Schiff the cellist becomes Schiff the conductor. Schiff the musician's awareness of Schubert's alternating sad and sunny harmony brings captivating treatment of the Third Symphony's introductory woodwind falls (from 1'09''), and projection of the viola line at the end of this first movement's developments (at 7'12''). Both are cases where Schubertian clouds are soon to be swept away by the pure sunshine of the yodelling clarinet first subject, beautifully phrased here. The Allegretto slow movement—a contradiction in terms, as Kleiber (DG) pointedly demonstrates—is fleet, though not as fast as Kleiber. And there's amusement in Schiff's racy but not overdriven finale from bars 53-6 (0'34''): did or did not Schubert want a crescendo here? Schiff, unlike most of his colleagues, decides not, and he remains consistent in the recapitulation where Schubert (in my Eulenburg score) did actually mark one. A keenly observed Third Symphony, like the Overture, alert and stylish.
The Fifth is relatively easygoing, though it is surprising to find a modern-instrument ensemble taking the second movement Andante faster than Bruggen (Philips) and Mackerras (Virgin Classics) with period instruments, without, I should add, any feeling of undue haste. String vibrato is discreet and phrasing is generally less eventful than with the period-instrument groups. In neither symphony does Schiff cultivate dynamic extremes as does Abbado (DG), nor can his orchestra's playing completely match the 'finish' of Abbado's Chamber Orchestra of Europe (whose can?).
Some lovely flute playing (and tone) graces this Fifth, particularly in the Andante, and the Chandos balance is similar to the spacious Nimbus sound for the Hanover Band's period-instrument Schubert, but with greater clarity for the woodwind. Trumpets are a well projected presence in the Third Symphony.'