“In an age of deodorised live recordings, this rough diamond document of that concert is thrilling... A miraculous work played with humour, wisdom and daring.”
The Independent on Sunday
“This staggering recording… is the most remarkable recording of this elusive work since Furtwängler’s famous Berlin account in 1951.”
Performance *****
Recording *****
Michael Tanner - BBC Music Magazine
Metro, 8th August 2008
Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 has never been one of my favourite of the composer’s works - it’s occasionally a bit long-winded - but if anything could convert me, it’s this thrilling live recording on the enterprising Signum label. Without forcing a note, Charles Mackerras finds a path through the work which which creates a convincing emotional journey - the race to the end is particularly exciting - and the sound of the Philharmonia Orchestra simply glows with warmth. (A jolly good account of Brahms’s symphonies No.2 and No.4, with Christoph von Dohnányi and the Philharmonia, is also released on Signum at the same time.)
Warwick Thompson
The Independent on Sunday, 17th August 2008
Where were you on June 10, 2006? I was in Aldeburgh, enjoying the festival but lamenting that I was not watching Sir Charles Mackerras conduct the Philharmonia in Schubert’s “Great C Major”. In an age of deodorised live recordings, this rough diamond document of that concert is thrilling. The QEH’s warts-and-all acoustic intensifies a performance that crackles with excitement. The sound is compromised, but the basses and cellos have bite, the violins and violas ineffable sweetness, while the woodwind and brass are elegant. A miraculous work played with humour, wisdom and daring.
The Observer, 24th August 2008
‘A symphony for the benefit and enjoyment of the whole world,’ was Schumann’s verdict on Schubert’s Great C Major, generally deemed to have ushered in the Romantic era when it emerged 11 years after the composer’s death. Sir Charles Mackerras forges a characteristic combination of elegance, power and restraint in this fine recording with the Philahrmonia, the first in a new relationship between the orchestra and this label which also sees the release of forceful versions of Brahms’s second and fourth symphonies under Christoph von Dohnányi.
Anthony Holden
BBC Music Magazine, October 2008 ***** 5 Stars – Performance
*****
5 Stars – Recording - Nice!
This staggering recording, of a ‘live’ performance in 2006 – but the audience can only be heard between the movements – is the most remarkable recording of this elusive work since Furtwängler’s famous Berlin account in 1951. It has a ferocity which, in some places, notably the climax of the second movement, turns into a frightening stampede, to be followed by a prolonged awed silence.
Charles Mackerras conducts with a greater freedom of tempos than he has before, though always with careful concern for the vast work’s structure. At very nearly an hour, this clocks in as the longest account I have heard, but it gives the overall impression of stationing the listener in the centre of a whirlwind, even usually rather unbuttoned and jovial trio of the third movement offering relief: it surges in menacing waves. There are so many ways of taking this utterly original work, but when we are offered a reading that stresses the unity and savage momentum of this symphony, it seems for the time being to be the only right way.
The Philharmonia rises magnificently to what must have been an exhausting occasion. My only slight reservation is that the strings, especially the violin, sound rather sparse and don’t sing enough, which they need to do to counteract the aggressive winds, here playing tirelessly.
Michael Tanner
International Record Review
Sir Charles Mackerras has recorded Schubert’s Great C major Symphony more then once before, including with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. This recording of a live performance does not use ‘period’ instruments but still maintains, with the full forces of the Philharmoina, all his characteristic lucidity. The Symphony is in various ways not an easy work to bring off. Keeping tempos lively (in the finale, very lively indeed) s effective here, but chiefly because Mackerras has a sure sense of direction, and a texture (well caught in the recording). The Scherzo swings along with plenty of verve and a nice lilt ( the Viennese waltz is not so very far off), but essentially because he makes a point of long phrasing, within which the details fit beautifully. The rhythms are unfailingly alert, most effectively when in the Trio such fresh, briskly phrased accompaniment figures in the strings lend the wind ideal support
Mackerras is also willing too allow the kind of ebb and flow of tempo usually part of more intense, even more tragic performances (Klemperer and Giulini come to mind). The opening Andante (and it sounds like he uses a solo horn here, rather than the pair) is taken fairly quickly and fluently, easing the music smoothly into the allegro section. This is beautifully done. He anticipates, reasonably, the più moto towards the end of the movement and allows himself a slight rallentando with the final pages in acknowledgement of Schubert’s instruction ben marcato. These are details; but they are crucial ones in Mackerras’s ability to give the music a freedom of movement within the general tempo that keeps it constantly alive and alert.
The Andante con moto is indeed played ‘with movement’, and with a sense almost of a forlorn dance rather then a sad march in the oboe solo, and with a wistfully handled second subject. He drives with tremendous force into the discordant crisis, one of the most ravaging of all the outbursts of despair that mark Schubert’s late music, then allows a long pause after the shuddering chords that tear the music apart: matters are only with the difficulty of the mended cell version of the tune answered, here, by a wonderfully sad phrase from the oboe. Schubert;s characteristic resolution of matters into the major key is fresh and fulfilling. The passage is really the heart of the Symphony, and made to sound so here. Without this glimpse into the abyss, all the exuberating of the Scherzo an the finale would mean less, and Macjerras’s sense of exhilaration is well achieved, He brings the work, with virtuoso playing from the Philharmonia’s violins, to a triumphant conclusion.
John Warrack
The Daily Telegraph, 13th September 2008
In his 1987 recording of the Great C major with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Virgin Classics), Charles Mackerras combined exhilaration, revelatory clarity of detail and a sure command of Schubert’s vast structures.
Now, with the Philharmonia before a preternaturally quiet Queen Elizabeth Hall audience, Mackerras’s interpretation has changed little in essentials. Violins are again properly divided left and right and all repeats observed. The swiftly paced “slow” introduction merges into the following allegro without the traditional accelerando. The andante is a brisk, though never inflexible, Alpine walk that builds urgently and inexorably to a shattering climax, horns and trumpets scything through the texture. Perhaps the scherzo is a little fierce, missing a Viennese lilt in the gliding waltz tune. But the final, a glorious celebration of the power of movement is magnificent in its mingled buoyancy and gargantuan energy.
The Philharmonia, woodwind especially, are on inspired form, and the sound has more bloom that you might expect from a recording emanating from the QEH.
Gramophone Magazine, November 2008
Sir Charles Mackerras follows his outstanding set of Beethoven symphonies (Hyperion A/07) with a strikingly live and vital account of Schubert’s Ninth in very much the same style with its reflections of period-instrument lessons absorbed but not too prominent. Orchestral textures are light and clear, speeds brisk but not over-driven, detail clear and neatly etched with the string-playing responsive and polished. Repeats are generous: both outer-movement expositions are repeated and the Scherzo bounces along amiably from section to section.
There is drama in the outer movements, with the tempo fluctuations in the first seamlessly resolved; the great climax of the andante is powerful, while its lovely secondary downward scalic theme is warmly and affectionate contrasted. The finale rushes onwards with strong, bold impetus to make a satisfying close. The result is refreshingly alive and spontaneous. The recording made in the Queen Elizabeth Hall is perhaps a little dry, admirably clear, but not lacking weight or substance.
Comparison with Rattle’s recent more traditional approach with BPO, more romantic in its backward glances of rubato (and especially at the slow movement climax) is illuminating. Solti, too, is inspirationally relaxed in his lyricism, Wand is strong and warm (but without repeats) and there is a special place in the catalogue for Krips, who is relatively gentle and mellow but touchingly glowing. All have warmer acoustics. So while Mackerras is immensely stimulating and rewarding, the Signum disc does not quite reflect every facet of Schubert’s muse.
Ivan March
MusicWeb.co.uk, December 2008
Often the spontaneity that results from a live performance more than compensates for any minor fluffs or less than ideal recording conditions. This is certainly the case here with the Philharmonia Orchestra on sparkling form for its Principal Guest Conductor, Sir Charles Mackerras. And this records just one performance, not an edit of a few. Accordingly it has absolute integrity of continuity. The opening horns’ theme is smooth but pacy, setting the tone for a sunny, smiling Andante introduction yet with a lithely expressive violas and cellos’ expansion. The grand ensuing tuttis are firm but the woodwind responses still genial and the progression never falters. The violins’ accompanying triplet figures are zesty and the crescendo leading into the Allegro main body of the movement (tr. 1 2:54) is exciting. The first theme is disciplined but not solid, so invigorating flares of sound are created. The second theme (3:48) is purposeful. The significant trombones’ presentation at 4:58 of a motif based on the horns’ theme in the introduction begins warm and soft against skipping strings. Everything evolves stimulatingly and the gradations of the long crescendi and climaxes are finely judged. The coda (13:55), marked faster, is not notably so but does begin pleasingly lightly while the return of the horns’ theme is admirably firm, ben marcato indeed. It’s just a touch more measured and the closing triplets on horns and trombones are splendidly emphatic.
I compared Mackerras’s 1987 studio recording with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Virgin 5618062), the first recording on period instruments. Here are the comparative timings, the bracketed ones are the actual music time before applause.
The 1987 Mackerras, recorded in the more glowing ambience of the EMI Abbey Road Studio 1 than the 2006 Queen Elizabeth Hall, has a more stately manner in the introduction while the Allegro is similarly a more majestic, formal parade. The trombone entries are more sombrely pointed. The elements of the build-up in the development are admirably clear and after its climax there’s an appreciably reflective becalming to the recapitulation. In the coda the return of the opening theme is presented at a spanking pace without change of tempo, which I prefer. Overall, however, the 2006 account is more animated with more emphasis in the introduction on melody and flow, more energy in the Allegro, a more chirrupy second theme, a more dramatic though less clearly analytical development. The recapitulation has a softer focus, stealing in quietly, almost unobtrusively at 10:26. In the coda the tiered build ups have more edge. But the approach is essentially the same. The period trombones are more penetrating, the modern ones blend more smoothly with the other brass, but Mackerras obtains precise articulation from both orchestras.
The slow movement (tr. 2) comes across as a journey of different moods and reflections more clearly in 2006 than I can remember having heard before. Whereas the 1987 opening is stealthy and followed by an attractively curvaceous oboe solo, the 2006 opening is more inviting with a more carefree, less knowing oboe, yet with a momentarily tender later, quieter element before a brusque very loud tutti interruption colourfully delivered here. The 2006 tuttis are more boisterous than in 1987. The second theme (3:12) is more homely, with more relaxed warmth than in 1987 and its tendency to a more rapt mood is crystallized in a horns’ duet (5:08), slightly broader than in 1987, in which Mackerras seems almost able to suspend time. The return of the opening theme is transformed into something comelier now with first violins’ dancing accompaniment but the tutti retorts have still greater vigour with added exchange of fanfares between trumpets and horns, grimmer and more exciting than in 1987, before a different suspension of time, a stunning and frightening silence at 8:39. The ensuing theme for cellos derived from the opening theme is a soberly expressive response, sketching more eloquent Michael Greenhalgh December 2008 Schumbert: Symphony No. 9 MusicWeb.co.uk feeling and wistfulness than the more simply mournful 1987, before a chastened and thoughtful return of that opening. In the meantime, however, Mackerras has fully savoured the delicious violins’ pizzicato from 11:06 below the woodwind melodic focus. This sensitivity to Schubert’s varied and added detail as the movement evolves much enhances your experience of it.
The third movement almost becomes an anthology of dance. To its Scherzo (tr. 3) Mackerras brings a vigorous dance to start with the strings’ proposal and cheery woodwind response, but from 0:23 a graceful mini waltz tag with violins tailed by cellos in sinuously supple articulation. In the second section at 1:36 a nonchalant waltz snippet is pitted more directly against the clodhopping elements before a much freer and airier one from 1:50 and from 3:10 the earlier mini waltz returns at its most dainty and luxuriant. The whole has a vibrant pulse and again finely graded dynamics, not just a matter of interpretive exactness but relished as a key element of the life of the music.
There’s a sense of sumptuousness and greater glow about the Trio which, while at the same basic pulse, seems more measured because of its slower rhythms and in particular absence of the Scherzo’s running quavers. The Trio is the most extended waltz with the sunshine created by light brass backing. And Mackerras’s scrupulous attention to dynamics shows gentleness to be at its heart. Another lovely detail enjoyed is the double basses’ chromatic descent combined with crescendo and then sudden piano (8:07). Again this 2006 Mackerras has more liveliness, more feel of movement and atmosphere about it. The 1987 is more a neat distillation of the dance elements and transparent evolution of the movement with the short waltzes more laidback. Indeed you’re more aware in the second section of the Scherzo of the paring down to basic rhythm before the return of the mini waltz.
From the outset of the finale (tr. 4) taken at a true Allegro vivace Mackerras enjoys the contrast of exuberant brass and feathery violins, the latter nevertheless soon starting a great swirl of activity in triplets. The 2006 opening has more bounce and weight and there’s more of a feel of sheer flight when the triplets start yet the 1987 opening has an attractive fizz and whirligig abandon in its lighter but penetrating articulation. The second theme, the one beginning with four identical notes (1:41), is blithely presented in 2006 by woodwind and horns against fetchingly skittering first violins and violas and Mackerras makes the whole seem to evolve so naturally, again by carefully observing its tiering of dynamics. From the Philharmonia this is both a festive and virtuoso display with more swing than the smoother OAE here, though they find a joyous lilt. The quotation on clarinets at the beginning of the development of Beethoven’s Ode to joy (7:25) is smooth yet rather rarefied but the following crescendo soon finds the brass pounding away at Schubert’s repeated note motif. It’s the strings who have the last spotlight on this and their stomping sforzando Cs from 13:47, backed by horns and bassoons, are splendidly firm without being stodgy and again weightier than in 1987, though in elan there’s little to choose between the two performances. 1987 has an attractively lucid presentation of the recapitulation in terms of its place in the scheme of things, in 2006 the emphasis is rather on its irresistible energy.
In sum the 1987 Mackerras is clearer for studying the elements of the work and its structure, but this 2006 Mackerras gives you a more rounded experience of the whole symphony, its effectiveness, life and colour. Here is everything you’d expect from Indian summer Mackerras: lively, rhythmically crisp, melodically well shaped, precise in dynamics and with all repeats observed except, as normal practice, not those in the Scherzo da capo. The recording is fresh and clear, very bright in the brass but not glaring. Only when the music stops do you become aware of the audience. You are grateful for this but even more for a performance of consummate skill.
