Schubert from Dresden
Janowski's first purely orchestral Schubert recording
This is Marek Janowski's first purely orchestral Schubert recording. He has already collaborated with the Dresdne Philharmonie on Pentatone in Beethoven’s Fidelio (2021), Puccini’s Il Tabarro and Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana (both 2020).
The Eighth, the so-called “Unfinished” unveils itself with a sense of blissful inevitability here: I am reminded of the great Günter Wand in this symphony (a Festival Hall performance with the BBC Symphony Orchestra is indelibly etched in my mind, so there is little higher praise for Janowski). The recording, made in the wonderful Kulturpalast, captures the beautifully warm sound of the Dresden Philharmonic perfectly (remember, we heard them recently under Michael Sanderling as part of these Dresdner Festspiele in Shostakovich and Britten).
If Janowski doesn't quite find the depth of Wand, it's a close-run thing. Janowski's Schubert is a touch more volatile, with more overt drama. But in amongst that deama is serenity, and Janowski seems able to enter it at a moment's notice.
Allegro moderato (the first movement's indicator) and Andante con moto (the second's) can lie close together. Janowski takes the second movement quite quickly (it is in 3/8, are all), but it is of a completely different ilk, fluent, flowing. Here he differ from Wand: there is so much of the pastoral bout Janowski, and it suits the Dresden sound to a tee. The syncopated sting underpinning plangent woodwind solos is so touching here (und 6"20):
The 'Unfiished' becomes a journey in and of itself under Janowski. It also has its own individual sound, something that only eally makes itself known when ....
... onto Janowski's reading of the Ninth. Suddenly, sunlight is everywhere, and there is a different type of flow, one which is unencumbered .
One thing about the Ninth is that it leaves the orchestra nowhere to hide. To succeed, the dynamic juxtapositions have to be clear-cut and hand-in-hand with supreme accuracy. Again, the exposition repeat makes perfect sense. Janowski's grasp of rhythm and pulse is supreme, and that is exactly what this piece needs to succeed:
Complementing this is the perfect gait of the Andante con Moto (it is exactly that), with oboe soloist an absolute delight. Linearly, this is a revelation: rarely have Schubert's processes been so well laid out. But this is no Sinopoli-like deconstructionist approach; instead, the essence of Schubert's heartfelt language speaks directly to us, each motivic imitation as natural as the fall leaf on water the graces the front cover. It is also clear Janowski has rethought this symphony from the ground up: see is an unforced individuality here that comes of depends study (another Wand similarity!):
I love the mix of light and heaver rusticity in the Scherzo. This s music shot through with life, blissfully and faithfully rendered. This becomes a massive statement in Janowski's reading, a Schubertian adventture:
The finale is unstoppable, Janowski and the Dresdeners clearly taking the 'vivace' (lively) to heart. It's fast, but not rushed, just alive, the woodwind melodies of unforced natualness:
I enjoyed Concerto Budapest's recoding of the Ninth a while ago, but this new Dresden version supersedes it. Don't miss this one, captured on one Hybrid SACD of just a tad under 80 minutes.
This disc is available at Amazon here; streaming below:
