MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS

Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Symphony No.3 in D major, D.200 (1814) [21:54]
Symphony No.5 in B flat major, D.485 (1816) [28:24]
Sinfonieorchester Basel/Dennis Russell Davies
rec. live, 21 Sept 2011 (D.200), 11-12 Jan 2012 (D.485), Stadt-Casino Basel Musiksaal, Switzerland
SINFONIEORCHESTER BASEL SOB01 [50:28]

Experience Classicsonline


The Sinfonieorchester Basel has released many CDs and now has an own label of the same name managed by Solo Musica. Their first release is of two symphonies from the teenage Schubert. These are conducted by Dennis Russell Davies who, as of the 2009/10 season, became the orchestra’s third chief conductor. 

Schubert’s early symphonies are decidedly classical in form and style. Not surprisingly they are greatly influenced by those great classical masters Haydn and Mozart. These early symphonic scores, including the Symphony No. 3, D.200 and Symphony No. 5, D.485,barely suggest the greatness that was to come later. The Unfinished (1822) and the Ninth (1828) contain his unmistakable musical fingerprints: his cheerful lyricism, engaging personal charm and special Viennese gemutlichkeit.
 
He was just eighteen when in 1814 he composed his Symphony No.3 in D major, D.200. It seems that he completed the bulk of this elegant score in a mere eight days. In what was a most productive time, it wasn’t long after this work that he composed one of his finest lied, Erlkönig. Schubert had been dead some fifty-three years before his D major symphony was given its public première in London in 1881.
 
After the unhurried and dramatic introduction Davies in his brisk and highly spirited Allegro con brio blows away any cobwebs that may have settled. In addition to the sense of grandeur and a real vivacity I was struck by the amount of fine detail that Davies reveals. There’s a most impressive stately tread in the Allegretto. Here I was struck by the attractive sheen from the Basel strings and I loved the woodwind contributions. Impressively weighted pacing in the Menuetto unites a Ländler-like trio with a lively, foot-stomping Scherzo in the manner of a rustic dance. Feeling much quicker than I am used to, the Presto vivace, Finale propels forward at near-breakneck speed. Even so this version lacks the intensity of some of the finest rival accounts.
 
Following closely on the heels of his Symphony No. 4Tragic’ Schubert’s Symphony No.5,also from 1816, is generally acknowledged as one of Schubert’s three most popular symphonies. He scored the work for his smallest orchestra dispensing with clarinets, second flute, trumpets and timpani. The first public performance was in 1841 in Vienna twelve years after Schubert’s death. In the hands of the adept Davies the exquisite charms of the flowing opening Allegro with its glorious melody is remarkably uplifting. One senses that the Basel players are extremely comfortable in Schubert’s lush and deep sentimental writing in the Andante con moto. It evoked a feeling of Mozartean refinement. There are nicely pointed rhythms with a sharp edge in the Menuetto and these radiate a bright optimism. Certainly not afraid of fast speeds, Davies takes the Allegro vivace, Finale at an extremely swift pace which brings this heart-warming score to a fresh and vivacious conclusion.
 
For many years I have admired the beautifully played performance of the Fifth Symphony from Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic. He recorded it for Deutsche Grammophon in 1979 at the Großer Saal des Wiener Musikvereins on ‘The Originals’ 447 433-2 (c/w Beethoven Symphony No.6Pastoral’). 

Of the complete Schubert symphonies, a recent acquisition but undoubtedly the winning set for me, is conducted by Böhm and the Berlin Philharmonic on a four disc ‘collectors edition’ box. These were recorded in 1963/71 in the exceptional acoustic of the Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin Dahlem. In Schubert Böhm has few peers conducting typically warm and polished performances on Deutsche Grammophon 471 307-2. I often play the handsome 4 disc box set of the complete Schubert symphonies from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam under Nikolaus Harnoncourt. These sympathetic and unfailingly musical performances were recorded in live performances at the Concertgebouw Hall, Amsterdam in 1992 on Warner Classics 2564 62323-2. Sheer class. 

The Basel engineers provide natural and vividly clear sound. I could not detect any unwanted audience noise on either of the symphonies and there was no applause at the conclusions. These are vigorous and polished accounts from an orchestra and conductor that prove themselves excellent advocates for these two appealing Schubert scores.
 
Michael Cookson
 

 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Error processing SSI file