Phils 13: Fry, Clara Schumann, Beethoven

Fry: Macbeth Overture
Tony Rowe, Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Naxos

This is the only recording available of this Verdi-style overture, written the year Philadelphia-born William Henry Fry died (1864), and a very good one it is. It moves along nicely and dramatically contrasts anxiousness and ominous brass with moments of triumph and romantic longing. The excellent orchestra is recorded very well. The other three works on the album, also by Fry, including the Santa Claus Christmas Symphony and Niagara Symphony, are more in the entertainment style of Fry’s contemporary, New Orleans-born Louis Moreau Gottschalk.


Clara Schumann: Piano Concerto
Angela Cheng; JoAnn Falletta, Women’s Philharmonic
Koch International Classics

This is not a recommendation but, rather, a “mention.” This concerto is much like the two by Chopin: the piano is central, the orchestra subsidiary. Good thing: excellent pianist Angela Cheng, Hong Kong-born, a Canadian citizen, and American-trained, gives each movement power and form, and engineers give her piano full sound, but they make the orchestra (not a good one at that) sound emaciated. Matching one of Arild Remmereit’s themes this season, all the other works on this album are also by women—Fanny Mendelssohn, Lili Boulanger, and Germaine Tailleferre—and the orchestral sound is much better for them.  There are a few other recordings of Clara Schumann’s Concerto available from rather obscure sources, but I haven’t heard them.


Beethoven: Symphony No. 2
David Zinman, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra
Arte Nova

Shot from a cannon! Even the very introduction prepares you for this utterly fresh look at this warhorse, as Zinman makes the first recording using a new edition of Beethoven’s symphonies. Why does he hear things many other conductors miss!? Balances and articulation are so exquisite you hear every instrument, coloration, harmonic shift, and counterpoint line clearly. More importantly, he makes stunning music out of every movement; the flow is utterly integral from start to finish. And does he shake all the nuts out of the tree in the finale! “Hear ‘em again for the first time.”

WebTips: This is available on a single CD with an equally terrific performance of Symphony No. 1. Or you can buy Zinman’s box of all 9 symphonies for about $15 used on Amazon; sometimes his zeal for Beethoven’s tempo markings sounds forced rather than musical, but overall the set is very often exhilarating (Q-tips for the ears).