Robert Schumann; Anton Bruckner - Forgotten Symphonies (Jordi Savall)

Information

Composer: Robert Schumann; Anton Bruckner

• Schumann - Symphony in G Minor, WoO 29 "Zwickauer"
• Bruckner - Symphony No. 0 in D Minor (1869, ed. Nowak)

Le Concert des Nations

Jordi Savall, conductor

Date: 2025

Label: Alia Vox

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Review

Bruckner’s unnumbered D minor symphony, composed three years after the First Symphony, might not be as frequently performed as its later companions but it enjoys extensive representation on record. Jordi Savall’s recording, however, is only the second one I’ve encountered that adopts historically informed performance practices for the work, following the approach used by Mario Venzago in his version for CPO.

As with Savall’s recordings of Beethoven’s Eighth and Ninth Symphonies, the orchestra features 39 strings, with a further 18 players bringing the total number of instruments to 57. The opening Allegro has a sharply etched quality, and when, after a minute or so, the second subject is presented by the strings, with the first violins divided into two sections, the texture has a chamber-music sonority. By contrast, the searching opening melody of the fourth movement, played by the firsts and seconds in unison, has as much warmth and expressiveness as any recording played using modern conventions.

Even more than Venzago, Savall conducts a fluid and impetuous interpretation of the score, pushing ahead in louder passages and slowing for softer ones. However, the result is considerably more compelling than Venzago’s version, featuring a fiery energy in climaxes and a strong feeling of poetry in the score’s quieter byways. The phrasing of solo clarinet, oboe and flute amid hushed strings from 6'47" in the first movement is exquisite, and the performance of the finale is a triumph, easily the finest of the two dozen recordings of the work I know of.

Schumann wrote both movements of the unfinished Symphony in G minor in Zwickau in 1832, eight years before starting work on the First Symphony, and revised the first for a performance in Leipzig the following year. Savall writes in the booklet note that this is a performance of the Zwickau version with some additions from the Leipzig revision. Unlike the recordings by Marriner and Schønwandt, which start with the first movement’s Allegro, Savall gives us the imposing introduction included in the recordings by Gardiner and Beermann, although with an additional timpani roll not heard in those versions. With a performance even finer than that of the Bruckner, Savall gives Schumann’s early symphonic writing a weight, thrust and emotional impact that’s enormously involving, making it seem hardly inferior to the four symphonies that would follow.

Both performances benefit from detailed and immersive recorded sound that’s also warm and well-balanced, and there’s a detailed booklet note in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Catalan. Altogether a recording not to be missed.

— Christian Hoskins

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Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, and left an array of acclaimed music in virtually all the forms then known. Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many Lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Schumann suffered from a lifelong mental disorder, and died in 1856 without having recovered from his illness.

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Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist and teacher. After early musical training and a career as a schoolteacher, he became an organist and studied composition under Simon Sechter and Otto Kitzler, whose introduction to Wagner greatly influenced his style. Moving to Vienna in 1868, Bruckner taught at the Conservatory and the University of Vienna while composing his major symphonies. Despite years of limited recognition, he achieved international acclaim after the premiere of his Seventh Symphony in 1884. He died in 1896, leaving his Ninth Symphony unfinished.

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Jordi Savall (born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer, and viol player. Following studies in Barcelona, Belgium and Switzerland, he co-founded several pivotal ensembles, including Hespèrion XXI, La Capella Nacional de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations. In 1996, Savall established the Alia Vox record label, producing over 200 albums distinguished by multilingual research, rich visual presentations and cross-cultural collaborations spanning Western classical and global musical traditions. He won a Grammy in 2011 and was named French Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2013, among other awards and honors.

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