Schubert: Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D485

After their acclaimed recording of the complete Beethoven symphonies in a new musical guise, a highly-regarded cycle of Richard Strauss's tone poems, the complete Mahler symphonies and a number of other musical projects with which they attracted widespread attention, David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich now devote themselves to the symphonies of Franz Schubert. We began with 2 volumes – one containing Symphonies 1&2, and the second containing the 7th Symphony, followed by the brand new recording of Symphonies 3 & 4, released in July 2012. This new volume contains Symphonies 5 & 6, released in December 2012.

David Zinman says:

Schubert has always been a deep love of mine from the time I was a young violinist. I remember playing the Sonatina for violin and piano at one of my first public recitals. One of the first orchestral scores that I bought was the «Unfinished».

There is, within the symphonies, so much music I wouldn’t want to be without; a wonderful melodic and harmonic treasure trove that is memorable and irreplaceable, and which influenced generations of composers who came after him.

I am very much looking forward to recording these works, performing them in a way which will take into consideration both his influences and his innovations.

Between 1976 and 1978, Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra made recordings of the complete Schubert symphonies for Decca, as well as some of the incidental music for Rosamunde. Other than the Schumann symphonies, it was the only symphony cycle this tremendous Decca artist made for the label. The recordings were all made in the Mann Auditorium and were all produced by Ray Minshull, who, together with John Culshaw and Christopher Raeburn, worked extensively with Mehta during his exclusive Decca years. 29 April 2011 marks the 75th birthday of Zubin Mehta and this cycle is being issued as a homage to this great musician in his birthday year. In addition to the Rosamunde incidental music, Volume 2 contains the breezy Fifth symphony as well as the two C major works – Nos. 6 and 9, ‘Little’ and ‘Great’.

During the 1950s, Karl Böhm made a handful of orchestral recordings for Decca with the Wiener Philharmoniker of music by, among others, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Weber. Reappearing here, for the first time on CD, internationally, are his swift recordings of Beethoven’s Eighth and of two Schubert symphonies (Nos. 5 and 8). Never imposing his will too strongly on his Viennese orchestra – and they had these classics in their blood – he directs performances that are fresh and gives full rein to the Vienna Philharmonic’s wonderful tonal resources. Add the acoustic of the Grosser Saal at the Musikverein, familiar as daily bread to all the participants, and you have the best kind of tradition.

Recording producer: Victor Olof

Recording engineer: Cyril Windebank

Recording location: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna, Austria, May 1953 (Beethoven), June 1954 (Schubert)

Like Beethoven and Bruckner, Schubert wrote nine symphonies, of which the first six were written between 1813 and 1818. The Symphony No.5 (1816) was not performed until 1846, eighteen years after the death of the composer. Schubert wrote it when he was not yet twenty, and it shows the extent to which he had taken in what his older contemporaries were doing (the melodic richness is reminiscent of Mozart), while at the same time developing his own personal style. A light and transparent Allegro is followed by a pastoral Andante con moto and an elegant Menuetto. The symphony ends with a vivacious finale that recalls the style of Haydn.

The Symphony No.8 also goes by the name of the “Unfinished” Symphony. Schubert began work on it in 1822, but for a long time it was assumed that he did not complete it, as only two movements were known for certain to have survived: an Allegro moderato dominated by a sombre theme in which elation and tenderness rub shoulders with tragedy, and a serene and mysterious Andante con moto. Several attempts have been made to reconstruct the remainder of the symphony, one of the most notable being that by the Schubert expert Brian Newbould.