Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4

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These enormously invigorating and brilliantly executed performances...quash once and for all the old age that Schumann's Symphonies are deficient in their treatment of the orchestra...Nézet-Séguin... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2014, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 3rd Mar 2014
Catalogue No: 4792437
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Length: 2 hours 4 minutes

BBC Music Magazine

May 2014

Disc of the month
Gramophone Magazine

May 2014

Editor's Choice

Schumann: Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 38 'Spring'

Work length29:23

$4.40

$6.00

$8.20

Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Recorded: 2012-11-05
Recording Venue: Cité de la musique, salle des concerts, Paris

1. Andante un poco maestoso - Allegro molto vivace

Track length10:46

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

2. Larghetto

Track length5:47

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

3. Scherzo (Molto vivace)

Track length5:10

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

4. Allegro animato e grazioso

Track length7:40

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120

Work length28:29

$4.40

$6.00

$8.20

Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Recorded: 2012-11-05
Recording Venue: Cité de la musique, salle des concerts, Paris

1. Ziemlich langsam - Lebhaft

Track length10:20

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

2. Romanze (Ziemlich langsam)

Track length4:02

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

3. Scherzo

Track length5:21

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

4. Langsam - Lebhaft - Schneller - Presto

Track length8:46

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61

Work length34:52

$4.40

$6.00

$8.20

Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Recorded: 2012-11-05
Recording Venue: Cité de la musique, salle des concerts, Paris

1. Sostenuto assai - Un poco più vivace - Allegro ma non troppo - Con fuoco

Track length11:06

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

2. Scherzo (Allegro vivace)

Track length6:46

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

3. Adagio espresssivo

Track length9:33

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

4. Allegro molto vivace

Track length7:27

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 97 'Rhenish'

Work length31:17

$5.50

$7.50

$10.25

Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Recorded: 2012-11-05
Recording Venue: Cité de la musique, salle des concerts, Paris

1. Lebhaft

Track length9:12

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

2. Scherzo (Sehr mäßig)

Track length5:59

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

3. Nicht schnell

Track length5:09

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

4. Feierlich

Track length5:23

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

5. Lebhaft

Track length5:34

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

About
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About

For these revelatory performances - captured live at acclaimed concerts in Paris - he conducts the superb Chamber Orchestra of Europe, one of the world’s preeminent chamber orchestras.

Taking a fresh perspective on familiar music, Yannick Nézet-Séguin challenges the conventional view on the composer’s symphonies.

“Of all the major symphonies, I’d say that Schumann’s are best performed by a slightly smaller ensemble… With a lean string section – not only in size, but also in its quality of playing – the music just works.”

The Canadian Maestro sees Schumann’s music as rooted in the bipolar nature of the composer’s troubled psyche, emphasising dramatic shifts of temperament - not only between movements but even within a single phrase

“He’s one of those composers whose personality is completely expressed in their music…those fluctuations between the melancholy and something very inward-looking are combined with a very manic kind of energy that wants to conquer the world. That’s what is so special about Schumann.”

This new cycle includes the second, revised version of Schumann’s second symphony, published as his Symphony No.4. “I try to respect whenever a composer makes a revision because he feels the need to, rather than because of any outside pressure. I’m personally convinced that the symphony’s message, and this feeling of one big movement, is better conveyed by the later version.”

This set is Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first recording of a complete symphony cycle.

Reviews

May 2014

These enormously invigorating and brilliantly executed performances...quash once and for all the old age that Schumann's Symphonies are deficient in their treatment of the orchestra...Nézet-Séguin has an instinctive grasp of Schumann's fluid lyrical melodic style, responding with great sensitivity to those moments in the musical line where the harmony is at its most intense.

21st June 2014

Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe drive the music hard – sometimes almost staccato-like – in the modern, period-inflected style...strait-laced Schumann, impeccably played

May 2014

Nézet-Séguin here offers true 'Schumann-lite' in performances that pay close attention to detail but don't stint on personality...[His] response to Schumann's sound strategies are most revealing in the Rhenish....a heavyweight contender in a far from uncrowded corner of the market.

8th June 2014

these freshly conceived, youthful and vigorous accounts, banishing all hints of the portentousness of the old German school: the works are spring-cleaned.

Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1-4

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