Recording of the Week, John Eliot Gardiner concludes his cycle of Schumann symphonies with the LSO

I have written several times over the years about John Eliot Gardiner's splendid recordings of music by Mendelssohn and Schumann with the London Symphony Orchestra, and I'm very pleased to say that they seem to have been saving the best for last. Their latest release pairs Schumann's Spring and Rhenish symphonies, and it makes for a sparkling companion to their recording of the Second and Fourth symphonies that was released back in September.

Sandwiched in between the two symphonies is the overture from the incidental music that Schumann wrote based on the Byron poem, Manfred, and it perfectly exemplifies and encapsulates all of the characteristics that I enjoy so much in these performances. There's a tremendous energy to the string playing in the faster sections, and even in the quieter passages Gardiner maintains a breathless intensity that drew me in and really made me listen. What's more, with Gardiner's insistence on keeping vibrato to an absolute minimum, you really feel the stab of every sforzando accent that much more keenly, allowing the pungency of some of the more dissonant harmonies to come across most effectively.

Gardiner is also quite free with tempo, not afraid to put the brakes on whenever a particular phrase demands it, but it always feels justified and in service of the drama of the piece. Although he has recorded the symphonies themselves before (with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique), I believe that, much like the Genoveva overture that accompanied the previous release, this is the first time he has recorded Manfred, so it's great to have this addition to Gardiner's recorded catalogue.

The sunny optimism of the opening of the Rhenish Symphony always fills me with joy, and this is very much the case here, helped enormously by the nimble way that the woodwind and first violins bounce along with the rhythmic quirks of the main melody. The horns in particular throughout the symphony are a delight, whether it be their robust return of the main theme towards the end of the first movement, the moments where the first horn effortlessly sails up to its high notes in the reflective middle section of the second movement, or the many heraldic fanfare-like phrases in the last movement. Equally impressive are the trombones, although in the Rhenish their contribution is admittedly much briefer: Schumann holds them in reserve until the fourth of the symphony's five movements, but as soon as they enter, supporting the horns in their solemn chorale, they make such a difference, adding hugely to the dignified nobility of this passage (supposedly inspired by a ceremony to install a new archbishop that Schumann had witnessed at Cologne Cathedral).

Even in this processional music, however, Gardiner's tempo remains flowing, never lapsing into dreariness and always maintaining a sense of direction. Throughout both symphonies, I was impressed with how he keeps everything light and transparent: the Rhenish Symphony especially is endowed with a freshness that is quite invigorating, but even in some of the weightier passages in the Spring Symphony Gardiner sustains the momentum. The transition between the first movement's slow, ominous introduction and the main Allegro molto vivace is extremely well handled, with the latter zipping along at quite a pace, but crucially never sounding too frantic. So, even if you have Gardiner's previous recording that I referred to earlier, I would suggest that this new performance is easily worth a double-dip: not only do you get the Manfred Overture but these new accounts of the symphonies bring a bloom and vitality that is quite irresistible, and a pleasure to hear.