作曲：Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
指揮：Christian Thielemann
樂團：Philharmonia Orchestra
錄音：London, All Hallows, Gospel Oak, 7/1996
CD編號：Deutsche G. 453 482-2
資源出處：my own cd
專輯介紹：
Schumann - Symphony No. 2 in C major Op.61
舒曼的C大調《第二號交響曲》，沒有標題，完成於1846年，同年的11月5日首演，由孟德爾頌指揮演奏。舒曼在1845年9月寫信給孟德爾頌，說自己的精神狀況不好；其實舒曼的音樂本就極其複雜，他的音樂境界完全不同於孟德爾頌，他的音樂世界是孟德爾頌所陌生的；所以老師笑說：當孟德爾頌指揮舒曼的第二號交響曲首演時，心中不知作何感想？
這首曲子的特別處在於要先講解第三樂章，然後再回頭聆聽第二樂章；不然第三樂章的慢闆，實在會使人聽不下去。不過這也是磨鍊我們欣賞音樂能力的大好機會。第三樂章分成A→B→A三大段。A段中也使用了「呼喚」的音型，但和孟德爾頌的完全不同；法國號的聲響，好似迴蕩在森林的上空；週遭的安靜，襯托出個人的孤單。舒曼的音樂錯綜複雜，這裏更是「灰色中的灰色」，很慢而且很重。音樂的重量有點來自貝多芬，但以舒曼的方式來表達；也就是說舒曼吸收了貝多芬的音樂，成長為自己的風格。很慢的慢闆（2拍子），充滿了表情，有點像浪漫後期的馬勒。
B段是賦格。再進入A段時，因為有前面B段對位的音樂，所以這裏的A段是「高織度」的音樂（前面的「織度」較低）。舒曼音樂中表情的緊密、深沉，也是受了貝多芬的影響，不過舒曼仍然是以他自己的方式表達出來。
第二樂章乍聽有一點像孟德爾頌，可是孟德爾頌是不會寫如此麻煩的音樂的。詼諧曲的型式。SCHERZO→TRIO→SCHERZO→TRIO→SCHERZO。第一個S有點像孟德爾頌的「仲夏夜之夢」，然而卻複雜得多。第二次的T有16小節的賦格。CODA速度加快，效果極好。
此時的舒曼或已精神錯亂，然而他的音樂仍是極為精采。
補充：
精神病的藝術家可以從他的作品中發現蛛絲馬跡，這在名畫家梵谷的作品中可以看出線條、畫風的改變，同樣的，我們以舒曼第二號交響曲的創作上就可以做相當有趣的症狀診斷，根據樂評家的說法，這首樂曲的第一樂章主題短小而劇烈起伏，意思誇張而不連貫就像精神病病人的思考中斷、節奏、和聲有時讓人不明就裡，不知道是高深莫測或者是在幻想的境界。第二樂章的詼諧曲，混亂有如火焰亂噴，被形容成地獄的舞蹈。第三樂章則是病態歇斯底裏的慢闆，好像靈魂深處無奈的感情，直到最後一個樂章才恢復到他原始的創造力。事實上，舒曼給友人的信中也提到他創作的心路歷程是寫到終曲樂章好像才突然醒過來一樣。
——教育手拉手- miki9111/文
Schumann - Koncertstuck For 4 Horns And Orchestra Op 86
- Posted by: Fenwick 12/01/2006
……The so-called French horn (it did indeed originate in a French hunting horn, but the Germans were the first to use it for purely musical purposes) entered a new and fertile development during Schumann's lifetime via the application of valves, allowing the instrument to play all the notes of a chromatic scale. Previously, the technique of the hand-in-the-bell "stopping" of the tone had made many notes available in addition to those of the higher overtone series and in the late eighteenth century horn music and horn virtuosi were widely popular (Cf. Mozart's four horn concerti, written in part for his Salzburg friend Ignatz Leitgeb). But the new opportunities brought by the valves were slow in being realized; most horn players at first merely used them as an aid to key-changes, like the old remove-able crooks, and composers ?even until Brahms ?persisted in writing in the older horn style, believing it to be the only "right" horn music.
And so Schumann's Konzertstiuck op. 86 for four horns, two of them with valves (though all are played on valve horns today) , must stand as an imaginative and progressive work of instrumentation ?though, to be sure, the composer was habitually reckless in his enthusiasms for' new media and often went far beyond caution, as in the present case. The music still remains extremely difficult and, perhaps for this reason is not often heard in concert. (On records, corrections are always possible, a blessing in such music!) Putting aside alike the traditional square fanfares and open fifths of the classic horn and the newer, phlegmatic, far-away sound of Weber's (as, later, Humperdinck's and Brahms') horn music, Schumann plunges his four instruments straight into a wild allegro ?they must leap and run like so many stallions, with fire in their eyes. Indeed, there is a peculiarly animal quality to this music, the four instruments prancing like some quadruple team of great chargers dragging a Roman racing chariot……
—— Classical RECORD TRADER