Sandor Végh - Franz Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6, 8, 9 (2009) CD-Rip

It’s a shame that Végh never recorded a complete Schubert symphony cycle: he was virtually unmatched as a conductor of classical period music. No one knew better how to float a melody (to hear his way with the opening of the Fifth Symphony check out my review of the dreadful Minkowski cycle). It was a combination of characterful phrasing, perfect balances, and (crucially) players encouraged to get involved in the interpretation and characterize their individual parts. In other words, these performances are true collaborations.

Listen, as a typical example, to the opening of the scherzo of the “Great” Symphony (sound clip), and note how each entrance has its own special charm and attracts your attention, all the while maintaining ideal textural clarity. This is great conducting; when listening you simply feel that the music can’t go any other way. These performances are also available in the Brilliant Classics complete symphony box, shackled to Roy Goodman’s vastly less accomplished versions of the remaining works. Happily, you can this set and supplement it either with another excellent complete cycle (Blomstedt, Wand, or Harnoncourt), or the missing individual works. Wonderful. -- David Hurwitz