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Schumann: Symphonies 3 & 4 - Foster

Schumann: Symphonies 3 & 4 - Foster

PentaTone Classics  PTC 5186327

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Orchestral


Schumann: Symphony No. 3 "Rhenish", Symphony No. 4

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Lawrence Foster (conductor)

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Review by Graham Williams - March 26, 2009

This disc marks the completion of PentaTone’s excellent set of the four Schumann symphonies. Like the first volume, this was recorded in live concerts given by Lawrence Foster and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in the Dvorak Hall of the Rudolfinum, Prague. The previous issue (Symphonies 1 & 2) was taped in October 2007 and this one (Symphonies 3 & 4) in April 2008. The virtues of Foster’s approach to these symphonies have been expounded in the reviews of the first issue Schumann: Symphonies 1 & 2 - Foster and this new recording is equally recommendable.

What is quite remarkable is the way in which the freshness and vigour of these live performances have been captured so successfully by the Polyhymnia team working in the reverberant acoustic of the hall even with an audience present. In this they have surely been aided by Laurence Foster’s careful balancing of the orchestra and his antiphonal seating of the violins.

Foster’s performance of the ‘Rhenish Symphony’ is spacious and grand, with a communicative warmth that seems just right for this sunny score. The opening movement is quite relaxed, but without ever losing any forward momentum. The second and third movements are also unhurried, allowing full appreciation of the fine cultured playing of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Foster’s ear for orchestral detail. The solemnity and stately tread of the fourth movement, which represents Schumann’s impression of a ceremony he witnessed in Cologne Cathedral, is played here with great intensity and weight. The seriousness is then dissipated in Foster’s swift and buoyant account of the finale that brings this invigorating performance to an end.

Foster’s fiery account of the D minor symphony is, if anything, even more impressive. From the opening chord and throughout the first movement he moves the music forward purposefully whilst maintaining the ebb and flow of the music’s drama in a masterly fashion. Both the tender song-like Romance and Scherzo also benefit from the conductor’s well-chosen tempi with notably incisive and emphatic playing in the latter. The Finale is quite riveting. Foster’s smouldering build-up of the slow introduction to its climax is magnificently achieved. He then unleashes the Vivace with both lightness and sweeping energy that drives the work to a thrilling conclusion.

These urbane and satisfying performances are warmly recommended.

Copyright © 2009 Graham Williams and HRAudio.net

Performance:

Sonics (Multichannel):

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Review by John Broggio - February 22, 2010

A poor relation to Schumann: Symphonies 3 & 4 - Dausgaard.

As a follow on to Schumann: Symphonies 1 & 2 - Foster, this disc shares many qualities not least the excellent playing of the Czech Philharmonic. They seem very well prepared and many nuances are heard with ease, despite the somewhat reverberant acoustic of the Rudolfinum, Prague. For an account with a full-sized symphony orchestra, there is no real competition from the modern era (except Barber: Symphony No. 1, Schumann: Symphony No. 4 - Sawallisch for the 4th symphony) and lovers of that type of sound may find this disc acceptable.

Listening to it compared to the finest recorded accounts from large-scale ensembles and especially the superb Schumann: Symphonies 3 & 4 - Dausgaard, one can only feel that this is Foster - despite the recording emanating from concert performances - on some sort of auto-pilot. Tempi are consistently on the slower side and whilst this gives a more weight in the wonderful Feierlich passage of the 3rd symphony than Dausgaard can capture with a chamber orchestra (similar considerations apply to loud final chords of movements), there is little of the sense of engagement or pleasure that could be heard in the earlier volume in this cycle. The one other potential advantage that might sway listeners towards this disc rather than the Dausgaard is that the larger forces and more resonant acoustic allow for a more mysterious patina of sound in the introduction to the 4th symphony and in the build-up to the finale.

As hinted at, the sound is fairly resonant but the orchestra and engineers both do well to allow all the details to come through organically. Even so, it cannot be counted as one of Pentatone's finest issues.

Unless one is wedded to having this music from a full-sized symphony orchestra, there is another cycle that is not only more generous in playing time but far more stimulating musically.

Copyright © 2010 John Broggio and HRAudio.net

Performance:

Sonics (Multichannel):

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