Schubert / Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944 "The Great": 1st mvt (Szell)

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Symphony No. 9 (8) in C major in C major, D. 944 "The Great" (1826)

1. Andante - Allegro ma non troppo

Performed by the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of George Szell.

"In contradistinction to the 'Unfinished,' the C major Symphony survives as a complete four-movement work. Each movement follows the Classical model, with two movements in sonata form flanking a slow movement and a Scherzo. As a result of its large-scale form and the slow introduction which leads into the opening movement, the C major Symphony is the most Beethovenian of Schubert's symphonic works. Especially noteworthy are the original way in which the themes are developed, the interesting harmonic writing and the polished instrumentation. The symphony received its first performance in Leipzig on March 21, 1839, when the conductor was Felix Mendelssohn. Robert Schumann attended the rehearsals and later expressed his enthusiastic response to the work: 'Let me say right away: anyone who does not know this symphony knows very little about Schubert, a claim which, in view of what Schubert has already given to art, may be regarded as a scarcely credible form of praise. ... Quite apart from the masterly compositional technique, this work reveals life in every fiber, color down to the finest shading, significance everywhere, the most acute expression of individual detail and, spread out over the work as a whole, a Romanticism of a kind already familiar from other pieces of Schubert. And the heavenly length of the symphony, like a thick, four-volume novel by Jean Paul, for instance...The symphony made an impression on us such as no other post-Beethovenian symphony has ever made.' " - Nicole Ristow

Painting: The Fates Gathering in the Stars, Elihu Vedder