Search - Luciano Berio, Franz Schubert, Joseph Joachim :: Schubert / Berlio : Rendering ,Schubert / Joachim : Symphony In C (Grand Duo) (Koch)

Reimagining Schubert's Tenth Symphony

Erik North | San Gabriel, CA USA | 04/16/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the most unusual pairings of classical works in quite some timem Luciano Berio's "Rendering" and Joseph Joachim's orchestral arrangement of Schubert's "Grand Duo", is given a first-rate performance by the often underrated Houston Symphony Orchestra and their excellent music director Christoph Eschenbach.What prompted the Italian composer Luciano Berio to try and reconstruct sketches of what might have been Schubert's Tenth Symphony in D Major is a mystery, but he managed to do it with "Rendering", a 20th century approach to a work that was incomplete when Schubert passed away at the age of thirty-one in 1828. The reconstruction can be heard in the use of a celesta that signals moments of passage between Berio's world and that of Schubert; otherwise, the orchestration is of the same size as Schubert's well-known 8th and 9th symphonies. Eschenbach and his Houston musicians perform this tricky and somewhat difficult piece, which has elements of 20th century minimalism and 19th century structure.The "Grand Duo" in C Major, originally for two pianos, is here performed by the orchestra in the symphonic form conceived by Joseph Joachim, the famous violinist and good friend of Johannes Brahms. The same high standards that Eschenbach applied to the Berio/Schubert "Rendering" apply here, and they demonstrate that the Houston Symphony Orchestra is one of America's best and most innovative ensembles in this field.Highly recommended."