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Schumann - The Symphonies and Overtures

Composer Robert Schumann
Performer Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor
Period Romantic
Catalogue Number BIS-2669 SACD
EAN 7318599926698
Format SACD Hybrid

This hybrid disc plays on both CD and SACD players
SACD Surround - SACD Stereo - CD Stereo

  –  3 discs
Release date Jan 2023
Total time 230'00

3 SACDs for the price of 2
During their long collaboration (1997 - 2019) Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra developed a project they named ‘Opening Doors’, performing orchestral works from the Romantic era with the smaller-than-usual forces of a chamber orchestra. Due to the often revelatory results of this approach, the team went on to present at concerts around the world and on several recordings.
This box set brings together an important chapter of the project: Robert Schumann’s orchestral music, &&&symphonies as well as overtures. In addition to his four symphonies - including both versions of No. 4 - this collection presents the Zwickau Symphony, an early, unfinished work from 1832-33, as well as a divertimento-like sequence of movements, Overture, Scherzo and Finale. Of the six overtures included in the set some are well-known, like the overture to Genoveva, Schumann’s only opera, and the Manfred Overture which Clara Schumann regarded as ‘one of the most poetic and most gripping of Robert’s pieces’. Other, less often heard works will constitute pleasant discoveries.
The three discs included in the set were greeted with critical acclaim on their individual releases, earning distinctions in magazines such as Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine and Fono Forum. Summing up the cycle, the reviewer in Fanfare described it as ‘close to being the most thrilling Schumann symphony series on the market, with sawing violins smoking down to the bridge and timpani-like rifle shots.’
 
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Disc 1
 
  Robert Schumann
  Symphony No.1 in B flat major, Op. 38, ‘Spring Symphony’ 31'11
01 I. Andante un poco maestoso - Allegro molto vivace 10'45
02 II. Larghetto - 6'09
03 III. Scherzo. Molto vivace 5'41
04 IV. Allegro animato e grazioso 8'36
 
05 Overture to Schiller's Braut von Messina, Op. 100 8'34
 
06 Overture to the opera Genoveva, Op. 81 8'18
 
07 Zwickau Symphony in G minor 10'44
 
  Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52 16'54
08 I. Overture. Andante con moto - Allegro 6'15
09 II. Scherzo. Vivo 4'52
10 III. Finale. Allegro molto vivace 5'47
 
 
Disc 2
  Symphony No.2 in C major, Op. 61 35'10
01 I. Sostenuto assai - Allegro, ma non troppo 11'42
02 II. Scherzo. Allegro vivace 6'43
03 III. Adagio espressivo 9'19
04 IV. Allegro molto vivace 7'26
 
05 Overture to ‘Scenes from Goethe's Faust' 7'38
 
06 Julius Caesar, overture, Op. 128 8'25
 
  Symphony No.4 in D minor, Op. 120, original version from 1841 23'36
07 I. Andante con moto - Allegro di molto 8'09
08 II. Romanza. Andante 3'47
09 III. Scherzo. Presto 6'13
10 IV. Largo - Finale. Allegro vivace 5'27
 
 
Disc 3
  Symphony No.3 in E flat major, Op. 3, ‘Rhenish’ 28'43
01 I. Lebhaft 8'18
02 II. Scherzo. Sehr mässig 5'20
03 III. Nicht schnell 4'48
04 IV. Feierlich 4'47
05 V. Lebhaft 5'30
 
06 Overture to Manfred, Op. 115 11'07
 
07 Hermann und Dorothea, overture, Op. 126 8'53
 
  Symphony No.4 in D minor, Op. 120, final version from 1851 26'17
08 I. Ziemlich langsam - Lebhaft - 9'38
09 II. Romanze. Ziemlich langsam - 3'34
10 III. Scherzo. Lebhaft - 5'26
11 IV. Langsam - Lebhaft 7'39
 
  Album total 230'00
ComposerSchumann, Robert
OrchestraSwedish Chamber Orchestra (Svenska Kammarorkestern)
ConductorDausgaard, Thomas

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