Composer: Franz Peter Schubert
Orchestra: Residentie Orkest the Hague
Conductor: Jan Willem de Vriend
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Challenge
Catalogue: CC72803
Release: 2022
Size: 564 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D485
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Andante con moto
03. III. Menuetto. Allegro molto
04. IV. Allegro vivace
Symphony No. 6 in C major, D589
05. I. Adagio – Allegro
06. II. Andante
07. III. Scherzo. Presto – Più lento
08. IV. Allegro moderato
The fourth and final volume in de Vriend’s survey of Schubert’s symphonies.
Schubert’s musical ideas at this time sometimes bear a family resemblance to themes by Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven, but nevertheless his own style was already precociously developed. One would not mistake his Fifth Symphony of 1816 for the work of any other composer, though its difference in character from the Fourth Symphony is equally striking. Here, omitting clarinets, trumpets or timpani, Schubert uses a reduced orchestration in comparison with his previous symphonies.
Schubert began his Sixth Symphony in October 1817 and completed it in the following February. The Sixth Symphony represents a sideways step in Schubert’s symphonic development, a digression which may be explained by the phenomenal popularity of Rossini. At this time Rossini’s operas were being received with tremendous enthusiasm in Vienna. Keen to earn a living from his compositions, Schubert now emulated aspects of the style which was enjoying such vogue.
The Overture in D in the Italian Style dates from November 1817. In common with the Sixth Symphony, it reflects the influence of Rossini. According to Heinrich Kreissle, Schubert’s first biographer, this work was the result of a wager which he made with some friends that he could easily compose “in the Italian style”.