Robert Schumann:
- Symphonies 1-4.
This 2-CD album is the vehicle for Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) to embark upon their first symphonic cycle together in a program that they performed in concerts all across Scotland.
This is music that is very close to Robin Ticciati’s heart; he describes Schumann as one of his favorite composers and has often spoken about how important poetry and color are to Schumann’s music. Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 ‘Spring’ sparkles with joy, whereas the Symphony No. 2 has its sad and soulful slow movement. The popular Symphony No. 3 ‘Rhenish’ moves with huge ease and positive energy to a joyful conclusion.
The Symphony No. 4, however, is different from its predecessors in the way each movement attacks the start of the next movement with hardly a pause.
The SCO’s players bring a fine lightness and clarity to the music; under Ticciati direction they achieve a sense of fluidity and movement that no previous recording has shown us.
The Guardian wrote on the 17th of September 2014:
“Perhaps the most impressive thing that Ticciati has done on disc so far. Every bar in these urgent performances with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra seems alive and full of interest…in each symphony there is the sense of careful consideration and total absorption in the music so that not a detail of Schumann’s scoring goes missing. Everything flows with total naturalness.”
Here is the Schumann Symphony No 1 ‘Spring’:
And next, here is the conductor, Robin Ticciati, and some of the orchestra members, talking and playing excerpts from this album:
Tags: Robin Ticciati, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Robert Schumann, Symphonies, “Spring”, “Rhenish”
