The new disc celebrates Tamas Vasary's debut on record as a symphonic conductor, and it seems to me a great success. Here is another case of a musician who has made a fruitful transition from piano keyboard to podium, and there is no doubt that he is in firm and confident control of the proceedings. In the introduction of the Scottish Symphony's first movement the mood is at once positive and purposeful, and the music moves forward with a strong cumulative feeling to the Allegro whose un poco agitato marking is faithfully observed in Vasary's precise attack and quite marked but natural sounding fluctuations of tempo. The Scherzo bubbles along very attractively, while the Adagio is adorned by the most tender, lovingly shaped phrasing. A sharp, vigorous, almost jaunty quality characterizes the main Allegro section of the finale, and I was particularly impressed by the excellently managed coda.
The Italian Symphony is equally successful, with a superbly poised, vivacious first movement a beautifully paced, persuasive Andante a charming third movement with an enchantingiy phrased trio section, and a fast, but featherweight finale. Collins's recording is very good indeed, but sounds just a shade synthetic. Has a touch of reverberation been added to the acoustic?
Muti's mid-price EMI Studio coupling of the two symphonies dates from the mid 1970s and enjoys very good sound. But, with apologies to EG, who gave the CD reissue a favourable review last March, I find Muti's conducting brash and clumsy, with choppy phrasing and heavy rhythms. There are several other very good couplings of the two works, and I listened to Dohnanyi's warmhearted, quite large-scale performances on a midprice Decca Ovation disc with much pleasure. But unlike Vasary and Muti, there are no first movement repeats here, and the early digital sound is a touch glassy. Dohnanyi's recent Telarc/Conifer remake of the Scottish Symphony (coupled with Die erste Walpurgisnacht) has no repeat either, but the recording is superb and the conducting still more attractively warm and characterful.
The most magical performances of the two symphonies for me are those of Abbado, whose beautifully played and recorded DG versions couple the Scottish Symphony with the Schonen Melusine and A Midsummer Night's Dream Overtures, and the Italian with the Reformation Symphony. In Abbado's conducting there is a particular combination of vitality mingled with tenderness, and a wide-eyed, almost innocent quality which seems to match the music perfectly.'