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By Eric Taver
 ARIS,
24 February 1999 - "Schumann
revealed": this rather bombastic claim on the box set alludes
no doubt to the rather poor opinion in which Schumann’s
symphonies have long been held. It has often been said that Schumann’s
talents were more appropriate to short piano pieces than to long
symphonies, or that he didn’t really know how to orchestrate.
These recordings on period instruments should certainly help in
setting the record straight.
This having been said, what
precisely do these recordings reveal that we have not already
been aware of for several years? Ever since Harnoncourt made his
recordings with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Teldec) it has been
obvious that a smaller ensemble is better suited to these symphonies
than a "mammoth" symphony orchestra in terms of orchestral
clarity. Many people will also be familiar with Philippe Herreweghe's
recordings of the Second Symphony on "period instruments"
with the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées (Harmonia Mundi).
For many of us, it has long been apparent that using instruments
similar to those used during Schumann’s lifetime allows the
musicians to hear one another more easily when they are playing
together.
Does the revelation then come from the music
recorded in addition to the numbered symphonies: a Zwickau
Symphony written by Schumann prior to the canonic four, and a first
version of the Fourth Symphony? The early version of the Fourth has
not been a scoop for many years (Teldec’s 1990 set with Masur and
the London Philharmonic introduced it to a wide audience), no more
than the Zwickau Symphony of 1832 that Neville Marriner had
already recorded for Capriccio. Gardiner proposes then not a
revelation, but a detailed and coherent map of a terrain already
explored and well trod by others. The fact of having gathered all
Schumann’s orchestral works, from the unfinished Zwickau
through the last revision of the Fourth, and including the Overture,
Scherzo and Finale and also the Konzertstück is, on
the other hand, unique.
Bearing this in mind, there are two
ways of listening to these discs. One is to take the professional
musicians and maniacal critics approach: head buried in the score and
pencil in hand, one notices the myriad of micro-details, phrasing,
accents, rubatos that breathe fresh air over our notions of Schumann’s
scores. For example, I appreciated the articulation at the very start
of the Third Symphony, "Rhenish", which propels the entire
movement, or the scherzo in the Fourth in which Gardiner opposes
accents on and off the beat. The rhythmic snap, the development of
Schumann’s style certainly need this almost excessive breadth:
conductors have too often developed the habit of rounding off the
edges under the pretext of a lazy "romanticism".
But
there is also a second way in which to listen to these discs, yours
perhaps, and certainly mine, when I just want to sit back, close my
eyes and forget the score. And that is when, in these Gardiner
performances, utter boredom suddenly sets in. And yet the orchestra is
splendid -just listen to those horns in the Rhenish and the
Konzertsück!
Gardiner bristles with musical
intelligence, but it is constantly on show: his musicians follow their
leader to the letter, but when do we get to feel that they are
themselves living the music? They chisel the phrases, drawing on
colors straight from the tube, with no light or shade. The orchestra
has the same density throughout, never truly bright, never truly
powerful, never concerned by the doubt that permeates Schumann’s
music. Take the adagio of the Second Symphony, for example, one of
Schumann’s most sublime pages. Here, Gardiner's rendering is
perfectly glacial. Where, then, is the revelation? That listening to
this music should not send the slightest shiver down my spine? That my
eyes shouldn’t shed the smallest tear?
No, there is
nothing in this Archiv box set, not the tiniest echo, however
fleeting, to conjour up Bernstein's electricity (Sony), Szell's
obsession (Sony), Karajan's suave hand (DGG) or Sawallisch's precision
(EMI).
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