Composer: Franz Schubert
Orchestra: B’Rock
Conductor: René Jacobs
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Pentatone
Catalogue: PTC5186856
Release: 2021
Size: 2 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D417 ‘Tragic’
01. I. Adagio molto – Allegro vivace
02. II. Andante
03. III. Menuetto. Allegro vivace
04. IV. Allegro
Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D485
05. I. Allegro
06. II. Andante con moto
07. III. Menuetto. Allegro molto
08. IV. Allegro vivace
Tragic and light symphonies from a heavy soul. Conductor René Jacobs and the B’Rock Orchestra present the third instalment of their Schubert cycle with a recording of the composer’s Fourth and Fifth Symphony. Just as with the Second and Third, Jacobs approaches these works as a symphonic pair, revealing contrasting aspects of Schubert’s personality and compositional approach. The Fourth is Schubert’s first symphony in a minor key, and adumbrates a totally new harmonic worldview that Dvořák associated with Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. On the contrary, the Fifth sounds Mozartian and cheerful, although that light-heartedness is only an appearance, as is so often the case in Schubert’s music. In the composer’s words, “too light a mind usually harbours a heart that is too heavy!” Looking closer beneath the surface, the cross-relations between the “Tragic” Fourth and “lighter” Fifth become all the more evident. The players of the B’Rock Orchestra present these works on period instruments; transparent, but full of fire.