BaL 3.10.20 - Schumann: Symphony no. 3 "Rhenish"

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30
Building a Library
Marina Frolova-Walker chooses her favourite recording of Schumann's Symphony No.3 'Rhenish'.

Schumann's exuberant Thirrd Symphony, otherwise known as the 'Rhenish', was composed at the end of 1850 and captures his response to the lands of the Rhine. In September 1850, the Schumanns relocated from Saxony to Dusseldorf. Robert was initially very enthusiastic about the move and found the Rhinelanders to be outgoing and prosperous, Dusseldorf then being a leading industrial centre with an exciting social scene. Schumann had already immortalised the Rhine in his song-cycle Dichterliebe and, shortly after arriving in Dusseldorf, took a day trip with Clara south to Cologne to visit the mighty cathedral there. The fourth movement of the Rhenish is nicknamed the 'cathedral movement', a solemn homage to Cologne's most famous landmark and Schumann wrote in the score that it should be played 'in the character of an accompaniment to a solemn ceremony'. The other movements capture Rhineland scenes and the second-movement scherzo was originally entitled 'Morning on the Rhine'.

Available versions:-

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim
Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie, Frank Beermann (SACD)
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein
Wiener Philharmoniker, Leonard Bernstein
Wiener Philharmoniker, Leonard Bernstein (DVD)
American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein *
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult *
London Symphony Orchestra, Yondani Butt
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Aldo Ceccato
Münchner Philharmoniker, Sergiu Celibidache
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Riccardo Chailly (orch. Mahler)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly
Berliner Philharmoniker, André Cluytens
Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard (SACD)
Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi
Berliner Philharmoniker, Gustavo Dudamel (DVD/Blu-ray)
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach *
Bamberger Symphoniker, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau *
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Lawrence Foster (SACD)
London Symphony Orchestra, Sir John Eliot Gardiner (SACD)
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner
Odense Symfoniorkester, Simon Gaudenz (SACD)
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Michael Gielen
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Carlo Maria Giulini *
Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini
Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI, Carlo Maria Giulini *
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Staatskapelle Dresden, Daniel Harding (DVD/Blu-ray)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Philippe Herreweghe
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Heinz Holliger
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Eliahu Inbal (SACD)
Radio Sinfonie Orchester Frankfurt, Eliahu Inbal *
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paavo Järvi *
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Paavo Järvi (DVD/Blu-ray)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Dirk Joeres
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Armin Jordan
Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer,
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Paul Kletzki
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Franz Konwitschny
Berliner Philharmoniker, Rafael Kubelik
Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, Rafael Kubelík
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Rafael Kubelik
Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, Gustav Kuhn
Tasmanian Symphony, Sebastian Lang-Lessing *
Berliner Philharmoniker, James Levine
Philadelphia Orchestra, James Levine *
RTV Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Peter Lilye *
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
NHK Symphony Orchestra & Tokyo, Jun Markl (SACD)
Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Sir Neville Marriner
Wiener Philharmoniker, Zubin Mehta
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux *
Philharmonia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti
Wiener Philharmoniker, Riccardo Muti
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano (DVD)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
London Classical Players, Sir Roger Norrington *
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Sir Roger Norrington
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Grzegorz Nowak
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sakari Oramo *
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray
SWF Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden, Zoltan Pesko *
Sinfonie Orchester des Sudwestfunks Baden-Baden, Christoph Prick *
Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Orchestra, Alexander Rahbari
Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle
Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle (SACD)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle (DVD/Blu-ray)
Estonian Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Dresden Staatskapelle, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Michael Schønwandt (SACD)
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Carl Schuricht *
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Carl Schuricht
Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz*
St Louis Symphony Orchestra, Jerzy Semkow *
Staatskapelle Dresden, Giuseppe Sinopoli
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Georg Solti *
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Karl-Heinz Steffens (SACD)
Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra, Karol Stryja *
Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell *
Berliner Philharmoniker, Klaus Tennstedt
Philharmonia Orchestra, Christian Thielemann
Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann
Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann (DVD/Blu-ray)
San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas (SACD)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Robin Ticciati
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Mario Venzago *
Kölner Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Hans Vonk *
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Bruno Walter
NDR SinfonieOrchester, Günter Wand *
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst *
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Orchestra of the Swan, Kenneth Woods
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Christian Zacharias (SACD)

(* = download only)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Help required.

I try to list in alphabetical order - sometimes by soloists, sometimes by conductor. But Michael Tilson Thomas is a problem for me, but it's been ok until now, as both 'Tilson' and 'Thomas' are close to one another alphabetically. The question is whether he has two unhyphenated surnames (like Ralph Vaughan Williams) or whether he likes to include his middle name as a matter of style.

[Bryn]

Help required.

I try to list in alphabetical order - sometimes by soloists, sometimes by conductor. But Michael Tilson Thomas is a problem for me, but it's been ok until now, as both 'Tilson' and 'Thomas' are close to one another alphabetically. The question is whether he has two unhyphenated surnames (like Ralph Vaughan Williams) or whether he likes to include his middle name as a matter of style.

Not an easy one. His parents appear to only have used the "Thomas" and for what it's worth, an Internet search for "Tilson Thomas -Michael" brings up no clear examples of the combination "Tilson Thomas" as a family name.

[Pulcinella]

Help required.

I try to list in alphabetical order - sometimes by soloists, sometimes by conductor. But Michael Tilson Thomas is a problem for me, but it's been ok until now, as both 'Tilson' and 'Thomas' are close to one another alphabetically. The question is whether he has two unhyphenated surnames (like Ralph Vaughan Williams) or whether he likes to include his middle name as a matter of style.

The Presto site treats him as surname Thomas:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/artists?instrumentIDs=10

I don't know on whose say so though.

I think they put Peter Maxwell Davies under D while others use M.

[prb]

... but he is referred to as Mr. Tilson Thomas in the biography on his website https://michaeltilsonthomas.com/about/, which suggests they are both his surname.

[Pulcinella]

... but he is referred to as Mr. Tilson Thomas in the biography on his website https://michaeltilsonthomas.com/about/, which suggests they are both his surname.

I wonder if his mother was Roberta Tilson before she married?

[richardfinegold]

I would just label him MTT

[richardfinegold]

I would just label him MTT

My prediction—Fischer-Dieskau. And next week it will be Otto Klemperer singing Die Wintereise

[verismissimo]

I would just label him MTT

My prediction is that his recording is unlikely to feature, either at long or short list.

[richardfinegold]

Small point—the Szell is listed as a download, but Sony did release a massive Szell box with all of his recordings that I think is still available. I zero in on the Szell because for several decades that was my only recording. A few years ago I added Dausgaard and Barenboim with the Berlin Staatkapelle ( not on Alpie list so I am presuming nla). I kind of like the Barenboim—Szell always sounded particularly like a martinet in Schumann.

[Barbirollians]

Small point—the Szell is listed as a download, but Sony did release a massive Szell box with all of his recordings that I think is still available. I zero in on the Szell because for several decades that was my only recording. A few years ago I added Dausgaard and Barenboim with the Berlin Staatkapelle ( not on Alpie list so I am presuming nla). I kind of like the Barenboim—Szell always sounded particularly like a martinet in Schumann.

Wondering whether this is going to be recorded old style or whether she is going to shout at Andrew McCG from 2 metres away ?

Before like any sensible person deciding that Furtwangler's DG recording is the winner ?

[jayne lee wilson]

Great work for a BaL, but - as always it depends on the quality of the reviewer herself - catalogue knowledge, musical awareness and verbal skills. (Far more than dialoguing, which doesn't bother me much...)

Good start for me would be the new LSO/JEG SACD, which I have here but haven't heard yet......but there are so many great 3rds.....
COE/YNS, Ticciati, JEG1, Dausgaard.....COE/Harnoncourt is marvellous too - top choice in a Gramophone Collection (10/2012, GL - the other chosen three were LPO/Boult (the one on FirstHand), BPO/Kubelik, ORR/JEG)...

I'm in gloomy spirits so much now.... hard to find just what to listen to....hacking away in the garden is better therapy...... Schumann, one of my longest, deepest passions, might help....

[LMcD]

The wonderful opening certainly lifts the spirits at this difficult time. I have von Dohnanyi/Cleveland.

[verismissimo]

… Before like any sensible person deciding that Furtwangler's DG recording is the winner ?

Furtwangler … Rhenish?

One not in Alpie's fine list: Tonhalle / Zinman.

Given my devotion to Schumann, curious that I only appear to own two - Karajan and aforesaid Zinman. To be re-auditioned.

[cloughie]

Help required.

I try to list in alphabetical order - sometimes by soloists, sometimes by conductor. But Michael Tilson Thomas is a problem for me, but it's been ok until now, as both 'Tilson' and 'Thomas' are close to one another alphabetically. The question is whether he has two unhyphenated surnames (like Ralph Vaughan Williams) or whether he likes to include his middle name as a matter of style.

Often just called MTT and however you list him he is a damned fine conductor!

On the Question of favourite recordings - my introduction to this joyous work was a Heliodor mono recording BPO Leitner, and have since added several others including LSO Fruhbeck de Burgos, CSO Barenboim and BPO Kubelik.