Schumann: Complete Symphonies

With his brilliant orchestra of period instruments Gardiner offers not just the four regular symphonies but a complete survey of Schumann as a symphonist.

John Eliot Gardiner strips away the old varnish and reveals Schumann in a new light.

Of all the 19th-century composers who have been given the ‘period instrument treatment’ in the last couple of decades, Schumann’s reputation has perhaps gained the most. Long criticised for his supposedly opaque orchestration, and for symphonic structures which fell somewhere between the tunefulness of Schubert and the serious integrity of Brahms, it has taken the clear textures and energy of the period bands to bring this music back to life. There have already been several reassessments on disc, but this handsome new DG collection strikes me as the best complete set so far.