COMPOSERS: Schubert
LABELS: DG Originals
WORKS: Symphony No. 3 in D; Symphony No. 8 in B minor (Unfinished)
PERFORMER: Vienna PO/Carlos Kleiber
CATALOGUE NO: 449 745-2 ADD 1979
Hardly generous playing time, but in every other respect this disc deserves the strongest possible recommendation. In Schubert’s Unfinished, Kleiber brings an extra degree of dramatic intensity to a work whose very familiarity all too often inspires routine interpretations.
The earlier D major Symphony is no less invigorating and revelatory, Kleiber investing the outer movements with tremendous rhythmic drive, yet managing at the same time to preserve the music’s charm.