Schumann Symphonies 1 & 2 by Stavanger Symphony Orchestra

Robert Schumann

Stavanger Symphony Orchestra | Jan Willem de Vriend

Schumann Symphonies 1 & 2

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917295825
Catnr: CC 72958
Release date: 02 February 2024
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917295825

Catalogue number
CC 72958

Release date
02 February 2024

"Here, with the complete symphonies of Robert Schumann, that alert responsiveness he achieves with his players is similarly at the fore. Yes, we are now moving well into the Romantic period, but that crisp alertness and deft responsiveness across orchestral sections simply works to create marvelously engaging music. Is it too light, too bright, too spritely? No, I think not. To my ear it all just works brilliantly."

Positive Feedback, 07-1-2025

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Jan Willem de Vriend: Working with this orchestra is very special, and I think it has to do with a very old tradition. A long time ago, they invited my colleague, Frans Brüggen, just as he was starting to conduct. He learned the orchestra about the old music style, the way of playing in the time of Mozart, Beethoven, Bach—how they played and how you must approach the music. On his part, Brüggen put something in the orchestra that I would say is now part of their DNA: the flexibility, the curiosity, and the way to approach the music. It’s so special, here in Stavanger. Schumann’s music is to me something unique, because what he’s writing is so personal; on one hand it is sometimes very emotional, but on the other hand, it’s technically perfect. In music, I don’t often find those two elements together.

Op dit mooie album leidt de creatieve en enthousiaste dirigent Jan Willem de Vriend het Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in symfonieën van Robert Schumann. Onder meer wijlen Frans Brüggen droeg als dirigent nog bij aan het DNA van dit orkest: aan de flexibiliteit, de nieuwsgierigheid en de manier van benaderen van de muziek. Bij de opnames was de grootste uitdaging voor De Vriend en het orkest de balans te vinden tussen technische perfectie en het plezier om risico’s te nemen, alsof die muziek voor de eerste keer wordt gespeeld. Dat is meer dan gelukt op dit nieuwe album met Symfonieën 1 & 2 van Robert Schumann. Er volgt nog een tweede deel met Symfonieën 3 & 4.

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) componeerde vier symfonieën. De eerste ‘Lentesymfonie’ schreef hij in de periode rond 1841 die hij zelf karakteriseerde als gelukkig. Aan het begin van deze Symfonie nr. 1 in Bes majeur komt de lente je al tegemoet. Ongelooflijk, maar Schumann schreef de symfonie, waarin we wisselende stemmingen in elke beweging horen, in slechts vier weken tijd. Vooral het derde deel, het scherzo, is poëtisch met tegenstrijdige elementen: gepassioneerd, lyrisch en dansend. De finale klinkt als een lofzang op de lente.

Robert Schumanns Tweede Symfonie in C majeur met de snelle contrasten en Bruckner-achtige mystiek klonk anders dan hij gewend was te componeren. Luister maar eens hoe de krachtige en schitterende trompetklanken uitstijgen boven de mysterieus murmelende schemering. En hoe dat weer terugkomt aan het einde van een beweging en aan het eind van het werk. Na het briljante scherzo volgt een langzame beweging als een emotioneel middelpunt in het stuk. Het is een soort nocturne of een romance die onverwacht naar Bach verwijst. Ook de finale heeft iets onverwachts, daar is tweemaal een thema uit Beethovens liederencyclus ‘An die ferne Geliebte’ te horen.

Schumann was, als je de lijn van Mendelssohn naar Schumann naar Brahms doortrekt, in zekere zin de modernste componist van de drie, volgens De Vriend. De vorm was oud, maar de manier waarop hij het orkest inzette en loskwam van de gangbare structuur, was compleet nieuw. Voordat Schumann symfonieën begon te schrijven, twijfelde hij lang of hij componist of schrijver zou worden. In zijn Eerste symfonie probeerde hij een evenwicht te vinden tussen die twee. Hij vertelt hierin echt een verhaal door het gebruik van directe tekst en de goede momenten daarvoor. Tot op zekere hoogte was Schumann daar een schrijver die muziek gebruikt om zijn verhaal te vertellen.

Jan Willem de Vriend: Die Arbeit mit diesem Orchester ist etwas ganz Besonderes, und ich denke, das hat mit einer sehr alten Tradition zu tun. Vor langer Zeit haben sie meinen Kollegen Frans Brüggen eingeladen, als er gerade anfing zu dirigieren. Er brachte dem Orchester den alten Musikstil bei, die Spielweise zur Zeit von Mozart, Beethoven und Bach - wie sie spielten und wie man an die Musik herangehen musste. Brüggen hat dem Orchester etwas beigebracht, das heute Teil seiner DNA ist: die Flexibilität, die Neugierde und die Art, an die Musik heranzugehen. Das ist etwas ganz Besonderes, hier in Stavanger. Schumanns Musik ist für mich etwas Einzigartiges, weil das, was er schreibt, so persönlich ist; auf der einen Seite ist es manchmal sehr emotional, aber auf der anderen Seite ist es technisch perfekt. In der Musik finde ich diese beiden Elemente nicht oft zusammen.

Artist(s)

Stavanger Symphony Orchestra

The orchestra was founded in 1938 and consists of 85 musicians from 23 different nations. SSO rehearses, records and has its concerts in Fartein Valen in Stavanger concert hall, considered one of the best concert halls in Europe. The orchestra has been touring in various European countries, Japan and the USA. SSO was nominated for Spellemann in 2018 for Gisle Kverndock’s Symphonic Dances, and recieved two Hedda Awards i 2019, including Best Performance, for The Mute. Andris Poga is SSO’s Chief Conductor. Tianyi Lu is the orchestra’s current Conductor-in-Residence. Recent guest conductors have included Karina Canellakis, Pablo Heras-Casado, James Gaffigan, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Dalia Stasevska and Vassily Sinaisky. Frans Brüggen was the SSO’s Artistic Director for early music from 1990-1997; Philippe Herreweghe had...

The orchestra was founded in 1938 and consists of 85 musicians from 23 different nations. SSO rehearses, records and has its concerts in Fartein Valen in Stavanger concert hall, considered one of the best concert halls in Europe.
The orchestra has been touring in various European countries, Japan and the USA. SSO was nominated for Spellemann in 2018 for Gisle Kverndock’s Symphonic Dances, and recieved two Hedda Awards i 2019, including Best Performance, for The Mute.
Andris Poga is SSO’s Chief Conductor. Tianyi Lu is the orchestra’s current Conductor-in-Residence. Recent guest conductors have included Karina Canellakis, Pablo Heras-Casado, James Gaffigan, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Dalia Stasevska and Vassily Sinaisky. Frans Brüggen was the SSO’s Artistic Director for early music from 1990-1997; Philippe Herreweghe had the same position from 2000 to 2004 and Fabio Biondi from 2006 to 2016. Ever since then, the SSO has continued to work regularly with exponents of historical performance practice including Kristian Bezuidenhout, Andrea Marcon, Jan Willem de Vriend, Matthew Halls, Ottavio Dantone, Riccardo Minasi, among others.

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Jan Willem de Vriend (conductor)

Jan Willem de Vriend, designated “a godsend from the Netherlands” by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, is driven by the pioneering spirit of historically informed perfomance practice. As music director of the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, which he founded in 1982, he specialised in repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries, reviving a wealth of rarely heard works through historically informed performances on modern instruments, praised by Gramophone magazine for their “technical finesse and a lively feeling for characterization”. An award-winner for his creative contribution to classical music, Jan Willem de Vriend has more than 50,000 followers on Spotify and is in demand as a conductor around the world, appearing regularly with such orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest...

Jan Willem de Vriend, designated “a godsend from the Netherlands” by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, is driven by the pioneering spirit of historically informed perfomance practice. As music director of the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, which he founded in 1982, he specialised in repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries, reviving a wealth of rarely heard works through historically informed performances on modern instruments, praised by Gramophone magazine for their “technical finesse and a lively feeling for characterization”.
An award-winner for his creative contribution to classical music, Jan Willem de Vriend has more than 50,000 followers on Spotify and is in demand as a conductor around the world, appearing regularly with such orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Belgian National Orchestra, Tonhalle Zurich, Orchestre National de Lyon, Bergen Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, the symphony orchestras of Netherlands Radio and Hessischer Rundfunk (Frankfurt Radio Symphony), Melbourne Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic. He is Principal Conductor Designate of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Philharmonic and Orchestre National de Lille, and former Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya and the Brabant Orchestra.
For the Challenge Classics label, de Vriend and the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra have recorded the complete Mendelssohn symphonies and all Beethoven’s symphonies and concertos with, among others, pianist Hannes Minnaar and violinist Liza Ferschtman. De Vriend’s interpretation of the Symphony No 7 prompted Classic FM to admire “a bounding flair that does real justice to the composer’s capacity for joy”. A further landmark of his recorded catalogue is his complete recording of the Schubert symphonies with the Residentie Orkest Den Haag.
De Vriend’s collaborative spirit is equally evident in his work for the stage, notably with opera director Eva Buchmann and Combattimento Consort Amsterdam. In addition to works by Monteverdi, Haydn, Handel and Telemann, their productions in Europe and the USA have included staged versions of Bach’s ‘Hunting’ and ‘Coffee’ Cantatas at the Bachfest Leipzig, and operas by Mozart, Rossini, Verdi and Cherubini, among them Mozart’s Don Giovanni und Rossini’s La gazzetta, both toured in Switzerland. De Vriend has also conducted operatic productions in Amsterdam (with the Nederlandse Reisopera), Barcelona, Strasbourg, Lucerne, Schwetzingen and Bergen.

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Composer(s)

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing.
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. Works such as Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Fantasie in C are among his most famous. His writings about music appeared mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication which he jointly founded.
In 1840, Schumann married Friedrich Wieck's daughter Clara, against the wishes of her father, following a long and acrimonious legal battle, which found in favour of Clara and Robert. Clara also composed music and had a considerable concert career as a pianist, the earnings from which, before her marriage, formed a substantial part of her father's fortune.
Schumann suffered from a mental disorder, first manifesting itself in 1833 as a severe melancholic depressive episode, which recurred several times alternating with phases of ‘exaltation’ and increasingly also delusional ideas of being poisoned or threatened with metallic items. After a suicide attempt in 1854, Schumann was admitted to a mental asylum, at his own request, in Endenich near Bonn. Diagnosed with "psychotic melancholia", Schumann died two years later in 1856 without having recovered from his mental illness.

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Press

Here, with the complete symphonies of Robert Schumann, that alert responsiveness he achieves with his players is similarly at the fore. Yes, we are now moving well into the Romantic period, but that crisp alertness and deft responsiveness across orchestral sections simply works to create marvelously engaging music. Is it too light, too bright, too spritely? No, I think not. To my ear it all just works brilliantly.
Positive Feedback, 07-1-2025

String sizing and good mixing work also ensure special attention for the woodwind and brass voices, which emerge with balance even where Schumann's orchestration would pose some basic imbalances.
Classic Voice, 01-12-2024

Having heard these performances multiples times now, what strikes me about them is their detail—precision of rhythm and de Vriend's control over balance and timbre. Nothing is muddy or smudged, and nothing is distorted for the sake of expression.
Fanfare Magazine, 01-11-2024

Don't miss these revelations: the discovery of the Norwegian phalanx plays a major part in them.
ARTALINNA, 24-10-2024

...the sound of this new release is excellent: Every section of the orchestra is placed nicely in the soundstage, and it puts the listener in an ideal position to revel in the clarity and power of the orchestra.
Fanfare Magazine, 01-7-2024

The first two symphonies by Schumann directed by Jan Willem de Vriend. - Disc CHALLENGE CLASSICS CC72958: Robert Schumann / Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 / Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, dir. Jan Willem de Vriend
Rai Radio 3, 24-4-2024

De Vriend is deeply engaged in the Adagio espressivo and cantabile slow movement, which has a quality of heartfelt remembrance about it.
Music Web International, 21-4-2024

Here De Vriend decidedly opts for the romantic Schumann, for the interplay between “Florestan and Eusebius”, and in the slow movements conjures up the enormous lyrical power and the flowing beauty of his melodic lines.
Rondo Magazine, 20-4-2024

The recording overflows with good cheer, yet the music is also taken with the utmost seriousness. The orchestra has clearly worked diligently on refining entrances and rhythmic details. I particularly note how beautifully the bright woodwinds play in the first movement of Symphony No. 1, and how rhythmically precise the brass delivers in the fast third movement. The excellent and lively playing makes this a recording of world-class quality.
Ballade, 03-4-2024

There's a great deal to enjoy, and nobody is likely to be disappointed with these performances. (...) Such accomplished, high-class music-making makes the imminent follow-up with the Rhenish and Fourth Symphonies an enticing prospect.
Gramophone, 01-4-2024

Jan Willem de Vriend and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, who bring both swagger and elegance, in equal measure, to this finale.
BBC Radio 3, 16-3-2024

The sound of the orchestra from Stavanger is rich and sonorous throughout. De Vriend brings his historical understanding to the orchestral palette.
Pizzicato, 03-2-2024