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The Complete Symphonies Vol. 1 Symphony No. 2 D. 125 / Symphony No. 4 D. 417
Franz Schubert

The Complete Symphonies Vol. 1 Symphony No. 2 D. 125 / Symphony No. 4 D. 417

Residentie Orkest The Hague / Jan Willem de Vriend

Label: Challenge Classics
Format: SACD
Barcode: 0608917273922
barcode
Catalog number: CC 72739
Releasedate: 07-09-18
- Jan Willem de Vriend and the Den Haag orchestra are among Challenge Classics most faithful partners
- After completing the symphonic cycles of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, Jan Willem de Vriend undertakes to record Schubert’s complete symphonic output.
- In this first volume we listen to symphonies no. 1 (composed while 17yo) and no. 4 (the best-known of his youth symphonies)
Schubert composed his first five symphonies while still a teenager, but they represent just one facet of his prodigious fluency. At this time some of his musical ideas bear a family resemblance to certain themes from Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, but already his own musical character is evident. He began his Second Symphony in December 1814 and had finished it by 24th March the following year.

He completed the Fourth Symphony in about three to four weeks during April 1816. We should not read too much into the Fourth Symphony’s “Tragic” appendage, added by Schubert as an afterthought. It may be merely an example of the flippant comments which he wrote on some of his youthful scores, but nevertheless the symphony has more gravitas than its predecessors. Schubert also includes a second pair of horns to enrich the texture. Actually, this is the only piece of non-programmatic music to which he gave a descriptive title.