Gürzenich-Orchester Köln & François-Xavier Roth – Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4 (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Gürzenich-Orchester Köln & François-Xavier Roth – Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:16 minutes | 979 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Myrios Classics

The Gürzenich Orchestra and its chief conductor François-Xavier Roth dedicate their first release on myrios classics to two symphonies by Robert Schumann. The album is based on live recordings made at Cologne’s Philharmonie.

In 1841, Robert Schumann finally had the breakthrough he had long dreamed of as an orchestral composer. He created no less than two works that year: his first, the »Spring Symphony«, and a piece he originally conceived as a »Symphonistic Fantasy« and which later turned into his Symphony in D-minor.

The »Spring Symphony« was written in the coldest depth of winter. It is a work of longing which knows only one direction: growth, blossoming, forging a path towards light and new life. The Symphony No. 4 in D-minor, on the other hand, seems far more shadowy and personal, »a work created from the depths of the soul«, as Clara Schumann confided in her diary. The audience, however, failed to warm to the impetuous work, leading Robert Schumann to put it aside in resignation after the first performance. Only ten years later, he revised the work, which then appeared as his Fourth Symphony.

This album combines the »Spring Symphony« with the first version of the Symphony in D-minor – a version preferred by several of Schumann’s friends, including Johannes Brahms. During Schumann’s lifetime, however, it was never performed again. It was the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne which gave its next performance in 1889, under the baton of Gürzenich kapellmeister Franz Wüllner.

François-Xavier Roth also prefers the original version of 1841. »In its sparser instrumentation, it is more radical, demanding extreme dedication from all of us.«

“Schumann at his best!” (F.A.Z.)

The year 1841 finally marked Robert Schumann’s breakthrough as a composer for orchestra. That year, he created no less than two works: his First Symphony, also known as the “Spring Symphony”, and a piece which he initially planned as a “Symphonic Fantasy” in one move- ment, and which would later become his Symphony in D Minor.
The Spring Symphony was composed in the coldest winter. Full of longing, it is a work that knows only one direction: growing, blossom- ing, the path to light and new life. The Symphony in D minor seems much more somber and intimate, “a work from the innermost depths of his soul”, as Clara Schumann noted in her diary. However, the audience could not warm up to this bold, impetuous work, and Schumann set it aside. Ten years later, after a major revision, he published it as his 4th Symphony.
This album pairs the Spring Symphony with the original version of the Symphony in D minor, the version which friends such as Johannes Brahms preferred over the later edition. Schumann never heard it again in his lifetime, and it was not until 1889 that it was performed in public once more, by the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne under the baton of Franz Wüllner.
François-Xavier Roth, the Gürzenich Orchestra’s current chief conductor, also prefers the original version. With its leaner orchestration, it is certainly the more radical one, and thus requires a higher degree of commitment from the orchestra musicians in forming crescendi, melodic phrases, and extended arcs of formal development. © Myrios Classics

Tracklist:
1. François-Xavier Roth – Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”: I. Andante un poco maestoso – Allegro molto vivace (Live) (10:54)
2. Gürzenich-Orchester Köln – Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”: II. Larghetto (Live) (05:58)
3. Gürzenich-Orchester Köln – Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”: III. Scherzo. Molto vivace (Live) (05:55)
4. Gürzenich-Orchester Köln – Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”: IV. Allegro animato e grazioso (Live) (08:35)
5. François-Xavier Roth – Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120 (Ed. J. Finson): I. I. Andante con moto – Allegro di molto (Live) (08:05)
6. François-Xavier Roth – Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120 (Ed. J. Finson): II. II. Romanza. Andante (Live) (03:56)
7. Gürzenich-Orchester Köln – Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120 (Ed. J. Finson): III. III. Scherzo. Presto (Live) (05:16)
8. François-Xavier Roth – Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120 (Ed. J. Finson): IV. IV. Largo – Finale. Allegro vivace (Live) (06:34)

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