Octo_Russ

Schubert - Symphony 8 'Unfinished' [Blomstedt-San Francisco Symphony]

When i first heard Schubert's Ninth Symphony, i fell in love with it, and it quickly became my favourite Schubert Symphony, Schubert's Eighth didn't have the same effect on me [even though it's the first one i heard], it's slowly seeped into my consciousness, but this year something has happened, i've wrote in my Blog about only two other Schubert Eighth's that i've played this year, one by Ton Koopman [6th September 2010], and the other by Lorin Maazel [7th April 2010], however each of these times the recording has been my 'recording of the month' in my home Journal, now i seriously feel that the Eighth is finally taking its rightful place at the top of my Schubert Symphonies in my heart, certainly a surprise to me.

Herbert Blomstedt is Swedish, and is now 73, the Schubert Eighth was recorded in 1990, this is one of these 'Decca Eclipse' series discs, i like these, they're full of great landscape pictures on the whole, very colourful, this one is by Hans Peter Huber, i guess Austria or Switzerland in the autumn.

Both movements were tremendously moving as i listened to them today, the first is in B Minor, but the second is in E Major, there's dark and gloomy threads running through the first movement, and even though they continue into the second movement, there's more of a lightness here, more of a pleading, it's this movement that moved me the most, there's lots of lovely things going on, it appears ghostly and mist like, by the horns [0:00+], and the sweet pleading violin strings come in [0:05 & 0:18], soft yet high in the treble, but the whole thing turns a shade darker and louder [1:09-1:34], a military march, where the timpani beat out a few times, a counter second melody comes in with a clarinet solo [2:14+], and the an oboe right afterwards [2:58+], very much mood setters, right afterwards the music turns louder and more military again [3:23+], but this time the timpani are quite forceful, and on this recording they are well caught indeed, making a very nice resonant sound, this is the highlight on this listening, noticing this timpani, this whole opening section is repeated again [5:01-10:08], but with the clarinet and oboe solos reversed, and those kettle drums pounding out again [8:20+], very nice, in some ways i'm glad Schubert didn't get round to composing a third movement, it would just break the spell of the mystery of this one, sometimes it's good to end on an unanswered mysterious question!.

Here's William Savola conducting the second movement on YouTube.