Opening doors Schumann Symphony No. 1, Ouvertures

Die hörenswerte Darstellung, die Dausgaard im vergangenen Jahr insbesondere der Sinfonie Nr. 2 C-Dur op. 61 hat angedeihen lassen, findet nun ihre Fortsetzung in einer zugleich prägnanten wie prächtigen Wiedergabe der Sinfonie Nr. 1 B-Dur op. 38. Zum Gelingen dieses Projekts trägt die außerordentliche Perfektion der Musiker nicht wenig bei, denn das Schwedische Kammerorchester erweist sich auch diesmal wieder als Ensemble von außerordentlicher klanglicher Geschlossenheit, das auf höchstem technischen Niveau musiziert und dessen hervorragende Blechbläsergruppe bisweilen besonders auffällt. Unterstützt wird dieses Ergebnis zudem von der ausgezeichneten Klangqualität der Produktion.

The first issue in Thomas Dausgard's Schumann cycle with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, containing the Second and Fourth Symphonies, was widely admired, and hearing their version of the First, it's easy to understand why. This is a modern-instrument band yet the transparency Dausgaard brings to Schumann's textures has an almost period-instrument quality, with solo lines sharply profiled against the string background. This is an account of the Spring Symphony that firmly underlines the work's affiliations with Beethoven, even if it does not always move as athletically as the finest accounts on disc. What makes the disc even more appealing, though, are the fill-ups. Apart from the Overture, Scherzo and Finale - one of Schumann's most underrated orchestral works, here sounding fresh and totally buoyant - there are the overtures to his only opera Genoveva and from his incidental music to Schiller's The Bride of Messina. Also included is the surviving first movement of the so-called Zwickau Symphony, which Schumann composed in 1832, nine years before he took up orchestral composition in earnest.

Sixtus König, 12th February 2008,  www.klassikheute.de

Dans le cadre de sa série «Opening Doors », le toujours original label Bis nous offre le second volet d´une intégrale symphonique Schumann en cours par Thomas Dausgaard (et son orchestre de chambre suédois), l´un des chefs les plus prolixes mais intéressants du moment. Le premier volet consacré aux symphonies n°2 et n°4 nous avait laissé plutôt perplexe : rapidité, brutalité et recherche systématique de l´originalité semblaient les maîtres mots d´une lecture militante mais survolée. ??La symphonie n°1 est conduite avec le même entrain et la même rage analytique, mais ce traitement unilatéral lui convient assez bien ...

Curieusement ce sont les petites formes des généreux compléments qui conviennent le mieux au chef. Ces partitions sont ciselées ici avec intelligence, musicalité et attention aux détails. On sera ainsi très satisfait de l´exécution du magnifique et rare : ouverture, scherzo et final. L´orchestre fait, comme toujours, bonne impression, et témoigne de la vitalité des formations de chambre scandinaves et la prise de son Bis restitue bien la démarche du chef. ?Ce disque expérimental est à réserver aux amoureux de ces œuvres et du compositeur, mais ces derniers sauront y trouver un questionnement du texte qui rencontrera leurs plus hautes exigences intellectuelles.

Thomas Dausgaard presents a characteristically transparent account of the Spring Symphony. He finds exactly the right tempo for its finale - an elusive Allegro animato e grazioso that can easily lack charm if taken too fast as does Gardiner, or can miss out on symphonic tension if it's too gracefully balletic, as in Kubelíck's otherwise admirable performance with the Bavarian SO (Sony).

Dausgaard's tautly-sprung rhythms also pay dividends in the opening movement, but his scherzo is rather sedate. Gardiner's recording, more ideally paced in the inner movements remains my benchmark. However, Dausgaard offers plenty of additional enticements. The attractive Overture, Scherzo and Finale, written shortly after the Spring Symphony, would have formed a cyclic symphony itself if Schumann had provided it with a slow movement.  A still rarer item is the opening movement of a G minor Symphony written nearly a decade earlier - an apprentice-piece, rather awkwardly scored but full of striking ideas. The overture to Schumann's opera, Genoveva, turns up occasionally on concert programmes, but the other overture here, to Schiller's Die Braut von Messsina, is unjustly neglected - a dark and brooding piece that shows the composer's late style as its most profound. 

Dausgaard's understanding of tempo relations is even better demonstrated in the "Zwickau" movement of an early G minor symphony. I'm reminded of early Schubert and Bruckner in that rays of light are crossed with moments of darkness, for example the unresolved bassoon motif that closes the exposition, very imaginative (and unsettling), and so is the return of the stern introduction towards the end of the movement. 

The Mendelssohnian Overture, Schertzo and Finale is again beautifully shaped, the introduction unusually pensive, the ensuing Allegro full of life (and I love the antiphonal switching between violin desks at 3 '05"), the Scherzo crisp but unhurried. The two relatively late overtures again benefit from smaller-than-usual orchestral forces and perceptive direction, Dausgaard generating bags of energy while allowing textures to breathe. So all we need now is an equally compelling Rhenish Symphony to round off the cycle. The recorded sound is superb..

 
 I had the good fortune to be studying in Sweden when this recording was made and was present for some of the rehearsals for this recording of Schumann's Symphony No 1 (Spring Symphony) and some of his lesser known operatic and orchestral works. I also have to confess that some of my colleagues and good friends were playing in the orchestra and that I participated in a conducting masterclass with Dausgaard and the orchestra. I remember well the acoustic in the hall in the small Swedish town of Orebro being very bright almost hard sounding. This disc was recorded in the SACD format but will play fine on normal CD players and I have to say it sounds much better than it did in the hall. I suppose the main purpose of this recording is to present a different approach to Schumann than that which a full orchestra usually brings - the focus is much more on a classical chamber music style which takes some getting used to. It's certainly clean sounding with minimal use of vibrato but I have to confess I still find some of the colours slightly cold and overly strident. There's no shortage of energy and it's certainly an achievement by Dausgaard to present these works in a new light, one that draws more on Beethoven and Mendelssohn than the later Romantics. The additional overtures are a welcome addition to the disc, particularly the Overture, Scherzo and Finale Op. 52 and the Overture to Schumann's opera Genoveva.

Entusiastisk. Nok en melankoliker: Robert Schumann. Men her er han i sin første, vårlige symfoni livsbejaende og mottagende for alt som måtte komme av natur- og livsopplevelse. Det er en frisk symfoni, som av og til lider av å bli spilt for tungt her spilles den skjørt, ja riktig ungdommelig av Det svenske kammerorkester.
Dette er så renvasket og entusiastisk spilt at jeg vil gå på rødt for å høre den én gang til. Nydelig klang, skarpe, klare kanter, kanskje litt manert enkelte steder, men det ligger én klar tanke bak, enn si et temmet vell av følelser.
Romantikk kan bli formløs. Ikke minst innen musikken. Her står symfonien som en torso, avkledd alle ytre atributter. Ganske forfriskende på en varm vårdag. Dette med det manerte vel, det kommer an på hvem som hører. Det er kanskje bare uvant at klangen, rytmene, melodiføringen er så til de grader gjennomført.

Dausgaard returns these works to their rightful context, with a small modern instrument orchestra whose strings play with sparing vibrato, natural trumpets and hard sticks for the timpani. This is not a new idea, of course; several chamber orchestra versions have been recorded, as well as symphony cycles from period instrument groups. However, this is the first time such an approach has appeared on SACD, and the high-definition sound is certainly revelatory.
 
Personally, I have never found the Early Romantic Schumann symphonies convincing when garbed in the fineries and slower tempi of the Late Romantic, particularly in slow movements. Dausgaard's disc of Symphonies 2 and 4, however, did open the door for me, and I enjoyed the performances greatly. His direct, vigorous approach opens up the sometimes clogged textures which latterly earned Schumann a reputation as a poor orchestrator ...
 
The vivid playing on this disc is matched by its engineering. Although I felt that the ambience of the Õrebro Concert Hall was rather dry, the sound is akin to a fine etching, full of detail and stark relief. The lower strings are particularly impressive in this hall. The clarity of sound somehow adds to the impression of an early Romantic orchestra and also emphasises the associations with Beethoven in the music itself.
 
For lovers of the Schumann symphonies, I would suggest they try this disc; I think they will find it does indeed 'Open Doors'.  

The program (rec. 2005-2007) by the reduced forces of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra opens with the popular 1841 Spring Symphony, its imaginative impulse having been triggered by poet Alfred Boettger´s admonition, “O alter, alter your course,/In the valley spring is blooming." The lighter instrumentation of the chamber orchestra reveals the transparency of the writing between low strings, tympani, and flute. No less influential in the running motives is the spirit of Schubert´s C Major Symphony, discovered by Schumann in 1838 while visiting Ferdinand Schubert. The portentous motive in the winds suddenly erupts into a ‘rite of spring,´ punctuated by ostinati in the strings and resounding trumpet and flute work. Clarinet and viola support the secondary theme in articulate phrases, the texture and propulsion mounting to a colossal confrontation with Pan.

 
 
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