Schubert's Late Symphonies

Schubert Listening Challenge, part 6

Schubert never heard his symphonic masterpieces, the Eighth ("Unfinished") and the Ninth ("Great").¹ Robert Schumann discovered the manuscript of the Great Symphony in C Major in 1838, some ten years after the composer's death. Schumann knew a masterpiece when he saw it, and it was subsequently published, and the premiere performance was conducted by Felix Mendelssohn in 1839.

In style, the C Major symphony is quite different from Schubert's earlier orchestral music. One way to describe the difference would be to say that it is more Beethovenian than Mozartian, but that would be oversimplifying. It is larger in scale, both in terms of orchestral forces and length, than the earlier symphonies, and it performs a kind of Beethovenian methodology in its obsessive working and reworking of a few melodic motifs. As a result, it requires a great energy in performance to keep it from becoming repetitive and dull. Our recording, by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, certainly pulls this off. It sounds as fresh now as it did in the late 1950s, when it was recorded. There are many other great recordings of both of these symphonies, by the way, including standouts by “friends of PCF” Bruno Walter and Leonard Bernstein.

The Unfinished Symphony in B Minor had to wait even longer to be heard, with its premiere not occurring until 1865, but it may be an even greater work than the "Great" Symphony. A brooding but lyrical work, it has been called the first Romantic symphony. No one knows why Schubert did not finish it. He did make a sketch for a scherzo, but he never returned to it. I like to think that he came to realize that the extant two movements form a perfect whole as they are. My choice of recording for this is somewhat unusual. It was the first recording of the piece that I purchased, way back in the 90s, and I still love it: Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. (Mackerras may be due for a meet-the-artist playlist at some point.)

Links to the PCF Schubert Playlist:

The PCF Schubert Playlist on Apple Music

The PCF Schubert Playlist on Spotify

In one final post, we will listen to some of Schubert's late chamber music. Meanwhile, we will finish up the Emma Reading Challenge this week with a guest post by

Susan Bordo

and the final installment of my chapter-by-chapter analysis.

Thanks for reading, from my fancy internet orchestra to yours.

Here is a pic of the Royal Albert Hall, in celebration of the summer Proms, which you can hear on the BBC’s Radio 3. Photo by Matthew Waring on Unsplash

1. Look out for various numbering systems with these works. The symphony known as the 7th was never completed beyond a bare sketch, and so some recordings skip it in their numbering. You won’t go wrong, however, if you look for “Unfinished” and “Great.”