The National Arts Center Orchestra continues its Schumann-Brahms adventure with a third volume, Atmosphere and masterymore unequal than the previous one.
Let us recall the concept. Brahms and Schumann (Robert) each composed four symphonies. The Ottawa phalanx has given itself the mission of recording a joint complete album in four albums, also showcasing the works of Clara Schumann, wife of Robert and friend of Brahms.
If the first two volumes (two discs each) respectively played the piano concerto and an assortment of lieder by the composer, the most recent set its sights on the Trio for piano, violin and cello in G minor (played by pianist Stewart Goodyear and the orchestra’s principal violin and cello), three songs (with soprano Adrianne Pieczonka and pianist Liz Upchurch), three of Four fugitive pieces (also by Goodyear) and the Piano Sonata in G minor (by Gabriela Montero).
If the works of Clara Schumann amply deserve to be recorded (and they have already been recorded several times each), there nevertheless emerges here a certain impression of heterogeneity, even a desire to “fill” a timing. And why didn’t you choose a single pianist for the solo piano pieces?
With regard to the two symphonies, the conductor Alexander Shelley adopts generally calm tempos, to the benefit of orchestral and polyphonic clarity, but to the detriment of a certain momentum, as evidenced by the “lively” first movement of the Symphony noh3 by Schumann, whose first theme is more segmented than carried away.
The same is true in Brahms’ homonymous movement where, like too many conductors, Shelley minimizes the “con brio” indication (with ardor) to make it more opulent “grand legato”.
This restraint is however advantageous in the slow movements, except perhaps in Schumann’s fourth, which is a little too deliberate to be really “solemn”.
The works of Clara Schumann, if they suffer from a comparison with the equivalent scores of her husband, are all worth listening to, revealing a singular personality (magnificent Adagio de la piano sonata !).
Classical music
Atmosphere and mastery
Schumann and Brahms, with the NAC Orchestra
Analekta