Symphony No.9, The Great C Major,

Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Maxim Emelyanchev

Linn CKD 619
Full Price

The Review

Now in his early thirties, Maxim Emelyanchev is one of the new breed of conductors happy to straddle the fence between early and modern performance practice. This means that he brings an historically informed attitude to performances with orchestras not playing with period techniques, especially string bowing and tuning. The reverse is then true, he brings modern concert hall expectations to specialist ensembles. He has impressed in Handel with both the period players of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at Glyndebourne and the non-period ones at Covent Garden.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that he has fitted in neatly as Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, a group that has always been proud of its fresh approach. This first recording of theirs together is certainly fresh. It is also short – only 54 minutes of music on the disc – and very fast. The opening movement of Schubert’s Great C major symphony is marked walking pace, then lively but not too much. With Emelyanchev it is certainly lively but I defy anyone to keep up with him if that is how he walks. The second movement andante con moto implies an easing off of tempo, a modicum of relaxation – well, if this is relaxed, Emelyanchev must be a nervous wreck. He attacks every accent with murderous intent and races on his relentless way.

Schubert’s symphonies, it is true, were often taken by 20th century conductors at speeds more suitable to Brahms that to his more classical style and conductors like Roger Norrington did much to refocus on a more nimble approach. The trouble is, though, that if you rattle through the first two movements like a gale force 8, there is nothing different left to give in the Scherzo and Finale which are both marked Allegro vivace, implying greater energy than before. In Emelyanchev’s reading there is no room for such subtlety. He just rushes on regardless.

To be generous, this could be put down to youthful exuberance, a determination not to sound stuffy and to show that he and the SCO are not afraid of taking risks. That they accomplish beyond doubt. There is joy in the performance, I admit, though even that feels aggressive. The SCO plays superbly, as they usually do, and the relationship is at the early stage of mutual enthusiasm. As a reading of Schubert’s most successful and longest symphony, this is certainly exciting but as it careers along the road in a way that should get 9 points onto the conductor’s licence, it is hard to love.
SM