Search - Herbert Blomstedt, San Francisco Symphony :: Berwald: Symphonies Nos. 1 "Sinfonie sérieuse" & 4 "Sinfonie naive"

A nice recording, but not incredible

Matthew Vaughan | Palo Alto, CA United States | 05/16/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Very nicely played by the SFS and well recorded by Decca/London, these symphonies receive a fairly lively but straightforward interpretation from Blomstedt. Not dull, but the performances never quite catch fire either."

The Best Berwald Series Disappearing

Music Is Everything | Colorado Springs, CO USA | 08/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The San Francisco Symphony and Herbert Blomstedt were the ones to put Berwald's symphonies on the map. Swedish composer Franz Berwald (1796-1868) was an early Romanticist, but wrote far more complex works than those of Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Schumann. Realizing that he would see no real success in Sweden, Berwald traveled to Berlin, but found himself an outsider from Berlin's exclusive elite circles (where Mendelssohn easily mixed). His symphonies were ignored and he opened an orthpaedic institute to stay afloat, but he continued to compose. His four symphonies contain some of the most imaginative writing of the period and are well worth a listen. We shouldn't forget that the San Francisco Symphony was already a great orchestra before Michael Tilson Thomas' arrival. Blomstedt's steadfast attention to detail and absolute consistency of interpretion may not have been newsworthy, but it did produce consistently excellent performances and some truly great recordings. Here, Berwald's symphonies are played with uncanny refinement, a true sense of structure, and real energy. I recomend this CD highly and also the companion disc with symphonies 2 & 3. And if the originals are completely unavailable, it would be worth checking ArkivMusic for reprints."