Robin Ticciati & SCO - Schumann: The Symphonies - Early Music Review

It is thanks to John Eliot Gardiner's two recording projects of the late 90s .that I am able to listen to orchestral Schumann at all; before then, much of the detail that makes these works so enjoyable was lost in huge sound made by the symphony orchestras who had had this music all to themselves for too long. This present recording seems to have accepted the benefits of JEG's approach, in that the SCO - for decades now pioneers in modern instrument HIP - are big enough to create the presence required for such music, but also with an eye on the subtleties of the composer's orchestration. I must confess that I became increasingly aware of a conductor's hand; the music did not always flow uninhibited, especially on Disc 2. That is not to say that there is anything wrong with rubato - this was an utterly personal reaction to the performance and others may feel quite differently. Unlike JBG, SCO and Ticciati perform the four standard symphonies (No. 4 in the 1851 version). John Worthen's notes make excellent background reading.