Schubert: Symphony No. 9 “The Great“ (1947) Karajan/Vienna

Franz Schubert Symphony No 9 in C Major “Great“ D. 944 1. Andante - Allegro ma non troppo (0:07) 2. Andante con moto (13:18) 3. Scherzo. Allegro vivace - Trio (27:05) 4. Allegro vivace (25:33) Herbert von Karajan, conductor Vienna Philharmonic Recorded in 1947 Vienna The ninth symphony of Schubert has an interesting history due to its creation and the extraordinary demands it placed on orchestras in its early years. History tells us that it did receive an academic performance during the composer’s final years but not much more. Much of the attention the symphony got in its earliest years are due largely to the enthusiasm of Robert Schumann, who was shown the score during a visit to Vienna by Schubert’s brother Ferdinand, and returned with it to Leipzig, praising the symphony for its “heavenly length“ in a famous article from 1839. In spite of this notoriety, the work still remained mostly unplayed due to the extreme difficulties it imposed for orchestras, especially in the second movement which places such demands on the horn players, and the difficult final movement which is built upon a triplet figure in the strings. Nineteenth century string players would joke and complain about it often, and orchestras in Paris and London outright refused to play it when Mendelssohn offered it in 1842 and 1844. This brings us to the current performance from the early recording career of Herbert von Karajan. In a comment from this period he stated that he did not consider the 9th to be great music. Whether his opinion modified over time is unknown, but he did record it multiple times. If we take the “Gold Standard“ recordings of it such as Szell, Furtwangler, Boehm, etc., we can hear that the younger Karajan was not as patient with the music as the previously mentioned conductors were. All the same, his considerable talent is very much in evidence and the Vienna Philharmonic is more than up to the task, making this is a recording worth listening to. High fidelity 78s were a reality by 1947. The present recording still has a few pops here and there which have been left untouched for the sake of fidelity. Full acoustic restoration (2023): Paul Howard - The Yucaipa Studio We do not monetize on this channel and our posts are commercial free. If you wish to support this kind of music restoration you can buy us a cup of coffee at: