Product Description

Following on from John Eliot Gardiner's critically acclaimed recordings of the symphonies of Beethoven and Schumann, SDG are proud to b e releasing the first disc in a new series exporing teh music of Johannes Brahms. Recorded live during last autumn's Brahms and his antecedents tour, and showcasing the four symphonies as well as Brahms' major choral works, this series is an important milestond for SDG heralding teh development of the label beyond the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and teh REnaissance choral repertoire which have so far dominated its catlogue. Brahms' large-scale music is brimful of vigour, drama and a driving passion - says John Eliot Gardiner in his introductory notes. One way to release these characteristis is, for the conductor, to set his symphonies in the context of his own superb and often neglected choral music, and that of the old masters he particularly cherishede and studied (Schutz and Bach especially) and of recen heroes of his (Mendelssoh, Schubert, and Schumann). This way, says Gardiner, we are able to gain a new perspective on his symphonic compositions, drawing attention to the intrinsic vocality at the heart of his writing for orchestra. Composing such substantial choral works as Schicksalslied, which also features on this release, gave Brahms invaluable experience of orchestral writing years before he brought his first symphony to fruition. Solemnity, pathos, terror and jubilation are all experienced and encapsulated before they come to a head in the finale of the first symphony.

Track Listing

1. 1. Un poco sostenuto - Allegro
2. 2. Andante sostenuto
3. 3. Un poco allegretto e grazioso
4. 4. Adagio - Più andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #138023 in Music
• Released on: 2008-10-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Single, Import

Customer Reviews

One fantastic CD
This CD pleased me very much.First of all the Monteverdi choir is, today, one of the most impressive vocal ensembles . The Mendelssohn, in this CD , for a Capella choir , sounds magnificent. And the version of the superb Song of Destiny is one of the best I heard. The first three tracks are the sufficient reason to buy this record , but after we can hear one of the most beautiful versions available of the first Symphony of Brahms. The orchestra play so well, and the transparency, all the time ,make you hear things that simply don't appear in others versions.I am very happy to hear this CD, and I'm anxious to listen the others Symphonies. After the wonderful work with the Cantatas of Bach, the Monteverdi Choir and Gardiner, with this superb orchestra,shows once more the serious intentions of this new label.

Interesting and well played, but I doubt Brahms would recognize it.
The musicianship displayed on this recording is of a very high order, and the sonics are very good. This is a performance that creates a new Brahms First for the modern world, a Brahms that speaks to us.

This should not however be confused with Brahms as Brahms would have heard it. Brahms died in 1897, the phonograph was invented in 1877, and flat disc records in 1881. We have an ample auditory record of what musicians of Brahms' time sounded like, and this is not even close.

We have recordings of Joseph Joachim (the violinist for whom Brahms wrote his concerto) as well as other violinists of Brahms' time, and clearly vibrato and a lot of portamento were used. Joachim's vibrato is spare, but to use none at all, and no portamento, is not in keeping with the known performance practices of Brahms' time.

Beyond those primitive early recordings, some musicians who knew Brahms, conducted for Brahms, and heard Brahms conduct lived well into the mid-twentieth century, when electric recording techniques were available.

If you are interested in hearing something close to what Brahms must have heard, look into Felix Weingartner's recordings from the 1930's. Weingartner was in his mid-thirties when Brahms died; Brahms heard him conduct his Second Symphony, and liked what he heard. Weingartner also heard Brahms conduct his Third and Fourth symphonies.

The standards of orchestral playing were not as high in the 1930's as they are today, and there are imperfections, but this is the closest to "authentic" Brahms as it is possible for us to have. The recordings themselves were made using an electrical process with microphones, and are not primitive.

A period Brahms First, for those who can take it, but the choral pairings are tremendous
This is an exciting CD, even for a major non-fan of Gardiner's. It opens with a strikingly dramatic funeral march for chrous, winds, and timpani -- Begrabnigesang, Op. 13 -- that was the first effort of a brilliant 25-year-old to set chorus and orchestra together. I had never heard of it, much less listened to it, but Brahms has discovered the same stern, uplifting Protestant tone that would characterize the German Requiem. Gardiner's exemplary Monteverdi Choir is asked to sing in period style without vibrato, which is irritating, but it suits the work's quasi-archaic monody.

This is followed by a spectacularly vivid account of Mendelssohn's 'Mitten wir in Leben sind,' here expressed with theatrical excitement rather than chruchy reverence. It was written a capaella and gives the Monterverdi choristers a chance to display their perfect intonation and disciplined ensemble. Completing the generous choral portion of the CD is a more familiar Brahms piece, "Schicksalslied" (Song of Destiny) Op. 54, a mature work that rarely makes an impression on me. But here, even though indulging in every quirk of period style, Gardiner manages to inject more vitality than I would have expected -- the faux Baroque manner relieves the music of dated Victorian piety.

Which leaves the main work, the First Sym. The four symphonies have received barely any period-style readings on CD, although there have been some small-scale ones (notably from Charles Mackerras and Daniel Harding) that employ orchestras the size of those in the smaller capitals of Europe in Brahms's day. Here Gardiner loses me -- the blunt, thwacking timpani, skimpy, zingy string sound, and blaring brass set my teeth on edge. The pacing seems rushed and brusque. Gardiner's fans love his music-making for exactly these qualities, however. I can't fault the Revolutionaire et Romantique forces for their ability, so we are spared painfully out-of-tune strings.

Would Brahms recognize any of this as authentic? Plenty of conductors and musicians who played in Brahms's lifetime or who forge a link to the Romantic era went on to make early recordings, none of them remotely in the style esposued by Gardiner. Being full-blown Romantics, like the composer himself, they played in romantic style. Oh well, the choral works are so exciting that they are worth the price of admission on their own. Now the HIPsters can grumble.