This is the fourth Schubert symphonies cycle to appear in period instruments. After Frans Brüggen and the Orchestra of the XVIII Century, Roy Goodman and the Hanover Band, and Jos van Immerseel and Anima Eterna, Marc Minkowski and Les Musicians du Louvre join the company with these live Vienna performances.
As expected they are very well played, cultured and lively performances. In the first 5 symphonies I still like Brüggen best for his easy charm, and inbred nobility, but Minkowski is excellent, there´s really nothing to complain about. Where Minkowski scores big time is in the Ninth, the one disappointing performance with Brüggen.
Minkowski´s Ninth is decidedly a post-Furtwänglerian affair. Tempos are not strict, and rubato is freely but judiciously applied. This may not be a strict purist ideal performance, but Minkowski realized that it would be impossible to keep performing early XIX Century symphonies with strict, unvarying tempos without sounding like identical copies. For example in the tricky first movement coda, Minkowski does the Furtwängler stop-and-go thing. Mackerras and others have proven that it´s possible to play it "a tempo", but the other way also works and the result is thrilling. After listening to it a couple of times I think that this is a truly great performance that gives us something of both worlds, it may not be the ultimate answer, but it works.
