SCHUBERT

Symphonies Nos. 5 & 8

1. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major D485 - I. Allegro

2. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major D485 - II. Andante con moto

3. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major D485 - III. Menuetto (Allegro molto) & Trio

4. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major D485 - IV. Allegro vivace

5. Symphony No. 8 D759, 'Unfinished' (completed Newbold) - I. Allegro moderato

6. Symphony No. 8 D759, 'Unfinished' (completed Newbold) - II. Andante con moto

7. Symphony No. 8 D759, 'Unfinished' (completed Newbold) - III. Allegro

8. Symphony No. 8 D759, 'Unfinished' (completed Newbold) - IV. Allegro molto moderato

9. Rosamunde: Incidental Music D797 - Ballet Music No. 2 in G major

Members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / Sir Charles Mackerras

Like Beethoven and Bruckner, Schubert wrote nine symphonies, of which the first six were written between 1813 and 1818. The Symphony No.5 (1816) was not performed until 1846, eighteen years after the death of the composer. Schubert wrote it when he was not yet twenty, and it shows the extent to which he had taken in what his older contemporaries were doing (the melodic richness is reminiscent of Mozart), while at the same time developing his own personal style. A light and transparent Allegro is followed by a pastoral Andante con moto and an elegant Menuetto. The symphony ends with a vivacious finale that recalls the style of Haydn.

The Symphony No.8 also goes by the name of the “Unfinished” Symphony. Schubert began work on it in 1822, but for a long time it was assumed that he did not complete it, as only two movements were known for certain to have survived: an Allegro moderato dominated by a sombre theme in which elation and tenderness rub shoulders with tragedy, and a serene and mysterious Andante con moto. Several attempts have been made to reconstruct the remainder of the symphony, one of the most notable being that by the Schubert expert Brian Newbould.

Virgin Classics 6286052