Schubert: Symphonies 8 'Unfinished' & 9 'Great'
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Free Music Notes for Schubert: Symphonies 8 'Unfinished' & 9 'Great'
Free Music Review: Excellent playing, mannered interpretation.
Hit: 3 Stars
Giuseppe Sinopoli was a conductor of great technical accomplishment, with a fine ear, who produced questionable interpretations of much of the orchestral repertoire.
The "Unfinished" Symphony is given a relatively straightforward performance. It would be self recommending if there were not so many fine performances of this repertory staple already available.
The 9th Symphony (called "the Great" to distinguish it from its smaller companion in the same key) fares less well. The first movement starts promisingly, but soon after the introduction Sinopoli begins pulling apart the tempo like so much taffy, destroying structural continuity. I've always thought this movement works best when performed in more or less a straight line, allowing tension to build as the piece approaches the coda. The Andante proceeds relatively mannerism free, while the following movement is limp as a dishrag. Marked Scherzo, it's performed more like an old fashioned Minuet, which is certainly not what Schubert - - influenced by Beethoven - - intended. The final movement begins at a sensible tempo, which Sinopoli alters for no reason whatsoever (the tempo changes in the recording are not in any copy of the score I've seen). As with the Scherzo, the Allegro vivace is lacking rhythmic drive, so that the symphony peters out rather than concluding.
Despite the excellent sonics and fine orchestral playing, this disc is a non-starter.