendition, they all seem to come through with ease. Beautiful playing by the Boston Symphony with nice, warm, early stereo sound quality. It's still one of my favorites and I highly recommend it.


----------



## Zarathustra (Dec 21, 2013)

I'm currently playing catch up with the rest of the guys. Listened to Carlos Kleiber. Magnificent.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Recordings I have of this amazing work:

Kleiber / VPO - swift, lean and dramatic

Karajan / BPO (EMI stereo) - intense slow movement almost like a requiem

Klemperer / Philharmonia - usual command of structure.

All three very different but valid ways of performing this work.


----------



## MrGramophone (Mar 14, 2014)

The one that I think is very special was recorded in 1943 at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Prof. Dr. Willem Mengelberg. This was his last recording for Telefunken and has something very special about it. I am going to listen to it again before going to bed tonight.


----------

