Schumann: the Four Sympho [Import]

Perhaps in 20 years' time when my high frequency hearing has disappeared I will be able to enjoy such a thing. It seems that the old guard at Mercury aren't all that sharp-eared, since this hideous noise would have been fairly easy to filter out - one case where the "original source material" needed a bit of modern technology.

The 1st and 3rd symphonies are sonically pretty good, but as one other reviewer said, the sound on the 2nd Symphony isn't quite up to their standard, lacking a certain amount of presence and being a bit shaky on the high frequencies (oboes and trumpets are "flaky" in their upper registers).

Interestingly, the woodwind and trumpet sound on these 50's recordings isn't that far off the "period instrument" type of sound: the oboes in particular are bright, incisive and somewhat thin-toned. Clarity is the watchword for most of the orchestral textures. However the timpani and double basses are resolutely post-romantic, being rather overpowering, especially at the climactic ends of some movements - they boom out in an energetic, but unfocused way, communicating through seismic vibrations...

Wilma Cozart has done an admirable job of cleaning up hiss and tubby bass from her original recording sessions in the 50s--and it seems the mono Fourth has had next to nothing done to it because the antecedent was so good. The Second had to be worked again from her binaural mixdown instead of the three channel version originally used--the 3-channel was "unavailable" according to the notes. Don't throw out any of your vinyl, especially the No. 2, since it sounds better than this reissue which lacks the wide stereo spectrum.

However, these are minor caveats when we're dealing with a production of this standard. The competing Bernstein is frenetic and ragged, Szell gives us the riveting-machine approach in that irritating Severance Hall sound which had a range from "f" to "ffffff" and little else. If the Solti is back out, it is interpretatively a cipher, and Inbal, while enjoyable and clear-visioned is certainly not on the Paray level.

Paray's long-awaited set is the choice from all standpoints and isn't likely to be bettered anytime soon. It's been around 40 years now and it hasn't had a serious approach yet.

Wilma Cozart has done an admirable job of cleaning up hiss and tubby bass from her original recording sessions in the 50s--and it seems the mono Fourth has had next to nothing done to it because the antecedent was so good. The Second had to be worked again from her binaural mixdown instead of the three channel version originally used--the 3-channel was "unavailable" according to the notes. Don't throw out any of your vinyl, especially the No. 2, since it sounds better than this reissue which lacks the wide stereo spectrum.

However, these are minor caveats when we're dealing with a production of this standard. The competing Bernstein is frenetic and ragged, Szell gives us the riveting-machine approach in that irritating Severance Hall sound which had a range from "f" to "ffffff" and little else. If the Solti is back out, it is interpretatively a cipher, and Inbal, while enjoyable and clear-visioned is certainly not on the Paray level.

Paray's long-awaited set is the choice from all standpoints and isn't likely to be bettered anytime soon. It's been around 40 years now and it hasn't had a serious approach yet.