Search - Schumann, Muti, Philharmonia Orchestra :: Robert Schumann: Symphonies 1-4

Highly recommended

Kirk Haberman | Grove City, PA United States | 07/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The book on Muti has always always been that he is an "objective" conductor ala Toscanini but keeps things to close to the vest. The result being a polished product lacking heart grit, fire, etc. The recordings conducted by Muti that I own only sometimes bear this out. With these Schumann recordings, Riccardo Muti shows true Mediteranean zest. Perhaps it is that it is difficult to restrain Schumann's frolicking symphonies. Muti attains a round, full-blooded sound which I find contrasts nicely with Bernstein's more direct and clipped approach. One complaint I often have with Schumann performances is that the delicious horn calls that are so prominent is his symphonies are kept in the background (my primary complaint with Bernstein's recording is that very lack of brass punch). Conductors should not mistake Schumann for Mendelssohn or Schubert. Schumann, following the precedent set by Beethoven's 9th, began writing for 4 horns instead of two. However, in an attempt to maintain a Mendelssohnian, early-Romantic sound, many conductors reign in horn and trombone parts. I find this rather irksome, but Muti lets the horn quartets in nos. 1,3, and 4(I can't remember if the 4th is scored for two or four horns) sing fully. Were I too have a complaint about these recordings, it would be the rounded sound and, often, semi-legato approach to passages in the outer movements that could use more clarity. However, the rich and full-blooded approach is compelling over-all and Muti refreshingly refrains from excessive rubato and other such grandiose Bernstein-esque antics. A quality purchase overall."

Classical Quality!

Lindsay Moore | Hamilton, Canada | 04/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Renowned composer Riccardo Muti has elected to perform all of Robert Schumann's symphonies, plus two additional Overtures, and include them on one, easy-to-manage and easy-to-listen-to set of 2 CDs. The quality of the recording is superb; the music, being Schumann, is of course wonderful. I bought this CD from Amazon.com primarily for the Overture _Hermann und Dorothea_, op. 136, and I was not disappointed. Muti takes some diversions from Schumann's original score, but these are hardly noticable changes and they affect the quality of the performance for the better. The symphonies are readily available on other recordings, but these are unique because of the feeling and interpretation Muti and his orchestra have put into them. Overall, a fantastic buy!"

Rhetorical, pompous Schumann that wastes a fine orchestra

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 06/01/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Amazon readers don't like pans, but I'd like to save somebody out there a needless expense. It was said when the Berlin Phil. picked Abbado as their next music director after Karajan that Riccardo Muti was furious, feeling that he deserved the post. Yet he has consistently proven himself to be a lackluster interpreter of the German classics. This cycle of Schumann symphonies from London--he made a second cycle with the Vienna Phil. in the mid-Nineties for Philips--hasn't got two moments of honest musicality in a row.



Pick any movement you want: either Muti is dragging his feet for extra profundity, or else he's puffed the sonority up larger than life. If not that, then he's fallen into slack, mechanical, indiffierent rhythms, which is most of the time. There are bursts of loudness that are meant to pass for intensity. Nowhere, however, does the music sound spontaneous, tender, or joyful. I love a wide range of Schumann interpretations, including Karajan, Bernstein, Levine, Kubelik, and on a leser plane Sawallisch. Muti doesn't come close to them in any single movement here, and the fine playing of the Philharmonia goes for naught. If I had to pick a worst in class, it would be Muti's soggy 'Spring" symphony, and best would probably be his untampered-with 'Rhenish.' But we're talking about relative degrees of badness."