Search - Schubert, Strauss, Schippers :: Symphony 9 / Don Juan

Great Schubert

Andrew R. Weiss | Raleigh, NC USA | 05/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This review is limited to Schippers' recording here of Schubert's "Great" C Major symphony, a recording he made for Vox with the Cinicinatti Symphony in 1976, the year before his untimely death at age 47. Schippers is remembered primarily as an opera conductor, but like many conductors of the old German school he rose through opera to the concert hall, and later in his life he also conducted the Viennese classics (as well as modern symphonic music). As far as I can tell, this is the only CD of his symphonic recordings to survive.



When this recording first appeared in 1977, it got rave reviews from High Fidelity and Stereo magazines, all deserved. What is most striking about this performance is how Schippers brings his sense of drama and structure to this piece. He deliberately manipulates the tempi in the first movement: first, by keeping the same slow pulse of the introduction in the transition to the Allergo, where most conductors speed up, and thus heightening the tension; and by having two distinctly different tempi for the two main subjects of the Allegro section, throughout the exposition, development, recapitulation and coda, again creating a heightened dramatic sense. The other movements also includes some tempo shifts, but not nearly as dramatic. All in all, this is a lean, muscular, lyrical and dramatic reading (what more could we want !?!). Schippers eschews most of the repeats; some may argue with this, but personally, I like how this keeps the piece's "heavenly length" a little shorter, and I don't feel the symphony's structure suffers as a result.



Vox recorded this session in quadraphonic sound, and with something they identified on the original vinyl release as "Dolby S/N Stretcher" (Dolby HX Pro?). Whatever they did, the sound is excellent, and the Cincinatti Symphony plays for Schippers like a world-class orchestra.



There are several great recordings of this piece available: Furtwangler's famous early-1950s recording with the Berlin Philharmonic; Klemperer's with the Philharmonia; Charles Munch's unidiomatic but totally convincing performance with the Boston Symphony to name a few. This recording deserves to be added to that august group.



Note: This review is based on the original vinyl pressing, not the CD reissue."