Search - Schumann, Bergen Phil, Ceccato :: Complete Symphonies

Schumann Syms, Re-Orchestrated by no less than Gustav Mahler

Dan Fee | Berkeley, CA USA | 12/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The main interest here is the fact that these performances give us the only recording available of how Gustav Mahler - more famous in his era as a genius of a conductor, than for being the towering volcano of a composer we now acknowledge - how Gustav re-orchestrated the Schumann symphonies.



The details are too many to list, but suffice it to say that Mahler's profound and comprehensive knowledge of how orchestras really played in his era yields rich and interesting results. Mahler's abilities to light up or point a particular passage by unobtrusive touches of brass or woodwinds may shed light on just how magically he could achieve chamber-music transparency when it came time to orchestrate his own symphonies. These versions were no doubt carried in the steamer trunks along with Gustav when he went conducting.



At no moment do any of the four symphonies cease to be Schumann's, by the way. You will recognize Florestan and Eusebius throughout - but perhaps even more dashingly accessorized as it were, for this special visit.



One reason to get this set, then, is if you have an interest in the genius of Mahler, beyond that already on engaging display in his own 9-plus symphonies. Mahler retouched the Beethoven symphonies, too; those recordings may be hard to find, even if you care to do so.



The second reason to get this set is pure Schumann.



The Bergen (Norway) Philharmonic are committed players who need not defer to other more name-brand, famous bands in this music. They are all present and awake in every department - strings, woodwinds, and brass. As seems to be typical of Scandinavian halls, their venue helps these performances with enough space and reflecting surfaces to be warm and rich, and enough wise microphone positioning by the engineers at BIS to be clear, to be full-frequency present.



Aldo Ceccato is not a name we hear much, these days. He led some recordings for EMI, back in the day. I think Beverly Sills tapped him to conduct for one or more of her famous opera aria recordings, including complete recordings of Verdi or Donizetti operas. It will be a fine day, indeed, when EMI ever bothers to re-release those warehoused jewels of the catalogue in high resolution audio. I believe he partnered Augustin Anievas in one or more of the Rachmaninov piano concertos; along with Italian compadre Aldo Ciccolini in the Beethoven piano concertos; and more. Ceccato was completely up to the challenges of those assignments at the time, and he continues his excellence here.



One suspects that conductor and the Bergen orchestra have worked together for a while, so completely in tune with one another are these forces in this set of recordings. Given the manic and melancholic contrasts in Schumann's emotional-musical range, Ceccato's long experience leading (mostly Italian) opera may not be so wide of the mark as you might otherwise assume. Ceccato and Bergen know just how to float those Schumann lyric gestures as hidden relatives of Italian bel canto, and the wrought drama has its place in both Schumann and Verdi or Bellini or Donizetti.



One can, apparently, trace these mood swings all the way back to the ancient Greek roots of both comedy and tragedy as forms of theater. You may find as you listen to Mahler's orchestrations of Schumann that you cannot help but think of very old human roots, somehow. As both composer and conductor, Mahler was one of the last great humanist musical figures of the nineteenth century as it went on its way toward becoming the twenty-first. Thus he gets the continuing sense of profound displacement that winds through some passages in all of the four Schumann symphonies. Lights connote shadows, and vice versa, in these performances while song, song, song binds all together in musical art.



Don't bother counting rating stars, then. Just listen and be amazed that one genius could so dwell in conversation with the other. Highly recommended.



For alternative Schumann symphony recordings, don't neglect the James Levine-Philadelphia, Zinman-Tonhalle on Arte Nova. Each set in its own way is a touchstone for sorting the fav shelf."