Schubert: Symphony No. 9, D 944 "The Great" by Josef Krips (2021-26 Remastered, London 1958)

Schubert’s symphony known as “The Great” is above all great for the absolute achievement it represents in Schubert’s symphonic art. Schubert gives the impression of having surpassed himself, definitively overcoming—one year after Beethoven’s death—the inhibitions that had long held him back in the face of his idol. Schumann, who in 1839 initiated the premiere of the work in Leipzig under the baton of Mendelssohn, was not mistaken, as shown by the long and now-famous article in which he became its ardent advocate.

Fortunately, the discography offers many magnificent interpretations, but that of Josef Krips has something special. Listening to this recording, one nevertheless has the impression of hearing the Vienna Philharmonic—and this is hardly surprising, since Krips learned his craft in the Viennese tradition, being himself a native of Vienna. From Weingartner, Krips learned to maintain a clear beat and precise tempos (without being rigid), as well as to respect interpretations that are sensitive yet without affectation. It was, however, with the London orchestra that he made his reference recording, endowed with a truly rare expressive power.

Of this orchestra, Josef Krips said: “I have conducted many good orchestras in my life,” he once wrote, “but such a connection with an orchestra I have never found. The music we make together is not only music; it is, I believe, the expression of a friendship—of a love—that is very rare between an orchestra and a conductor.”

Krips’s recording of Schubert’s Ninth Symphony, made with the LSO in London a few years after his tenure as chief conductor, gives an idea of how this relationship must have worked in practice. Josef Krips builds an interpretation of warm, good-natured vitality; nothing is forced, and the musical character unfolds with great naturalness and buoyancy.