Brahms: 4 Symphonien

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This was one of the least successful of Bernstein's projects for DG. His Brahms was always pretty wayward, but in addition to his usual stop-and-start approach to the music, he's slowed everything down by half, making the result dull as well as demented. There are some great moments in the First and Third symphonies, particularly, and the playing is gorgeous, but these performances simply aren't competitive. --David Hurwitz

Tracks:

Symphony No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 68: Un poco sostenuto - Allegro
Symphony No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 68: Andante sostenuto
Symphony No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 68: Un poco allegretto e grazioso
Symphony No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 68: Adagio - Allegro non troppo ma con brio

Tracks:

Symphony No.2 In D Major, Op.73: Allegro non troppo
Symphony No.2 In D Major, Op.73: Adagio non troppo - L'istesso tempo, ma grazioso
Symphony No.2 In D Major, Op.73: Allegretto grazioso (Quasi Andantino) - Presto ma non assai - Tempo I
Symphony No.2 In D Major, Op.73: Allegro con spirito
Academic Festival Overture, Op.80

Tracks:

Symphony No.3 In F Major, Op.90: Allegro non brio - Brahms
Symphony No.3 In F Major, Op.90: Andante - Brahms
Symphony No.3 In F Major, Op.90: Poco allegretto - Brahms
Symphony No.3 In F Major, Op.90: Allegro - Brahms
Variations On A Theme By Joseph Haydn, Op.56a - Brahms

Tracks:

Symphony No.4 In E Minor, Op.98: Allegro non troppo
Symphony No.4 In E Minor, Op.98: Andante moderato
Symphony No.4 In E Minor, Op.98: Allegro giocoso - Poco meno presto -Tempo I
Symphony No.4 In E Minor, Op.98: Allegro energico e passionato- Piu allegro
Tragic Overture, Op. 81

Amazon.com

This was one of the least successful of Bernstein's projects for DG. His Brahms was always pretty wayward, but in addition to his usual stop-and-start approach to the music, he's slowed everything down by half, making the result dull as well as demented. There are some great moments in the First and Third symphonies, particularly, and the playing is gorgeous, but these performances simply aren't competitive. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Listen to each symphony a few times before moving on to the next one..........2007-07-13

For the past 25 years since I've been colecting classical music recordings, getting to know and appreciate Brahms has taken a long time. Brahms doesn't seem to have the more immediate appeal of Beethoven, Mozart or Tchaikovsky. He is often described as "thick", even though he was one of the "Romantics".

Yet, little by little certain pieces of Brahms have indeeed grown on me. This set of four CDs is a good way to obtain the four Brahms symphonies all at once. My advise is to listen to each symphony a few times before moving on to the next one. It takes a while to really get the feel of the craftmanship and the warmth and tenderness underneath these ostesibly austere works. It is like a fine wine or delicate pastry that must be savored.

The first symphony is powerful, passionate and quite grand. The second is a bit more pastoral. The third is very fine and classy. The fourth is also very passionate and actually somewhat emotionally charged (especially in the first movement).

Of course, the thing about Brahms is that he is utterly unprogramatic. The music is not meant to stand for wind or rain or mountains or "the witch's dance" or what-have-you. For that reason, it may be difficult for some people to get a hold of Brahms. You have to let the layers of music talk to you.

Maestro Bernstein is, of course, very good at unlocking every morsel of flavor and goodness from these symphonies (perhaps a bit too much so for some listeners). It all depends upon what you like, but I think that Mr. Berstein's adds a touch of style to these pieces. Indeed, Bernstein's sense of grandness is in the vein of Bruckner or Mahler.

If that "grand late Romantic" fashion appeals to you, then this is a good set of Brahms symphonies for you.

Comparisons:

Symphony #1 (Karajan)
Symphony #2 (Guilini; Gunther Wand)
Symphony #3 (Fritz Reiner)
Symphony #4 (Charles Munch)

It's hard to face the truth.......2006-04-26

It's very unusual finding customer reviews that publicly bash the editorial reviews given for a particular CD. It's even more unusual when an editorial review is being bashed while it's completely justified in it's criticism. I myself am a profound Bernstein fanatic, but even I have to admit that these Brahms performances are getting in the way with the music, up to a point of total deprivation.

'Highlight' of the set is the unbelievable slow first movement of the Third which rather sounds like a truck riding on square wheels. Quite frankly, I was shocked. There's no flow whatsoever and to make matters worse, Lenny insists on adding the repeat, so we are faced by the same slow and stumbling experience. Quite unbearable. The second symphony fares better, but not by much, whilst the First and Fourth offer the same liabillities presented in the Third. The Concertos and Overtures are easily dispensed with.

I do not like giving Lenny's efforts less than satisfactory recommendations, but this is practically the first and only time I ever had to give just one star for his recordings. The fault quite clearly doesn't lie at editorial reviewer David Hurwitz' feet, but all the more at Bernstein's, which famed collaboration with the - to my humble opinion - extremely overrated Vienna Philharmonic, is often as indifferent or reluctant to play anything they do not particularly like.

However, It's a good thing, mind you, that inferior recordings exist. They bring out the best in those recordings that really belong at anyone's top list. In that perverse way, Bernstein's Brahms is quite useful.

An intensely personal approach.......2005-10-11

David Hurwitz overstates his objections, but it's true that for many listeners Bernstein's Brahms cycle from Vienna is overwrought. At this period in his career Bernstein tried to wring emotion from every bar of music; when he succeeded, audiences at his concerts felt that he came closest of any living conductor to recreating music as if it was being composed before their very eyes.

But his intense involvment works less well on records, in part becasue we attend concerts with more focus and concentration than we give to listening at home. These CDs can sound overcooked, and the tempi are undoubtedly slow. In the Fourth Sym., for example, Bernstein is slower in every movement than my versios by Klempeerer, Karajan, Kleiber, and Furtwangler. I don't own any Brahms from Celibidache or Knappertsbusch, two committed slow pokes, but Bernstein is in their vicinity.

If you connect with his intensely personal and involving style, then Bernstein''s cycle will appeal to you. There is no other conductor outside of Furtwangler who approaches Brahms so emotionally. But if your ideal is Mackerras, Szell, or Harnoncourt, all fine Brahmsians of a cooler breed, this cycle might be poisonous.

I ran like hell.......2005-07-21

I heard these when they were first released and my response was "OH GAWD!" Look, whether you like it or not Bernstein degenerated into a first-class kook in the later part of his life, when he was working for DG. Talk to anybody who knew him back then. His mannerisms, as I've learned from long hours with genuinely mannered yet coherent conductors like Furtwangler, are mannerisms. He was like a tripped-out hippie guru that everyone mistakes for a genius for all the wrong reasons; largely because he's convinced himself he's a genius. There was little I liked about these ponderous and portentious dinosaurs or anything else of his from that era and I'll go to the mat with any critic that says otherwise. His earlier recordings of everything were less glossy but much better. By this point in his career he was as far from Brahms as the Moon is from the Earth--with all that implies.

Please look around at plenty of other Brahms interpretations before getting all slime'd on this one. Klemperer, Jochum, Skrowaczewski, Harnoncourt, Mackerras, Furtwangler, Wand, Neville Marriner on Hanssler, dozens of others; ANYBODY but this freak and that Deutsche zombie von Karajan! Wander in that quieter, saner, more responsible Brahms realm and then, instead, if you really want to drop acid, get naked, and run through the woods screaming like a loon come back to these recordings and knock yourself out.

Down with the tyranny of David Hurwitz!.......2004-02-11

I find the writings of David Hurwitz to be patronizing and offensive. His reviews on Amazon (which are intended to be opionated and educational) all too often wind up being irritating and uninformative, replete with sweeping over-genralizations that leave me wondering if Mr. Hurwitz has ever actually listened to a single CD he has reviewed. They are also annoyingly predictable: endless praise for Richter and Mutter, etc., endless disdain for any historic or period performances. He criticizes orginality in performances and, unfortunately in many cases, the home reviewers at amazon sheepishly agree with whatever he says. I quote from his review of Goodman's Beethoven cycle, the greatest period recording of these masterworks, "These performances are so terrible that it's hard to believe anyone took them seriously...Utterly grotesque". Isn't this a little harsh for recordings that have been highly praised elsewhere and have recieved a home review average of 5 stars? Rather than pointing out the positives of an alternative approach to a piece, the proud Mr. Hurwitz has fallen to downright slander, while he elsewhere desperately panders his idols with repetitious adulation. There are many examples of this an Amazon. I also suspect that his rather bourgeois values have infected the whole "essential CD's" section of Amazon, which has the potential to be highly informative to listeners new to classical music.

Brahms: 4 Symphonien; Haydn-Variationen; Alt-Rhapsodie

Average customer rating:

A Master's Brahms

Brahms: 4 Symphonien; Haydn-Variationen; Alt-Rhapsodie

Manufacturer: Capriccio
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000001WSZ
Release Date: 1995-04-16

Customer Reviews:

A Master's Brahms.......2005-08-15

I have been a fan of Kurt Sanderling's magnificent analog Dresden Brahms cycle for 30 years and wasn't too keen to investigate this Berlin cycle, recorded digitally in 1992. And it didn't help that the usual Brit and American critics almost unanimously panned it as being slower and much inferior to the Dresden performances (still available on RCA/BMG.) But the critics are wrong: Sanderling's Berlin Brahms remake offers some of the most insightful Brahms conducting I've ever heard. Yes, Sanderling's tempos tend to be slower than in Dresden, but that's neither here nor there. What is important is that Sanderling's tempos invariably work in relation to each other so that musical texture and harmonic relationships are wonderfully articulated and defined. This is some of the richest sounding Brahms you'll ever hear, but it's also amazingly transparent. Some of that achievement is due to the gorgeous sound quality achieved by Capriccio's engineers, but most of the credit is Sanderling's, the result of very careful balancing of orchestral choirs. Brahms once said something to the effect that melody per se didn't fire his composer's imagination, but a good bass line was absolutely crucial. Sanderling understands the structurally foundational importance of the Brahms bass, that quite literally everything in a Brahms composition develops out of it. As a result, with Sanderling Brahms's symphonic arguments develop inexorably and with a marvelous cumulative effect. Not flashy, not hysterical-sounding, but tremendously exciting nevertheless. In retrospect, we can now appreciate that Kurt Sanderling (now in his nineties and retired) was the last of the great German conductors, an artist whose musical insights deepened over the length of his career. Nothing proves that point better than these Brahms performances with the (now defunct) Berlin Symphony Orchestra. As good as his earlier Dresden cycle is (and it is spectacularly fine), Sanderling's valedictory Berlin cycle is finer still. It is an amazing achievement. Although the set is spread out over four discs and is quite pricey, it is worth every penny!

Average customer rating:

Three Star Mono Sound 5 Star Performance
Absolutely magnificent
Another 5 Stars for Jochum's Brahms
Thanks!
Burning Hot Brahms!

Brahms: 4 Symphonien

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies
Beethoven: Symphony No.9 'choral', 'egmont' Overture
Bruckner: Symphony No. 6; Weber: Overtures [Australia]
Beethoven, Mozart: Violin Concertos / Schneiderhan, Jochum
Schubert: Symphony No. 9; Haydn: Symphony No. 88 / Furtwängler

ASIN: B000001GS0
Release Date: 1997-01-28

Tracks:

Symphonie No.1 - C-moll Op. 68: 1. Un Poco Sostenuto - Allegro
Symphonie No.1 - C-moll Op. 68: 2. Andante Sostenuto
Symphonie No.1 - C-moll Op. 68: 3. Un Poco Allegretto E Grazioso
Symphonie No.1 - C-moll Op. 68: 4. Adagio - Piu Andante - Allegro No Troppo, Ma Con Brio
Symphonie No.3 - F Dur Op. 90: 1. Allegro Con Brio
Symphonie No.3 - F Dur Op. 90: 2. Andante
Symphonie No.3 - F Dur Op. 90: 3. Poco Allegretto
Symphonie No.3 - F Dur Op. 90: 4. Allegro

Tracks:

Symphonie No.2 D-dur Op. 73: 1. Allegro Non Troppo
Symphonie No.2 D-dur Op. 73: 2. Adagio Non Troppo - L'istesso Tempo, Ma Grazioso
Symphonie No.2 D-dur Op. 73: 3. Allegretto Grazioso (Quasi Andantino) - Presto Ma Non Assai - Tempo I
Symphonie No.2 D-dur Op. 73: 4. Allegro Con Spirito
Symphonie No.4 E-moll Op. 98: 1. Allegro Non Troppo
Symphonie No.4 E-moll Op. 98: 2. Andante Moderato
Symphonie No.4 E-moll Op. 98: 3. Allegro Giocoso - Poco Meno Presto - Tempo I
Symphonie No.4 E-moll Op. 98: 4. Allegro Energico E Passionato - Piu Allegro

Amazon.com

Everyone seems to agree that this mono Brahms cycle is one of the great ones, and the only question that really matters is a personal one: can you put up with decent mono sound, or must you have stereo (or to go a step further, digital?). The matter is further complicated by the fact that Eugen Jochum rerecorded this music in fine stereo for EMI, and those performances are also available on two twofers, for about one and a half times the price of this set. It's your call, but by all means do sample this marvelous conductor's inspired way with Brahms. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Three Star Mono Sound 5 Star Performance.......2007-05-27

At Rhapsody they have Jochum's Brahms symphonies 1 to 3 posted and this "not ready for prime time" sounding Brahms 1 to 4.

This set is not quite as bad sounding as some of the early 50s and earlier "historic" recordings, but it also is far from as good as sound can get. His other Brahms symphony postings just sound wonderful and they too are greatly played. These recordings are kinda like going into the ocean and getting used to the cold mono water! Eventually you get used to the cold water, but you are still thinking how great it would be if it was only a warmer.

There have got to be at least a dozen great Brahms cycles from the golden age of Analog (late 50s to 1980 when digital came into play) that simply smoke these cold sounding mono recordings and things only get better with some of the recent digital recordings.

This set reminds me a little of how Karajan's mid 50s Beethoven Cycle sounded. I enjoy that performance too, but the mono Analog water is a little to cold. Karajan soon went back into the studio in the early 60s and recorded his classic cycle with the BPO. In the early 60s we have Karajan perhaps peaking as an artist and Anaolog reaching for the moon as far as quality goes. Unfortunately, there is only so much that can be done by remastering. Who know, perhaps in 10 or 20 years that end of the recording industry will greatly improve and breath new life into some greatly performed and sub par recorded classical.

Absolutely magnificent.......2005-10-04

Well I was looking for Karajan for the symphonies. As I din't find in the record store, I listened, curious, to this set. I did not know it existed. What a surprise!!! Wonderfull interpretations. Full of passion, energy, and that "autumnal fragance" so typical of Brahms. They don't seem bland at any moment. Concerning the sound, it is truly great, not a problem. Main melodic lines inside orchestra are well audible.
To sum up one of the best symphonic cycles, and the best at this price.

Another 5 Stars for Jochum's Brahms.......2005-04-04

I've heard and been dissatisfied with many recordings of these symphonies. von Karajan puts me off with his typically overweight strings; I can barely hear the tympani in the intro to the 1st. Klemperer, though one of my favorite conductors, affirms his reputation for dragging allegros. Haitink is too civilized, cool and restrained. Toscanini was at his best with Brahms, but marred by poor sound quality. Same for Furtwangler on both EMI and M&A - great performances, but limited dynamic range makes for rough listening at times. Brahms symphonies are made even more difficult to choose by the way record companies often release them across 3 or 4 CDs rather than 2.

With Jochum, highly regarded for his Haydn and Bruckner, one has a choice between DG in mono and EMI in stereo. Only DG offers all 4 symphonies on 2 CDs, and there need be no worries over the late-mono recording - its the best of its time, very clean and dynamic in this excellent DG Originals remaster.

Best of all, the performances are really dramatic and exciting. Jochum & the BPO deliver a full-scale orchestral sound with just the right balance of agility and weight for all occasions, managing the pace so that Brahms' melodic and harmonic structures are beautifully shaped with neo-classical precision, recalling Bach as much as Beethoven, while gathering power for spine-tingling climaxes that leave the listener spellbound.

No set of Brahms symphonies has made a better impression on me than Jochum's. I've favored it for years now and always expect a sense of exhilaration whenever I play it. I equally recommend Jochum's set of Haydn's London Symphonies on DG as well.

Thanks!.......2005-03-29

Not much one can add to the reviews below. This is a great set.

Whoever was responsible for the selections in "The Originals" series and this recording is one, thank you. Priceless items were pulled from the Deutsche Gramophon back-catalogue that, in some cases, have been out of print for half a century. The remasterings have been exceptional. Many recordings I'd only heard about and never hoped to hear--this set, Sanderling's 1956 Rachmaninov 2nd, Fritz Lehmann's Brahms German Requiem, Jochum's mono Bruckner recordings to name a few--have been released. Add to that many exceptional recordings from the early stereo era and one can safely say that "The Originals" is possibly the greatest batch of Classical releases ever. Period.

Why buy old and sonically limited mono or early stereo recordings over something new and digital or worse? Simple. These are often interpretations by conductors with deep roots in the European classical tradition--the music is in their genes. Many knew the composers of pieces they are conducting, or studied under pupils of other composers or legendary conductors. Bruno Walter recorded a wonderful performance of Mahler's Second Symphony--he was Mahler's assistant when he was younger. Many premiered works that are now standards--Pierre Monteux conducted the first performance of The Right of Spring and 50 years later recorded it in stereo. The orchestras from these eras were often exceptional, primarily in their belief in the music. Some were ruled over with iron fists but subsequently played like demons. Stories abound of musicians being emotionally overcome by the music they were playing. (And one wonders if that happens at all these days)

So what you often lose in terms of high-tech sound (and often it's not as much as you'd imagine), you gain in fervor and commitment. Personally, I believe that's a grand understatement. When you hear the chilling savagery in the allegro of an old mono recording of Shostakovich's 10th (conducted by Mitropoulos) you're hearing an orchestra of probably largely immigrants, most of whom were touched directly by the horrors of Hitler and Stalin. You hear both their rage and Shostakovich's. German orchestras performing Brahms, Mozart, and Beethoven in the 50s and 60s are heaving everything they have into banishing demons. A legendary wartime performance of Beethoven's Ninth conducted by Furtwangler has been seen by some as an anguished attempt at an exorcism within the Reich itself. Danish orchestras, in the same era, performing works by Carl Nielsen are consciously working to bring his radiant light into a darkened world. The Sanderling Rachmaninov recording I mention was made only a few years after the end of the Stalin era and the relief is almost palpable. You will seldom experience such examples of belief in the spiritual power of music than you will in this era.

So if you're young and interested in Classical, maybe one of those lucky ones with great ears who's already realized no one will ever top Billie Holiday, or Ella, or maybe "The King", or Miles, or the Beatles, or Edith Piaf, or Charlie Parker, then you should give stuff like this a try. If those names resonate then you're probably already working with your own passion, music isn't wallpaper or mere lifestyle accessory for you. Bravo, prepare for a lifetime of great experiences! If you're older and allegedly wiser toss these older recordings at the young 'uns but, please, only with lots of humility. I'm often awestruck by the musical artists of early to mid Twentieth Century but especially by those of the post-war era.

Burning Hot Brahms!.......2004-12-30

If you like your Brahms burning hot like the blood running through your veins, then this Jochum set is for you!

Get ready to self-ignite!

Music Review: