Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major, D944 'The Great' - SACD

“This is a performance of the wide-open spaces: fresh, invigorating air; rhythms with a spring in their step; impressive vistas...[Herreweghe] understands that driving the Finale at breakneck speed is not the best way to generate momentum, and he holds the attention despite his observing all the repeats...The sound is wonderful: atmospheric but always clear and beautifully balanced.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ***

“With every new release - and occasional reissue - Fischer's Budapest Festival Orchestra throw fresh light on the standard classical works...Here, Schubert's "Great" seems so natural - every tempo judged to perfection, the balance between strings and winds an ideal equilibrium - and yet so utterly different from the classic interpretations on record.” Sunday Times, 19th June 2011 ****

“Fischer's beautifully judged and lucidly presented performance takes the work's length as something utterly inevitable and authentically Schubertian in its own right. The textures are wonderfully transparent, and by getting his players in the Budapest orchestra to use natural horns, narrow bore trombones and clarinets in C, he gives an extra buoyancy to the sound, so that every line has its own character and rhythmic profile.” The Guardian, 23rd June 2011 ****

“Fischer looks deep into the music; his conducting empowers the musicians...the SACD sound revails detail and refinements in expression. The fill-ups are fetching.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2011

“Do you perform music written in the 1820s on period instruments, or modern ones? Ivan Fischer here opts for compromise...The result is a bizarre non-mix. But in every other way this performance convinces, with gorgeously in-tune woodwind, a lovely emphasis on the music's Viennese, dance-like grace, and tempi from Fischer that build momentum while also allowing plenty of space.” Classic FM Magazine, August 2011 ****

“As so often with Ivan Fischer, it's the breadth of insight that impresses here...the outer movements and Scherzo have plenty of muscular energy, and yet the lines can sing too...The recorded sound is likewise outstanding: warm and atmospheric but clear throughout the texture.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 *****

“Characteristically warm and affectionate readings of two of Schubert’s best-loved symphonic scores, conveyed here with the insight that has become Douglas Boyd’s trademark” london24.com, 17th June 2011

“This excellent Swedish orchestra performs Schubert’s last two symphonies the modern way, with faster tempos, punchier accents and a leaner sound. The result is like having a layer of varnish removed from a much-loved painting.” The Telegraph, 7th May 2010

“Here's an excitingly combative, and ultimately very plausible new look at Schubert...Dausgaard somehow manages to approach the surviving two movements of Schubert's B minor Symphony as though we didn't all know that it remained 'unfinished'...For once it was hard not to regret the absence of an energetic scherzo or finale” BBC Music Magazine, July 2010 ****

“In this issue, helped also by the clean BIS recording, textures are transparent and attack crisp...A disc that may disconcert some Schubertians but which, very well recorded, offers a consistently refreshing view of both masterpieces.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2010

“Nott…works hard to secure a hugely detailed, texturally alert reading… The slow movement's second subject has an almost seraphic Brucknerian sweetness to counterpoint some incisive truculence, and the Finale captures the energy and excitement Schubert must have experienced composing it...” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2007 ***

“…Nott offers a performance that hews close to the text… yet is replete with the touches of a thoughtfully considered interpretation. What cannot actually be described is Nott's malleable control of rhythm, the subtle distensions and contractions of phrases, and a feel for orchestral colour and balance that is particularly noticeable in the second movement.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2007

“Relatively unfamiliar conductor, very familiar symphony. But don't let the unfamiliarity of Jonathan Nott allow you to believe that this is yet another version of a much-recorded work. It isn't. On the contrary, Nott offers a performance that hews close to the text (all repeats are also observed) yet is replete with the touches of a thoughtfully considered interpretation. And consideration begins at the beginning: the solo horn theme broadly stated, hairpin accents strong, the tempo picking up almost imperceptibly afterwards but no speeding up to the main Allegro manon troppo, no slowing down for the second subject and no dissipation of tension in the coda.
Nott keeps the momentum going to the end.
This literal account may suggest rigidity – which isn't the case. What cannot actually be described is Nott's malleable control of rhythm, the subtle distensions and contractions of phrases, and a feel for orchestral colour and balance that is particularly noticeable in the second movement. The bass here is firmly delineated, wind writing is finely clarified, fortissimos don't degenerate into noise. The texture remains clean. Sound and perspective are natural.
Though SACD playback could offer improvements in audio quality, it couldn't sharpen Nott's subjective immersion in the many facets of the music, one of which is a lilting impulse that he senses in the finale. Yet the line doesn't go slack. Nott, as always, keeps a tight hold on the reins while expressing his convictions with a conviction that is sure to win you over.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010