I was referring to Beecham's approach to Schubert's symphonies in general, not to any recording of the Fourth (which, as you say, does not exist), so I'll amend the review to make that clearer.
I did not mean that the recordings in this DG set were made for Decca; I should have said that "the bulk of his recordings made for Philips, now on a Decca box set, were made during his tenancy as chief conductor of the Lamoureux Orchestra". Again, I will amend my review to clarify. Markevitch tended to hop about from label to label.
In his extended review of the Markevitch box, Ralph Moore notes:
"However, just as he did with Schubert’s Third Symphony (see CD 3 above) and rather like Maazel in his BR Klassik box set, he also pushes hard in the Fourth here, somewhat to the detriment of its prevailing mood of broody, sombre grandeur, but that urgency lends it a kind of quiet desperation and it is certainly never routine, even if I prefer Beecham’s more considered approach".
The comparison with a Beecham version of Schubert 4 is enticing. I am sure Beecham admirers round the world will be pleased to know such a recording exists but, considering that no such recording, live or studio, has ever been issued, could Ralph tell us where to find it?
Also, Ralph describes most of these recordings as having been made for Decca. As I understand it, Markevitch made a couple of recordings for American Decca with the Symphony of the Air, but all the recordings discussed here were made by Deutsches Grammophon (long before they had any connection with Decca).
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