This reading of
Schubert's last two symphonies by historical performance specialist
Jordi Savall and his orchestra
Le Concert des Nations will not seem too surprising to listeners who have heard
Savall's
Beethoven symphonies. There was perhaps an expectation that a conductor and musicians who have done so much to rewrite the very fabric of music history might take radical steps when moving into
Beethoven and now
Schubert, but it doesn't really happen, and it may happen even less with
Schubert than with
Beethoven.
Savall's orchestra is of moderate size, and his general intent is to strip away the monumental qualities that became attached to these works over the course of the 19th century. However, he does not produce a flat affect of the kind sometimes offered by historical performance groups that move into Romantic repertory. The
Symphony No. 8 in B minor ("Unfinished") has all the dramatic sweep for which one could wish.
Savall's departures from usual practice are more apparent in the
Symphony No. 9 in C major ("Great"), where the overall duration is more than five minutes slower than the average for the work.
Savall picks apart the textures of this complex work, and his period timpani have an unusual sharpness. The tunes are often infectious, and the main material of the finale, with the brass descending from G to C, has an almost jolly quality.
Savall may indeed be radical at times, but he always subordinates himself to the music, and he does so again in this fresh but not shocking
Schubert that reached classical best-seller charts in the autumn of 2022. ~ James Manheim
