The “big” news here is that Frank Beermann uses “the ‘Urtext’ of the new Schumann Symphony edition by Joachim Draheim”. Not that the horses are particularly frightened: what we actually hear is a further variation on the “Schumann-lite” option that has proved so popular in recent years, a very listenable variation as it happens, because in addition to keeping a low calorie count Beermann manages to retain the sweet centre that is such an essential ingredient in all four works. He’s also good at transitions, such as the acceleration from Andante un poco maestoso to Allegro molto vivace near the start of the First Symphony, the Allegro not too fast though when the strings busily respond to the energetic first idea you sense a minute drop in tempo to keep up. Happily, the effect isn’t noticeable on the repeat. The use of vibrato is fairly “regular” throughout, which means the First Symphony’s Larghetto claims a tenderness and simplicity that is very much its home territory, while the finale is breezy but unhurried.

The high-point of Beermann’s Second is the Scherzo, where the excitingly fast tempi never sound hard-driven and where the Trios are well integrated, tempo-wise, into the rest of the movement. The first movement is relatively unaffected, unlike on a fascinating recent Hänssler version (a coupling of the Second and Third Symphonies) with Michael Gielen conducting. There, dynamics are dramatically underlined…the Hänssler booklet-note admits that Gielen has “changed” the odd detail in the interests of greater clarity. Likewise at the centre of the Third’s first movement, at the point where the horns announce a broadened version of the principal theme’s opening, Gielen has them play with mutes, and his finale follows on from the Feierlich fourth movement with uncommon delicacy. Beermann’s manner is more self-effacing, at times equally gentle (ie at the start of the Third’s Scherzo), though I like the muscular emphasis he places on the penultimate episode in the finale (at around 8'31") before firing off at top speed for the closing pages.

As to recent comparisons, I retain a fondness for Fabio Luisi’s Vienna Symphony set, which is personal in a way that I feel Schumann interpretation needs to be, while on the vintage front no self-respecting collector should forget the poetic Rafael Kubelík (either in Berlin for DG or in Munich for Sony) or the bracing Wolfgang Sawallisch in Dresden.