Robin Ticciati & SCO - Schumann: The Symphonies - Classical CD Choice

Judging by the number of recorded cycles of Schumann Symphonies that have appeared in the last year or so from conductors as diverse as Simon Rattle, Parvo Järvi, Thomas Dausgaard et al., it would appear that record companies believe that the public has an insatiable appetite for new versions of these works on disc. Nevertheless, whilst the market may be reaching saturation point, there is always room to accommodate a set as brilliantly performed and recorded as this latest one from the charismatic Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Having been greatly impressed with Ticciati's performances of Berlioz, Brahms and Bruckner both in the concert hall and on disc I was keen to see how he tackled the music of one his favourite composers about which he colourfully writes "Struggle, love, suicide, drinking, prostitutes, fragrance, flowers, poetry ecstasy, passion...for me the Schumann symphonies have everything in them that define Romanticism". Suffice it to say I was not disappointed. On this two-disc SACD set from Linn, the symphonies are presented in numerical order - two per disc and in the case of Symphony No.4, the conductor has opted for the familiar revised 1851 version. Though played on modern instruments these are historically aware performances in both style and scale - lean sounding strings played with little vibrato, antiphonal seating of the violins, vivid timpani played with hard sticks, clear woodwind and cutting trumpets and trombones. In these respects they emulate the indispensable 1997 CD set of Schumann's orchestral works from John Eliot Gardiner and his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, here at a complement of 54 musicians, play magnificently throughout with no lack of body or fullness of tone and respond wholeheartedly to the panache of Ticciati's exhilarating conducting.  Ticciati's tempi seem especially well chosen in all four Symphonies - fleet, but never rushed, and fractionally slower than some of the competition. His judicious speeds combined with the crisp articulation from the players of the SCO mean that movements such as the ‘Scherzo' of the 2nd Symphony (marked ‘Allegro vivace') never turn into the mad scramble found on some other versions of this work. Elsewhere Ticciati is cognisant of the music's grandeur and power.  An example of this being the spine-tingling manner with which he gradually builds the tension in the transition  passage from the ‘Scherzo' to the ‘Finale' of the 4th Symphony before its satisfying catharsis. The recordings were made in the Concert Hall, Perth, Scotland (25, 26 & 30 November and 1-3 December 2013). This venue's acoustic possesses just the right amount of reverberation to impart both clarity and warmth to the sound and Philip Hobbs' production and engineering could hardly be bettered. In short, these superb accounts from Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra certainly place them amongst the finest available thanks both to Ticciati's vital conducting and the brilliantly immediate recorded sound. Altogether an impressive release.