Search - Luigi Cherubini, Peter Cornelius, Sir Adrian Boult :: Schubert: Symphony No. 9, Cherubini: Anacreon Overture

Live - and alive - schubert

Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane | Fife, Scotland | 05/05/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These performances are all live, from the BBC archives. They absolutely sizzle!! Boult was famous for the Great C Major - his architectural approach always produced satisfying, 'right' results. Here, the live (Proms) performance has wisdom, proportion and electricity. The recording is fine, though the big audience is audible from time to time. The music always moves forward, is never stodgy, never gets stuck in lovely details (though the playing is good, and expressive, throughout). Boult's studio recording from the 70s is currently out of the catalogue, but in any case, very good as that is, this performance has just a little more sense of occasion. The two overtures are nice fillers, the Cherubini a real knock-out after a slightly untidy opening. This is a super disc - not one to hesitate over."

A great conductor on great music.

Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane | 01/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The beloved Ninth Symphony is, for sure, among Schubert's major works and here we have a live account which further upholds the grandeur and fame of his artistic insight. The response of the BBC Symphony to their conductor is awesome. Recorded August 1969 at the Royal Albert Hall, the symphony reveals its many glories through an urgent reading : Boult was able to maintain a tension, though elusive, besides the intriguing dark tone of the orchestra, providing the work a "thickness" and subdued abandon that make it sound greater in magnitude. The playing is taut ; the musical integrity is reinforced as is the characterization of shadings--a true quality chez Boult, just as heard in his masterly English repertory. This is by all means a Ninth that compares, simply, with the best. Among my favorites you'll usually find the likes of Wilhelm Furtwangler, as well as a most splendid version by Wolfgang Sawallisch (Philips cd 422 977-2). Like them, Boult manages to preserve the "Germanic" quality of Schubert's music (i say this because some people have dismissed his adeptness outside the typical English repertory). The sound is good, on average. The filler tracks by Cornelius and Cherubini, certainly "obscure" material, are still good enough to satisfy the amateur of Schubert (in particular, the Overture to Anacreon which has its share of exquisite orchestral qualities). *****"