Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Symphonie n° 9 en ut majeur, D 944, "La Grande"

Residentie Orkest The Hague
Jan Willem de Vriend, direction

Volume 3 de l’intégrale des symphonies de Schubert porte la couverture de ce CD. Les précédents, consacrés aux quatre premières et à l’inachevée sont passés un peu inaperçus ce qui est dommage. Réparons l’oubli. Jan Willem de Vriend a désormais quitté l’orchestre de la résidence mais le travail effectué entre 2015 et 2019 s’entend dès les premières mesures. Son interprétation trouve sa voie à mi-chemin entre les grandes gravures traditionnelles germaniques qui font entendre un Schubert précurseur de Bruckner (et l’on en revient toujours aux fameux enregistrements de Furtwängler) et les récentes versions "historiquement informées". Ici l’orchestre joue sur ses instruments "modernes" habituels mais l’effectif est plutôt restreint (moins de soixante musiciens) et les reprises sont respectées y compris celle de la gigantesque finale. Malgré des tempos allants, on frôle les soixante minutes. De Vriend ne cherche pas le côté crépusculaire dans l’œuvre, il la fait rayonner avec une belle énergie et une franchise qui culmine justement dans la course haletante du finale, enivré de son propre mouvement ou le tourbillon du scherzo. Un bel apport à une discographie considérable donc et un coup de chapeau mérité à un chef trop peu connu chez nous. (Richard Wander)

For about 150 years it was believed that Schubert composed his Ninth Symphony in 1828, not long before his death but, musical scholarship being a continuous process, this theory was later disproved. It was discovered in the late 20th century that in fact he composed most of this work three years earlier and revised it in 1826 and 1827. Following a period of poor health, 1825 was a better year for Schubert, while his finances were also improved. Schubert never heard a single performance of many of his works, including this great symphony. When it was rehearsed in 1827 at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, the string players complained that passages in which a rhythmic figure is obsessively repeated, especially in the finale, were unplayable. In May 1824, Schubert attended the first performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Beethoven revolutionised symphonic form, expanding its expressive range enormously, his Ninth Symphony in particular being conceived on a much grander scale than any previous symphony. Schubert was just one of many composers influenced by Beethoven’s achievements. Many scholars have suggested the various ways in which Schubert was influenced by Beethoven, but the most extraordinary aspect of Schubert's mature music is its complete individuality. The compositional techniques, the handling of tonality and structure, and the orchestral sound of these two contemporaries have very little in common. Schubert’s own profound originality is all the more striking for its emergence at a time when Beethoven's impact on the development of the symphony was so revolutionary and far-reaching.