Carl Schuricht Collection

With his overwhelming urge to communicate and an unbearable need to compel, conductor Carl Schuricht was nobody's idea of a kapellmeister -- a time beater dedicated to transmitting with all due solemnity the sacred texts of the Great German Composers. On the performances in this mammoth 20-disc set of recordings made with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart in the '50s and '60s, Schuricht shows himself to be a man on a mission: to spread the gospel of living music. In repertoire that ranges across two centuries -- there's a disc of Wagner and a disc of Haydn; two discs each of Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms; four discs of Mahler; five big discs of Bruckner; a disc split between Schumann and Mendelssohn; plus two discs of lesser known composer's like Reger, Pfitzner, Goetz, Volkmann, and Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek -- Schuricht gives them all equal attention and devotion. For the most part, his tempos are quick. Even in Bruckner's Adagios, Schuricht is always driving the tempo forward with no time for lingering over modulations. And for the most part, his tone is intense. From Haydn to Mahler, Schuricht's performances have the kind of linear strength that distinguished Weingartner, but without his emotional coolness fused with the kind of rapt concentration that distinguished Furtwängler, but without his emotional excitement. But most of all it is Schuricht's determination to make the best possible case for every piece -- Beethoven's heaven-storming Ninth, Bruckner's star-spanning Eighth, or von Reznicek's pear-shaped Theme and Variations for large orchestra and baritone solo after the poem "Tragische Geschichte" by Adelbert von Chamisso -- that makes this massive 20-disc set worth hearing. Although most of the recordings come from the pre-stereo '50s, Hänssler's sound, if inevitably dated, is generally sharp and clear. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide