Philippe Herreweghe
is a conductor better known for historically oriented performances, but like some others in that field, he has taken up conducting Romantic repertory with conventional orchestras. With the
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
, he recorded the four
Schumann
symphonies at different times, with the project apparently delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. They're distinctive recordings that stand apart from those of, say,
Jordi Savall
.
Herreweghe
wisely declines to shrink his forces down to historical performance standards; his 38 violins seem to be the orchestra's regular complement, and there are no nods toward historical instruments in the other sections. Nevertheless, one can identify this performance as a product of the historical performance movement.
reins in his strings in many passages, revealing a wealth of subtle detail in the orchestration whose seeming absence was among the reasons these symphonies were undervalued for so long. The slow movements are full of very subtle shading, and though some may want more oomph in the outer movements, those are carefully etched as well.
keeps the tempos fixed, and the end result is a pair of performances that may remind those of a certain age of
George Szell
's readings of these works with the
Cleveland Orchestra
; they are dry but far from insensitive. The
, probably containing musicians who have worked with
before, responds well to his shaping of the two works. Sample and listen carefully to pick up on what
is doing here. ~ James Manheim