What of today’s young conductors? Blomstedt confesses he doesn’t get to see many as his schedule (in a normal year) includes 80-90 concerts of his own. He expresses admiration for Gustavo Dudamel and the work he did with El Sistema in Venezuela. And Klaus Mäkelä has caught his eye: “He’s very young, but I’ve seen him conduct and he looks very promising, not flamboyant at all but a wonderful, serious musician. So many of them come from Finland – there’s also Santtu-Mathias Rouvali who I saw in Gothenburg, and he’s enormously talented. DW caught up with Herbert Blomstedt after his concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, which the Swedish conductor leads regularly, at the Beethovenfest in Bonn, Germany. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, you expressed the hope that this global crisis would bring forth the need for content that feeds the soul. Were your suspicions confirmed?

In his reading of the ‘Great’ C major Symphony, Blomstedt comments, ‘This final completed symphony has everything that it takes to be truly great’! The ideas that it contains are ‘great- - and not just in the sense that the work lasts about an hour. Everything is interconnected here – as Robert Schumann euphorically exclaimed: “There is meaning everywhere.”’ Of course, it was Mendelssohn who found and premiered the Beecham was well into his seventies when he made these recordings with the Royal Philharmonic, the orchestra he had founded in 1946. His lightness of touch, his delight in the beauty of the sound he was summoning, the directness of his approach to melody and his general high spirits will all dominate our memory of these performances. But, listening again, we may be reminded that Beecham could equally well dig deep into the darker moments of these works. Schubert’s elation was rarely untroubled and the joy is often compounded by its contrast with pathos – Beecham had that balance off to a T. It should be noted that he doesn’t take all the marked repeats and he doctored some passages he considered over-repetitive. However, these recordings may also serve as a reminder of the wonderful heights of musicianship that his players achieved, as in the Trio of the Third. The DG recordings are first-rate. The engineers balance the ensemble expertly so that fine clarity of detail is achieved and there’s also an excellent dynamic range. In addition, there’s a lovely bloom on the sound so that the tonal richness of the orchestra is readily apparent. In the CD notes, Blomstedt explains his view of the ‘Unfinished’ Symphony movement: ‘The first is full of problems, the second is like a glade or a vision of happiness. It’s possible that these two movements are the musical reflection of this dream. This is an interesting idea – but it’s only one of many theories.’ Blomstedt adopts a very truthful reading of Schubert’s tempos, allowing the music to breathe and flow in the beautifully rich melodies - he always seems to give his musicians the freedom to play with his minimal gestures and direction. The details that we can hear in this symphony are astonishingly clear in a superb capture of the huge acoustics of the Gewandhaus – one can only wonder about the difference in sound values when an audience is present. alla breve rather than the 4/4 that it had been in Brahms edition. This naturally makes a tremendous difference. A 4/4 metre demands a slower tempo and results in a more spacious, monumental design.’The Schubert shelves bend and groan and are full to overflowing, but they’ll have to find room for one more. This is a simply unmissable recital, for two prime reasons – the grave beauty of its programme and the corresponding beauty of the singer’s voice. Here’s an artist who clearly takes his art very seriously and marries it to a loveliness of even-voiced tone and a sensitivity of response to all that he has to sing. The finale bursts forth, full of optimism and brio, while the second subject (around 1:50) combines momentum with lyrical ease in ideal balance. Blomstedt takes the big repeat (4:03), so we get the chance to savour everything a second time. The performance of this movement contains a wonderful variety of dynamics and texture; one is never in any danger of boredom. Near the end, another detail caught my ear: the fantastic weight to the succession of big string chords just before the coda (from 15:12) Blomstedt leads an ebullient, joyful reading of the finale; I loved it. Indeed, I loved everything about this performance of the

This is a worthy, often inspired conclusion to the series, once more enhanced by Johnson’s copious notes. It also has a complete index to the Edition. The recording is faultless. Whatever their chosen keys, parts of Winterreise lie uncomfortably low for many tenors and baritones. Rose can maintain quality and sonority over a wide compass. The rounded depth of his low register, allied to seemingly inexhaustible reserves of breath, are priceless assets in, say, the sombrely confiding ‘Ei Tränen, meine Tränen’ in ‘Gefrorne Tränen’, in the grand, arching lines of ‘Wasserflut’, and in ‘Der greise Kopf’, sung with Lear-like grizzled majesty. With no false histrionics, Rose makes the traveller’s moment of realisation ‘Wie weit noch bist zur Bahre’ – ‘How far it is still to the grave’ – as bleakly terrifying as I have heard.The third movement is liberally scattered with repeats and, in lesser hands, can seem repetitious. That’s emphatically not the case here. Blomstedt and his wonderful orchestra observe all the contrasts and little events that Schubert has written into the score and by so doing – without any unwarranted exaggeration - they hold the listener’s attention. Furthermore, the playing is full of energy. The Trio (from 6:53) has a winning ‘swing’ to it. After a serious illness in 1822, from which he only partially recovered, Schubert composed his final symphonic masterpieces, the ‘Unfinished’ (1822) and the ‘Great’ (1825–6). From the haunting slow introduction and the extraordinary sense of pathos of the ‘Unfinished’ to the joyful and rhythmically vital ‘Great’ symphony, both works showcase Schubert the symphonist at the peak of his powers and are some of the most popular and enduring pieces in the orchestral canon. A devout Seventh-day Adventist, Blomstedt does not rehearse on Friday nights or Saturdays, the Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism. He does, however, conduct concerts, since he considers actual performances to be an expression of his religious devotion rather than work. [4]

In the anguished Heine songs Prégardien’s less extreme style than, say, Peter Schreier, is scarcely less moving, whether in the rhythmically incisive ‘Der Atlas’ (where the fortepiano’s percussive resonance brings uncommon clarity to Schubert’s quasi-orchestral textures), or an ‘Am Meer’ of aching tenderness, the final stab of pain all the more affecting for being understated. ‘Die Stadt’, taken at an unusually urgent tempo, emerges in a single grim sweep, with the fortepiano’s sustaining pedal creating a mysterious haze impossible to replicate on a modern grand. Prégardien occasionally adds discreet, graceful embellishments to his lines, especially apt in ‘Ständchen’. While it is absurd to speak of an outright ‘winner’ in such a crowded field, Prégardien and the ever-illuminating Staier join the roster of indispensable Schwanengesang recordings. The orchestra's sound production was totally unforced in the superb Wolkenturm acoustics, with its warm, powerful, slightly tubby bass, and the beautifully in tune if carefully-plotted cello and double bass pizzicatos. Blomstedt managed to space out and isolate the first movement's mysteries without actually being slower and then came very close to a true Andante con moto for the second movement, studded with magical clarinet and oboe solos, understated and subtly phrased, set into the chamber music intimacy of the transparent strings. If you allow yourself this peace, then you will find it — and each person in their own way. We were about a thousand people in the hall... Steinbrink, Mark (9 March 1986). "San Francisco's New Conductor – A Man of Firm Beliefs". The New York Times . Retrieved 10 July 2017. I think he set this symphony aside because it wasn't what he actually wanted it to be. It's beautiful, it's quite an accomplishment, but it wasn't what he was looking for. He wanted to write something greater!" Herbert Blomstedt says. 'Four daughters'

Companies, etc.

Marriner's Schubert is light on its feet, full of sprung rhythms and gracefully=turned phrases. The early symphonies are a sheer delight in this cycle with some glorious playing by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. The later, great works like the Unfinished and the Great C major are also very appealing, with beautifully judged tempi and some wonderfully vivacious playing by these virtuoso musicians. In this repertoire, the competition tends to be from large symphony orchestras - BPO and Boöhm, Royal Concertgebouw and Harnoncourt, the NDRSO and Wand, to name three of the finest cycles - but Marriner's set can be confidently recommended if you respond to a more agile, 'modern' (though not 'authentic') approach. Great’ C major with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1839 leading to its becoming a great success and among the most popular Romantic symphonies. This approach owes not a little to Demus’s piano. As Alan Newcombe says in his notes: ‘Aided by Demus’s lightly pedalled, often almost brusque staccato articulation, the result is starker, more elemental, less comfortable [than the reading with Moore], conceived on a larger scale.’ To that one should add that the singer is at the absolute height of his powers; tone, line, breath control and intuitive imagination are most remarkable in the strophic songs that, in lesser hands, can seem over-long. Another feature of this is the significant underlining he gives to pertinent words. For instance, in ‘Pause’, note how ‘gehängt’, ‘durchschauert’ and ‘Nachklang’ receive this treatment. It’s this unique vision of the German language in music that still marks out this baritone from his many successors. Immediate, unvarnished sound heightens the value of this extraordinary performance. In the Gothic ballad ‘Der Zwerg’ Gerhaher eschews grotesquerie, making his effects by understatement and the plangency of his perfectly controlled pianissimo singing. The song emerges less as melodrama than as a mysterious human tragedy. ‘Herbst’, that bleak late masterpiece, is likewise elegiac rather than anguished, with Gerhaher cherishing the sculpted beauty of Schubert’s melodic line. He can be charming, too, as in the lazy barcarolle ‘Der Schiffer’ and the pastoral sway of ‘Abendlied an die Entfernte’, where Huber gives a delightful lift to the 6/8 rhythms. The 1991 recital by Peter Schreier and András Schiff is highly desirable, though the sound is not quite on the same level. Schreier was never the most honeyed of tenors but in the lighter songs of Schwanengesang he compensates for a touch of reediness and a tendency to harden on high notes with the supple grace of his phrasing and his ultra-keen response to the text. ‘Liebes-botschaft’ is eager and volatile, enhanced by Schiff’s wonderfully limpid touch and his care to make the piano’s singing left hand match the voice in eloquence (Schubert’s original, high, key an advantage, here and elsewhere).

it's Curzon and members of the Vienna Octet who remain my favourites—for their tautly sprung rhythm, their smiling charm and above all, their immediacy. In their own seeming delight in making music together, Curzon and his colleagues convey all the young Schubert's unalloyed happiness on that never-to-be-forgotten walking tour with Vogl in the summer of 1819. Allen, David (2 March 2022). "A Conductor Brings Nearly a Century of Experience to Beethoven". The New York Times . Retrieved 4 March 2022. The Beethoven cycle moves in a steady progress not into the usual triumphant assertion but into a warmth of belief that song may truly join the parted lovers. This is music-making of genius. Schubert Piano Sonatas – E, D157; G, D894. Die schöne Müllerin – Der Müller und der Bach (arr Liszt, S565) Schubert spatters the music, virtually all his music, with filigree sounds, p to ppp, throwing in sudden changes of f to p from one note to another. Such details are always obeyed. Nothing is generalised, as can be heard at the last close of the slow movement, where absolute mastery over hushed tone, diaphanous texture and instrumental balance produces an awed stillness of time-stopping beauty. Here is technique fully subservient to emotional force not only in this movement, with its charged F minor middle section, but throughout the whole work.These performances are polished, yet the many solo contributions from each of the players emerge with a strong personality. The Beaux Arts cellist brings lovely phrasing and a true simplicity of line, so right for Schubert – memorably in the lovely slow movement melody of the Trio No 2 in E flat. In addition to the great piano trios (B flat, D898, and E flat, D929), the set includes the extremely personable, very early Sonata in B flat, D28, where the lyrical line already has the unmistakable character of its young composer. Also included is the Notturno, D897, a raptly emotive short piece played here with a remarkable depth of feeling that recalls the gentle intensity of the glorious slow movement of the String Quintet. The recording is naturally balanced, although a little dry in the treble. Of the two rarer string trios, also early works, the four-movement Trio, D581, is totally infectious, with that quality of innocence that makes Schubert’s music stand apart. Such persuasive advocacy and vivid recording can’t fail to give the listener great pleasure. Herbert Blomstedt: I play with the Vienna Philharmonic wherever I can. But the second reason is of course a local one: Bonn is a very important city in the history of music. You can feel the proximity to Beethoven's birthplace. Herbert Blomstedt has been conducting for decades and doesn't plan to retire Image: picture-alliance/dpa No one can really say 100%why it was never finished. There are multiple reasons. For me, the most important reason is that he was striving for a great symphony in the style of Beethoven […] He was like an idol to Schubert, and Schubert wanted to write symphonies that were as great as Beethoven's. Though Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne may not immediately appear stylistically empathetic artists, let us not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. In this repertoire they are as one, touch and tone indistinguishable from one another, playing with a delicious fluency and obvious affection. They open with the Allegro in A minor in a finely graded and characterised reading. To conclude, there is the great F minor Fantasie in which the incomparable opening is lent a hint of optimism, even jauntiness, before the subsequent journey to a pathetic conclusion. Released on the Berlin Classics ‘Basics’ label, this is indeed a rather basic box, with no booklet notes and precious little information about the recordings. You may have seen this set mid-decade on the Edel Classics label, but distribution has apparently been rather dodgy for that particular box, and you are more likely to have come across them on the Brilliant Classics label. I don’t have any of these previous releases to hand, but would have to assume the quality is similar. This latest release is marked ‘Digitally Remastered’, but makes no claims to being a new version in this regard, so it may just be a re-release of a previous re-mastering of what are in any case very fine sounding analogue recordings. While I have had the pleasure of hearing quite a few other recordings of most of these symphonies, the complete version I have had hanging around on my shelves since 1989 is that of the Berlin Philharmoniker with Daniel Barenboim in a big chunky 5 CD CBS Masterworks box. This was re-released on the Sony Essential Classics label, shorn of its Rosamunde extracts filler and squeezed onto 4 CDs, but is no longer in print and was never a really satisfactory set either way. The rather dull and generalised orchestral sound with vague and distant timpani always disappointed, and Barenboim’s conducting, while musically sensitive enough, was rather unexceptional in this set. First impressions of the Staatskapelle Dresden are much better, with only a marginally over-wobbly lead flute to temper my enthusiasm here and there throughout the set.