Schubert - Schubert Symphonies - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

Schubert composed his first five symphonies while still a teenager, but they represent just one facet of his prodigious fluency. At this time some of his musical ideas bear a family resemblance to certain themes from Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, but already his own musical character is evident. He began his Second Symphony in December 1814 and had finished it by March 24th of the following year. He completed the Fourth Symphony in about three to four weeks during April 1816. We should not read too much into the Fourth Symphony's InchTragicInch appendage, added by Schubert as an afterthought. It may be merely an example of the flippant comments which he wrote on some of his youthful scores, but nevertheless the symphony has more gravitas than it's predecessors. Schubert also includes a second pair of horns to enrich the texture. Actually, this is the only piece of non-programmatic music to which he gave a descriptive title. After completing the symphonic cycles of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, Jan Willem de Vriend now undertakes Schubert's complete symphonic output. This is the first volume in that series.

The InchGreatInch C major Symphony was the last symphony that Schubert composed - a InchFinishedInch to follow his InchUnfinishedInch, the first two movements of which he had just completed before discontinuing work on it (for reasons unknown). In contrast to his far shorter Sixth Symphony, also in C major, it was named Inchthe GreatInch - and it is indeed a great and magnificent work, marking the culmination of his symphonic oeuvre. It is monumental and representative, and was written with large audiences very much in mind. Schubert began this composition in August 1824, or possibly even as late as March 1825. Most of the work on it took place in the summer of 1825, during the longest Journey of his life. It took him from Vienna via Linz, Steyr, Gmunden (where he found the scenery Inchtruly heavenlyInch), Salzburg and then up to Bad Gastein, where he saw some magnificent alpine peaks. The first page of the score manuscript is dated InchMarch 1828Inch - possibly the month in which he finally completed the work. On November 19 of that same year, Schubert died at the age of only thirty-one. The symphony was premiered posthumously on March 21, 1839 in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and conducted by the Gewandhaus Kapellmeister at that time - the 30-year-old Felix Mendelssohn. This exciting live recording features the special acoustics of the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. Album Tracks 1. Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944, InchGreatInch 2. 1. I. Andante - Allegro Ma Non Troppo 00 15 32 3. 2. II. Andante Con Moto 00 13 48 4. 3. III. Scherzo Allegro Vivace 00 14 11 5. 4. IV. Allegro Vivace 00 16 51

Details 1. Schubert Symphony No 1 in D Major, D82 2. Schubert Adrast, D137 Funeral March 3. Schubert Symphony No 2 in B Flat Major, D125 4. Schubert Rosamunde, D797 Overture