Is this the greatest recording of Schumann's First Symphony in a generation? Some would assert it is. Is this the greatest recording of Schumann's First Symphony ever? Some would argue that it very well might be. Certainly,
Thomas Dausgaard and the
Swedish Chamber Orchestra have done everything right with Schumann's music. Their tone is powerful but nuanced, their colors strong and blended, their textures clear but balanced, and their rhythms muscular but agile. But those are just the fundamentals. The better virtue of their performance is the sense of freedom, freshness, and enthusiasm they bring to the music. Here, Schumann's First Symphony, called the "Spring Symphony" by its composer, really does sound like a work meant to evoke and celebrate the vernal season. The fanfares that start the opening Andante un poco maestoso have true joy and the tempo of the following Allegro molto Vivace has actual vivacity. The central Larghetto has a real feeling of organic growth and the closing Allegro animato e grazioso has both grace and energy. But best of all is the unity of the interpretation. Some performances seem cobbled together out of disparate parts. Other performances seem forced together out of sheer desperation. But
Dausgaard and the
Swedish Chamber Orchestra's interpretation sounds perfectly natural, as if this and no other way could be the only way the music ought to go. Coupled with first-rate versions of the infrequently heard Overture, Scherzo, and Finale, the rarely heard Overtures to
Schiller's Braut von Messina and to the opera Genoveva, plus the almost never heard "Zwickau" Symphony, this disc demands to be heard by anyone interested in nineteenth century German orchestral music. BIS' super audio sound is cool, clear, and deep.