"Holliger's profound empathy for Schumann shines through this outstanding performance which sustain." (BBC Music Magazine)

"Holliger is one of those musicians who hears what he conducts from inside, a crucial virtue in Schumann and neat way to disqualify curmudgeonly commentators who wrongly accuse Schumann of ineptitude in orchestration...Holliger is en route to a complete cycle...His may well be the one to go for." (Gramophone)

"Auspicious start to a Schumann cycle set to throw up a few revelations." (Limelight)

Is there a group of orchestral works in the Romantic canon more vexed than the Schumann symphonies? Indisputably lovely works that have long since won the affection of musicians and audiences, the symphonies' supposed deficiencies and inadequacies are nevertheless routinely, almost reflexively rehearsed. Authorities like Tovey, Lang and Dahlhaus have variously described their perceptions of the symphonies' shortcomings, while a later generation, John Daverio, Linda Correll Roesner and Scott Burnham among them, have insisted that Schumann be considered on his own merits, not Beethoven's. A similar long-standing ambivalence is discernible in recordings of the works. When Bernstein's first set was released with the New York Philharmonic in the early 1960s, its use of Schumann's unaltered scores was widely touted. Yet as recently as 2008 Riccardo Chailly's recording with the Leipzig Gewandhaus used Mahler's reorchestrations and a more recent set by Rozhdestvensky with the Estonian Symphony Orchestra on Melodiya uses George Szell's revisions of Schumann.

A new project which aims to record all of Schumann's orchestral music, including the concertante works and overtures , is now under way with the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cologne under the Swiss oboist, composer and conductor Heinz Holliger. The first instalment, recorded in January and March of 2012, presents the 'Spring' Symphony, the first version of what would become the Fourth Symphony, and the Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52. While the performances are unquestionably earnest and dutiful throughout, one yearns for moments that seem insightful or inspired. The playing is never less than highly competent without being particularly exciting. A rather contained and old-fashioned recorded sound is not helpful though, in and of itself, more lifelike sound reproduction could scarcely create compelling Schumann. Sad to say it is unlikely that this recording will be a stand-out in the Cologne West German Radio Symphony Orchestra's modest discography or, for that matter, in Holliger's more extensive one.

Fortunately there are many, many other choices. Furtwängler, always much admired as a Schumann exponent, recorded only the First and Fourth Symphonies, but these are available on several labels. Of more modern interpretations, few have garnered the enthusiastic accolades of the set by John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Though already 16 years old, for cutting-edge interpretative insights, brilliant sound and appropriately sized forces, these recordings have not been surpassed.

One of the great pleasures of being a classical music critic is coming upon a comparatively youthful group with only nine years of experience performing familiar repertory with a command and taste that in this release suggests complete maturity. Such is the case with this release, Volume 2 in what is a projected cycle of Beethoven's 16 masterpieces (I reviewed the first instalment in June 2013). Moreover, it is refreshing in its pairing of two contrasted works, the earlier Op. 59 No. 2 exemplifying Beethoven's 'middle' period, the later Op. 127 the beginnings of the more radical style that stamps the third and final one.

The Cremona ensemble suggests 'period' style in its astringent tonality but avoids the 'period' practice favouring lowered eighteenth-century pitch. (Those with very sensitive ears may feel that the group has tuned slightly low, but not enough to cross the border into an A=430 sonority.) In every way this relatively youthful group proves virtuosic, technically secure and free of any mannerisms. The opening movement of Op. 59 No. 2 boasts excellent balance and a bracing tempo lacking fussy ritardandos. Its second movement is beautifully sustained without any hint of affectation, permitting this 12-minute hymn-like section to speak for itself. The third movement Allegretto at 6'38" is almost a full minute faster than the tempo adopted by the Emerson Quartet, a difference that is audibly quite apparent. It may strike some as breathless, but considering how tastes can vary, others may find it thrilling. The Presto finale is just slow enough to permit the concluding acceleration that Beethoven demands for the coda to be clearly articulated.

The first of Beethoven's 'Late' Quartets (Op. 127) is also distinguished. Its first movement (Maestoso-Allegro) is a short six-and-a-half minute romp, at once terse, intense, yet filled with surprises and beautiful moments. The second movement, shaped by Beethoven's three marked changes in tempo, is conveyed with a welcome contrast sharply drawn. The third movement, tagged Scherzando, emerges as a witty scherzo, and the Allegro comodo finale emerges with a buoyant liveliness that suits the movement perfectly. Throughout, the sound is almost ideal: close and clear with ample presence. In some listening rooms, however, it may require a slight trimming of the upper frequencies. In no way, though, does this compromise what is clearly a most welcome release, one that does justice to the music and makes one want to hear more of what is clearly a distinguished ensemble.

To date, most integral surveys of Mendelssohn's string quartets seem to have failed, for one reason or another, to entirely live up to the sum of their parts. Amongst the most extreme instances has been a budget six-disc box from Brilliant Classics, which featured authoritative, even definitive accounts of the six quartets by the Gewandhaus Quartett, coupled with wearisomely indifferent performances of all the other chamber works for strings from a variety of ensembles, all proving a powerful deterrent. Then there's the now dated 1970s DG set from the Melos Quartet of Stuttgart, with its shrill and edgy recorded sound marring otherwise superb playing, while from Decca's budget Trio series, the Ysaÿe Quartet's cycle was all too often wayward and disappointing.

Amongst more recent contenders, however, the three-CD survey from the Emerson Quartet on DG seems to have the most to recommend it generally, with insightful and alert playing that's at its best exquisitely refined, and recordings of impressive naturalness and clarity to boot. Still, the hard-driven scherzo and surging, unrelenting passion of the playing in the finale of the E flat major Quartet, Op. 44 No. 3 might well induce plenty of physical excitement, but the sheer vehemence of the Emerson's approach here might not tell the whole story as far as this most serious of Mendelssohn's string quartets is concerned.

However, the ongoing Mendelssohn series from the award-winning Mandelring Quartett seems to grow in stature with each successive release in its Audite survey. Volume 3 of its traversal of the complete chamber music for strings includes Op. 44 No. 3 and two of the Op. 81 pieces for string quartet, though the major inducement here will doubtless be this prodigally brilliant performance of the Op. 20 Octet for strings, in which the Mandelring players are joined by the Quartetto di Cremona.

These eight accomplished players make an ideally blended and well-balanced team and their collaboration in this youthfully brilliant and constantly engaging masterpiece could be no more effective nor felicitous. While the bounding opening movement leaps and dazzles, as it surely should, the constant attentiveness to dynamic markings means that for once, contrapuntal exchanges between the inner voices are clearly audible, so the ear is constantly being alerted to happenings in the middle registers that often pass unnoticed, simply because for once, they can actually be heard as the composer intended! After a bewitching account of the songful Andante, the final two movements will amaze as mud, as they will delight, such is the puckish effortlessness and lightness of touch in the Scherzo and the mercurial brilliance of the closing Presto.

Heard on its own, the Mandelring Quartett gives a severe and gritty reading of the E flat major Quartet, imbued with a tensile rigour and courageousness that's perhaps not what one might automatically expect to encounter in this piece, but the difference is that here the musical gestures add up to something more meaningful than the headlong, occasionally mannered rhetoric of the Emerson performance. Especially good is the Mandelring's deeply reflective yet never indulgent account of the Adagio, one of Mendelssohn's greatest paragraphs, surely, even if it requires playing as unsentimental as this to make us appreciate its full worth after the more saccharine musings of the Emersons in this movement.

In sum, this is another outstanding release in this valuable series and, as with Volume I, reviewed in July/August 2012, it may be recommended without qualification.

The Romanian Sergiu Celibidache, who died in 1996, was one of the most eccentric conductors of the twentieth century. His refusal to make commercial recordings is legendary, but his artistic and philosophical arguments for this strict position were not really plausible to many of his fans. They wanted their idol to be immortalised on CD. So they were happy to learn that the maestro had transferred the rights of his numerous broadcast recordings to his son Serge. Under the auspices of the Sergiu Celibidache Foundation, established by the conductor's heirs, his musical legacy was released by EMI and later DG. Comprehensive editions of recordings made by Celibidache in Munich, Stockholm and Stuttgart came out, and in 2008 Orfeo added the Cologne broadcasts. In 2011 Audite opened another chapter of the Celibidache legacy by releasing the complete RIAS recordings on three CDs. This is an important document of the younger Celibidache, containing his complete RIAS recordings with the Berlin RIAS Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin and mainly with the Berlin Philharmonic, all of them remastered from original sources in the best sound quality possible (C 21.406; three discs). Now Audite again celebrate the great maestro with a second edition tided "The Berlin Recordings", made between 1945 and 1957 (CD 21.423; 13 discs).lt is also an impressive portrait of the fiery young Celibidache at the beginning of his career, his music making here being significantly different from the elegiac style we know from the late recordings. The edition is not only an extraordinary historical document but also a compilation of rare repertoire that Celibidache conducted mainly in his early years such as Cui's In modo populari, Op. 43, Gliere's Concerto for coloratura soprano and orchestra (with Erna Berger), Rudi Stephan's Music for orchestra and works by David Diamond, Edward MacDowell and Heinz Tiessen. There are few labels that can compete with Audite in booklet documentation and technical re-mastering standards (the company celebrates its 40th anniversary this year).

There is also interesting news from Hänssler Classic and its "Historic" series. In cooperation with the SWR (Südwestrundfunk) in Stuttgart the label has released Volume 4 of the Géza Anda Edition. Anda plays and conducts Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Camerata Academica Salzburg, recorded in 1960. The Concerto No. 5 with the Südwestfunk Orchestra conducted by Hans Rosbaud, taped in 1956, is of special interest because it is Anda's only recording of the work. And there are more examples of the sophisticated and timeless style of the Hungarian pianist (CD 94.223). The latest release from the "Historic" series is dedicated to Lorin Maazel. In January 1956 Maazel conducted in Germany for the first time (the Südwestfunk Symphony Orchestra in Baden-Baden) and his debut with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra followed in March of the same year. At that time Maazel already was famous for his precision, clarity and intellectual approach, characteristics that he had admired very much in Victor de Sabata, his main model. In December 1958 the 28-year-old Maazel conducted some core repertoire pieces with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Symphony No. 2 and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra. The readings are good examples of the conductor's decisive style in which he always strives for total control and perfection. Maazel has never conducted this orchestra again, which makes these live performances even more interesting (CD 94.224). On 22 February 2013 Wolfgang Sawallisch died, aged 89. He was one of the last famous German Kapellmeister, and he had an international career. He recorded for different labels, but few will know the live recordings he made in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra for Czech Radio. In memory of Sawallisch Supraphon have released these for the first time in a five CD set, which contains not only standard repertoire – Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 6 and Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 40 and 41, but also Janáček's Glagolitic Mass and Martinu's Symphony No. 4. Sawallisch often conducted the Czech Philharmonic, and he had a close relationship with Czech music (five discs; CD SU 4140-2).

The Romanian Sergiu Celibidache, who died in 1996, was one of the most eccentric conductors of the twentieth century. His refusal to make commercial recordings is legendary, but his artistic and philosophical arguments for this strict position were not really plausible to many of his fans. They wanted their idol to be immortalised on CD. So they were happy to learn that the maestro had transferred the rights of his numerous broadcast recordings to his son Serge. Under the auspices of the Sergiu Celibidache Foundation, established by the conductor's heirs, his musical legacy was released by EMI and later DG. Comprehensive editions of recordings made by Celibidache in Munich, Stockholm and Stuttgart came out, and in 2008 Orfeo added the Cologne broadcasts. In 2011 Audite opened another chapter of the Celibidache legacy by releasing the complete RIAS recordings on three CDs. This is an important document of the younger Celibidache, containing his complete RIAS recordings with the Berlin RIAS Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin and mainly with the Berlin Philharmonic, all of them remastered from original sources in the best sound quality possible (C 21.406; three discs). Now Audite again celebrate the great maestro with a second edition tided "The Berlin Recordings", made between 1945 and 1957 (CD 21.423; 13 discs).lt is also an impressive portrait of the fiery young Celibidache at the beginning of his career, his music making here being significantly different from the elegiac style we know from the late recordings. The edition is not only an extraordinary historical document but also a compilation of rare repertoire that Celibidache conducted mainly in his early years such as Cui's In modo populari, Op. 43, Gliere's Concerto for coloratura soprano and orchestra (with Erna Berger), Rudi Stephan's Music for orchestra and works by David Diamond, Edward MacDowell and Heinz Tiessen. There are few labels that can compete with Audite in booklet documentation and technical re-mastering standards (the company celebrates its 40th anniversary this year).

There is also interesting news from Hänssler Classic and its "Historic" series. In cooperation with the SWR (Südwestrundfunk) in Stuttgart the label has released Volume 4 of the Géza Anda Edition. Anda plays and conducts Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Camerata Academica Salzburg, recorded in 1960. The Concerto No. 5 with the Südwestfunk Orchestra conducted by Hans Rosbaud, taped in 1956, is of special interest because it is Anda's only recording of the work. And there are more examples of the sophisticated and timeless style of the Hungarian pianist (CD 94.223). The latest release from the "Historic" series is dedicated to Lorin Maazel. In January 1956 Maazel conducted in Germany for the first time (the Südwestfunk Symphony Orchestra in Baden-Baden) and his debut with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra followed in March of the same year. At that time Maazel already was famous for his precision, clarity and intellectual approach, characteristics that he had admired very much in Victor de Sabata, his main model. In December 1958 the 28-year-old Maazel conducted some core repertoire pieces with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Symphony No. 2 and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra. The readings are good examples of the conductor's decisive style in which he always strives for total control and perfection. Maazel has never conducted this orchestra again, which makes these live performances even more interesting (CD 94.224). On 22 February 2013 Wolfgang Sawallisch died, aged 89. He was one of the last famous German Kapellmeister, and he had an international career. He recorded for different labels, but few will know the live recordings he made in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra for Czech Radio. In memory of Sawallisch Supraphon have released these for the first time in a five CD set, which contains not only standard repertoire – Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 6 and Mozart's Symphonies Nos. 40 and 41, but also Janáček's Glagolitic Mass and Martinu's Symphony No. 4. Sawallisch often conducted the Czech Philharmonic, and he had a close relationship with Czech music (five discs; CD SU 4140-2).

Er [Geza Anda] verfügte geradezu beneidenswert über die Begabung, Musik jeder Ausrichtung poetisch aufzulösen und ihr auf diese Weise eine nach innen wirkende Sensation zu sichern.

Er [Geza Anda] verfügte geradezu beneidenswert über die Begabung, Musik jeder Ausrichtung poetisch aufzulösen und ihr auf diese Weise eine nach innen wirkende Sensation zu sichern.

Er [Geza Anda] verfügte geradezu beneidenswert über die Begabung, Musik jeder Ausrichtung poetisch aufzulösen und ihr auf diese Weise eine nach innen wirkende Sensation zu sichern.

The Mandelring Quartet have been garnering warm reviews for their Mendelssohn series which, enterprisingly, encompasses the complete string chamber music rather than just the quartets. They have been very well recorded, with plenty of immediacy, which captures the visceral and at times robust quality of their playing. For example, in the Op 81 Pieces there's a rawness in the Scherzo that has a kind of no-nonsense appeal. Yet I found myself longing for more clarity in the individual lines, something that the Elias Quartet convey wonderfully while still sounding hugely spontaneous.

The Mandelring capture well the bustling energy of the finale of Op 44 No 3. But turn to the Zemlinsky and you'll find a lot more yearning in the quietly grave slow movement, where the Mandelring seem less inclined to withdraw to a whisper. Also particularly effective in the hands of both the Zemlinsky and the Eroica is a tautness of intent in the Scherzo. The Mandelring by comparison sound a little less focused, their phrasing less precise.

This is an issue, too, in the Octet, for which they are joined by the Cremona Quartet, who much impressed me with their Beethoven earlier this year (6/13). Among modern-day performances, those led by James Ehnes and Daniel Hope are superlative and both achieve a far greater transparency of texture and variety of colour than here. The Scherzo in the new recording is less ethereal than some and somewhat earthbound as a result; and while the last movement has both direction and energy, it sounds generalised in tone compared to the finely textured Hope and co or the vertiginously energetic Ehnes.