Search - Robert Schumann, Johannes Wildner, Polish Radio Orchestra & Chorus Katowice :: Schumann: Overtures

A Useful Compendium-but It Could Have Been More than That

M. C. Passarella | Lawrenceville, GA | 03/30/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It was a nice idea to include most of the pieces of music by Schumann that have "overture" in their name. Missing is a choral overture on the Rheinweinlied, but otherwise, this CD covers the topic. However, the performances and recording leave something to be desired. The best performances here--of the little-known "Bride of Messina" and "Hermann und Dorothea"--are maybe fueled by the element of discovery. The tempos seem judiciously handled, and Johannes Wildner does everything he can to get the lumbering, four-square rhythm of the "Bride" to move. Not much he can do about those squeals from the piccolo, though--Schumann for some reason wrote them into the score thinking, I guess, that they added an element of doom and terror to the "curse" motif that dominates the overture. No such problem with the more successful "Hermann und Dorothea," an atmospheric little piece with (as far as I know) Schumann's one concession to the extra color that a snare drum could add to his often opaque scoring.



The other performances, unfortunately, suffer from a variety of ails, including a very much off-pitch clarinet in the lovely second melody of the "Faust" Overture (plus uncalled for dissonances from the brass at the start of the coda--let's tune it, gentlemen!); a lumbering gait to the opening of the "Julius Caesar" Overture (one of Schumann's least inspired works, it must be said); a labored trio section in the Scherzo of the "Overture, Scherzo, and Finale" (though this is a pretty good performance for the most part); a strange pause (a bad edit?) before the final dash in the coda of the "Genoveva" Overture (one of Schumann's real triumphs); and a bit of slap-dash in the faster passages of "Manfred" despite a general trend toward sclerotic rhythms (though this fine overture is hard to kill and emerges mostly unscathed in a decent performance overall).



The recording has good stereo spread and depth and a definite sense of the concert hall but is a tad too distant for the kind of definition that Schumann's thick scoring cries out for.



So if you want this music--some of it obscure but worth hearing--the current CD is an OK way to acquire it, but we could have hoped for more than that.

"

Curtain raisers

David A. Baer | Indianapolis, IN USA | 11/28/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The six-note motif that introduces Robert Schumann's Overture (later Scherzo and Finale), Op. 52 is the calling card of a formidable Romantic composer. In the main, the Schumann pieces included in this anthology of his overtures make due on the promise put down by those first six notes.



The Overture to Genoveva is as evocative as the tale its opera tells. The overtures to 'Bride of Messina', 'Julius Caesar', 'Hermann and Dorothea', 'Faust', and 'Manfred' are all beautifully performed on this 1992 Naxos recording by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Johannes Wildner.



The market for operatic overtures is not huge. Naxos has done us a service with this serviceable presentation."

Exciting music

Newton Ooi | Phoenix, Arizona United States | 10/08/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Robert Schumann was one of the less well known of the romanticists of classical music. Yet his music is quite impressive, and this CD includes some of his best overtures. The pieces range from 5 - 15 minutes in length, are all orchestral pieces, and are quite lively and melodic. The CD quality is good, and the orchestration is fine. For the price of this CD, it is a great buy and I recommend it."