The Hanover Band & Roy Goodman - Schubert: Orchestral Favourites, Vol. 15 (2018)

In addition to Schubert’s Overture in The Italian Style that is very rarely performed – with reason, since it doesn’t present Schubert at his most inspired − but it is still worth knowing so as to notice how, at that young age, the composer was already creating his own language, while paying tribute to Rossini –, this selection features a gorgeous interpretation of the whole stage music from Rosamunde, two overtures (Alfonso und Estrella and Die Zauberharfe), and most importantly his Unfinished Symphony, one of Schubert’s absolute masterpieces. Roy Goodman and the Hanover Band give an ample, extremely colourful interpretation of the piece – it is the first symphony for which the composer used trombones, and quite generously at that; an orchestra section also featured in his Great Symphony in C major –, with just enough reflection and, above all, a sense for phrases and articulation, that most interpretations so often lack. These recordings from 1992 haven’t lost an ounce of their enthusiasm.