01. - 04. Symphony No.1 in B-flat major, op.38 'Spring' [29'17]
05. - 08. Symphony No.2 in C major, op.61 [35'51]
09. - 13. Symphony No.3 in E-flat major, op.97 'Rhenish' [29'50]
14, - 17. Symphony No.4 in D minor, op.120 [27'16]
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich conducted by David Zinman
Arte Nova 82876 57743-2 [recorded October 2003; CD issued 2004]
[CD-rip; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans]
Recording venue: Tonhalle ZurichRecording engineer: Simon Eadon; Producer: Chris Hazell
Posted following a request in the c-box, this set of the Schumann symphonies was one of the first to offer period style, if not all period instruments - here only the brass and timpani. It met with a mixed response when first issued but I find it on the whole very successful. The light textures and 'air' are much more attractive than Zinman's earlier set with the Baltimore Symphony.
Tempi are generally swift (much the same as in his Beethoven symphony cycle) but well moulded although it is perhaps a pity that Zinman doesn't divide his strings; which might have delivered even greater clarity. Zinman opts for the 1851 revised version of the fourth symphony.