SCHUBERT: Rosamunde Overture, Sym. 8 "Unfinished" SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

Franz Schubert is one of the pillars of classical music and wrote beautiful music of all kinds from string quartets to large symphonic pieces. He consistently produced amazingly beautiful melodies and harmonies. Although he became famous after his death and is now one of the most popular classical composers, he achieved little musical success before he died at 31.

Two of his many interesting large orchestral pieces are these two shorter works. The Rosamunde is an overture to a ballet and Symphony #8, the Unfinished, is one of the nine he wrote. (During the Romantic period it was apparently the custom to write 9 symphonies then die.) 

Schubert's 8th Symphony, the "Unfinished" is one of the most popular pieces of classical music and there are many excellent recordings of it to choose from. Leonard Bernstein's is one of the best. He is a conductor one seldom goes wrong with and his recording of this Symphony is really good.

For both pieces on one recording (where they belong) the Barenboim recording is maybe the best. The last moment of Rosamunde in some parts should sound like one large string instrument being bowed and the whole hall resonates so you can feel the size of the hall and the air in it. At least a good recordings do that.

Also below is an excellent spacious recording of the Rosamunde by Ansermet

These two pieces were particularly popular with the gang of teenaged boys I grew up with whose main obsessions were girls, football, boy scouts, drinking, and classical romantic music like this and these - Berlioz and Rossini.