Robert Schumann:
- Symphony No. 2 and Overtures
When I was 14, my family and I arrived in the US as new immigrants; we lived in Brooklyn, NY. Soon I was enrolled in Lafayette High School, and began to study hard and also to learn English.
I was already in my 7th year of violin study, and ultimately I joined a community orchestra, which gave me my very first orchestral experience.
To this day I recall many of the symphonies that we learned in that group. And Robert Schumann’s second symphony was one of my great favorites because of its amazing slow movement.
Here are some extracts from two of Schumann’s symphonies, from my Spotify file called “Hank’s Schumann”
On this CD, we hear the symphony number 2, as coupled with two overtures. All of this music is performed by the Orchestra Mozart, conducted Claudio Abbado:
Schumann:
- Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61
- Manfred Overture, Op. 115
- Genoveva Overture
Claudio Abbado’s interpretation of the Second Symphony is his first recording of a Schumann symphony for DG. The great “Genoveva” and stirring “Manfred” overtures are fine additions to this album.
About his Second as performed at the Lucerne Easter Festival, the paper ‘Neue Zürcher Zeitung’ commented on Abbado’s reading as of “the purest beauty”, while Berlin’s ‘Der Tagesspiegel’ found Abbado’s way with the symphony “liberating”.
Here is Claudio Abbado with Schumann’s “Genoveva” Overture, performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker:
And here is the Robert Schumann Symphony No 2 in C major, with David Zinman conducting the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. Pay attention to the amazing 3rd movement.
http://youtu.be/NQOFNAai388
Tags: Robert Schumann, Claudio Abbado, Symphony #2