Brahms Symphony No. 4 -- The Best?
discman -- Thu, 04/17/2008 - 17:03
I was a college student when I bought Guilini's recording of the Brahms Fourth with the Chicago Symphony on Angel (vinyl) recorded in 1969.
Recently, I got my new turntable set up, and I couldn't believe what a wonderful LP this is. Is there a better, more romantic recording of this one?
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If you want to stay with a Guilini interpretation of the Brahms Symphony #4, try to find the EMI boxed set with Guilini conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra. You will find it "less dry/strident" and more full-bodied than the Angel, particularly in the massed strings.
The Bruno Walter reissue on Classic Records is quite good if you like a more romantic "old school" interpretation. I do. The good news is that it is still available. Don't be put off that it's a Columbia, because it's one of the six-eyes ones (When Columbia was at the top of its game).
If you're interested, the Leinsdorf/Boston/RCA and Maazel/Cleveland/London albums are very good, too, but these are out of print. I've heard good things about the van Karajan interpretations and even had a line on one with the tulips, but got out-bid. I'm still looking.
Another Brahms #4 of merit is the Boult recording on EMI with the London Philharmonic. It has a lot of the majesty you get from the Bruno Walter interpretation but it isn't as slow.
Some folks fault Walter for his slower tempos (tempi?), but I think they allow the music to bloom and lets one hear more of the musical nuances unfolding. It is certainly a romantic interpretation, but isn't this romantic music?
A more modern interpretation is the Maazel recording on London with the Cleveland Orchestra. The Cleveland Orchestra of the late 70s (and 60s, too) puts most others to shame.
Fortunately, I tracked down the DGG "tulip" recording of von Karajan conducting all of the Brahms Symphonies, including #4. It's a great set, particularly if you like your Brahms with a little "fire."
Enjoy!
Jim
Brahms fourths? Well, Bernstein on DG is magnificent--especially the last movement, a really epic realization. Bruno Walter in stereo equally so--such energy and engagement. I've never been a big Reiner fan, but the performance he did for Readers Digest (reissued by Chesky) is superb: very disciplined. And then too there is Carlos Kleiber's on DG: anything by Keliber fis is worth hearing, anything. Finally, don't forget the Sanderling set: during the seventies this was very, very highly regarded by one and all. Like Bernstein, like Kleiber, Sanderling's always worth searching out and hearing.
I've never warmed to the Szell/Toscanini school of conducting Brahms: too lean, too lacking in warmth, inflection, and depth of feeling. And Karajan--well, forgive the cliche, but too slick for me.
But I do plan to search out Levine's set with Vienna, I think. A couple of decades ago he did a magnificent first with Chicago, and his conducting these last ten to fifteen years has been unfailingly rewarding. If you've not heard his DG set with the MET Orchestra of Strauss's Death and Transfiguration and Don Quixote, you are missing some of the most beautiful sound and playing I have ever heard.
I've always had a difficult time with Brahms because I find a lot of his material to be over-wrought and boring; however, his best works are incredible, like his violin concerto and particularly his later solo piano works which are immensely innovative and beautiful. He was an inconsistent composer, but he had many moments of brilliance. I've performed the 4th symphony and it is certainly the best of them.
Heh heh, sorry that had absolutely nothing to do with what you posted about. I listen to the DG Kleiber recording on CD. :wink:
EBF: I didn't think any seriously entertained this view of Brahms since GB Shaw of a century ago. I can understand how Brahms can seem overwrought (especially in his formal complexity and developmental passages), but boring really escapes me.
You might enjoy the Bruno Walter stereo recording on Sony.
--ps
Hi Paul,
Perhaps because I went to a conservatory and was forced to ingest copious amounts of 19th Century music, over time my taste for the period was tested and now I feel as though I need to be deeply impressed by any Romantic work in order to appreciate it. When I said "boring" that was most certainly a personal opinion, and I do think that Brahms's music is first-rate, even if I have a hard time really "getting into" it. I am very impressed by his later piano music which I find to be innovative and forward-looking.
jimhannon1 wrote:Fortunately, I tracked down the DGG "tulip" recording of von Karajan conducting all of the Brahms Symphonies, including #4. It's a great set, particularly if you like your Brahms with a little "fire."
Enjoy!
Jim
Jim's mention of the classic Von Karajan DG recordings prompts me to suggest an alternative at the opposite end of the spectrum, both musically and politically(!). The Klemperer/Philharmonia recordings are magical and magestic on EMI/Angel from 1958 to 1962. Very good (given the age of the recordings) rbCD reissues are readily available.
While on the subject of Klemperer and Brahms, I must recommend the 1962 EMI recording with Schwarzkoph and Fischer-Dieskau of "Ein Deutsches Requiem" which is fabulous and maybe the performance for the Ages.
Bob Bubeck
I vote for Kleiber (Deutsche Grammophon 2532 003 on vinyl) - technically amazing playing and the audio quality is DG vinyl at its best. The opening chords of the final movement really make you jump out of your seat.
I was in a musician in high school in LA when Giulini was there...use to go to the LA Phil quite a bit...one of the all time great conductors!
I concur with the Kleiber DG. Great !
I would want to add, in obviously dated recordings, any of the several Furtwangler versions, for me the best recordings of any of Brahms symphonies.
I agree with Tabare about the Furtwangler(s) from '43 and '49. Sound may be weak, but the performances are extraordinary.
I'm late in the game, but I had a live recording of Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra that was rich in every way. The 4th is my absolute favorite of Brahms (and one of my favorites of all) because of that recording. I can't remember if I taped it from a live broadcast (it was on cassette!) or just from a radio broadcast of a previously taped recording.
>> I can't remember if I taped it from a live broadcast (it was on cassette!) or just from a radio broadcast of a previously taped recording.<<
I am almost certain that you copied it from a previously taped performance. Philadelphia Orchestra performances were taped (back then) in the Acadamy of Music for WFLN in Philadelphia and then distributed for syndication for broadcast on FM stations around the US. Ormandy was an excellent interpreter of Brahms and I have several wonderful memories of hearing them play Brahms symphonies and concerti in the Academy during the 1960s. The PO of that period was a truly sumptuous orchestra with many of the best first chair musicians in America and a great (and sometimes underestimated) conductor.
Those were fabulous times!
Bob Bubeck
Keliber or Bernstein on DG. NO reason to listen to others. The Keliber is perfect.
I agree with the honorable Shaw – please forgive me, it's just my personal view – Brahms is a square. Of course he has his moments, especially in the solo piano works, but my general impression is that he struggles too hard – without coming very far – to get beauty into his music. Some conductors and soloists manage somehow to make him enjoyable despite this. From my vinyl collection I do enjoy: Barenboim/Barbirolli in the piano concertos, Anievas and Lupu in some of the solo works for piano. In the violin concerto Szeryng/Monteux is great. Of the symphony recordings I´ve heard I like Horenstein's second in a live recording on the Unicorn label. Solti's complete cycle on Decca with the Chicago Symp. Orch. is not bad either. Actually, from my point of view, any too powerful and dramatic approach to Brahms just brings out the worst in him. To get Brahms enjoyable you have to bring out the lyrical, delicate side. Maybe in the future we will get "ironic" approches – I wouldn´t be surprised.
Cheers!
Lake
To my ears Paul Paray's LP recording beats them all but I can't find it reissued on CD.
Anyone know if it has been?
To answer my own question, yes, I've found Paray's 4th on CD & all these year later I still think it wipes the floor with all others, including Berntien's.