Schubert: Symphony No. 9 "The Great" (CD review)

Sir Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. EMI 0946 3 39382 2.

Recordings of Schubert's music are always welcome, especially from so accomplished a conductor as Sir Simon Rattle and so refined an orchestra as the Berlin Philharmonic. But in the Schubert Ninth Sir Simon has his work cut out for him with the competition so tough.

The Ninth, a wonderful symphony filled with one memorable tune after another, has the double advantage of being open to varied interpretations. Like much of Schubert's music, the Ninth is music one can interpret lightly and cheerfully, and such conductors as Joseph Krips (Decca or HDTT), George Szell (Sony), and Georg Solti (Decca) have provided us with delightfully buoyant performances. Yet the exceptional length of the work--the longest non-choral symphony until Bruckner and Mahler years later--also encourages a more serious reading, and people like Otto Klemperer (EMI), Jeffrey Tate (EMI), and Gunther Wand (RCA) have given us just such recordings.

Rattle takes the former course, his Ninth being full of sparkling high spirits. For purposes of this review I compared it to both a heavier and a lighter-weight performance, those of Tate and Krips. Not surprisingly in this comparison, Tate seems not just heavier but almost heavy-handed. Not that I dislike what Tate does, but it's a performance that one should listen to entirely on its own rather in comparison with anything else; otherwise, you lose track of what Tate is trying to do. However, compared to Krips, Rattle is not so sprightly or festive, either. Krips provides a thoroughly joyous Ninth, and he outshines Rattle at almost every point, Krips's rhythms springier and bouncier, with Rattle a tad more calculated and conservative. So we've got Rattle sort of in the middle here; but it's only in direct comparison that the differences are noticeable. On its own, Rattle's rendering of the symphony is quite charming.

In terms of sound, EMI's live recording for Rattle is more than acceptable, if a touch fuzzy around the edges. Tate's recording, for instance, displays more ambient bloom while also being better focused; Krips's recording, particularly in the HDTT remastering, is a little less warm but far more sharply defined. Still, I doubt that too many listeners are going to complain about the sound of the Rattle/BPO disc. Nothing can mask the sheer, radiant beauty of the music they make.

JJP