this score is usually adjectives as twilight autumn. But Brahms was only 52 when she completed the work. Perhaps he felt resigned to life. Longing for the past, sure.
Of all his symphonies, the Fourth (1885) is the most imbued with old practices: The third and investment in sequence (between strings and winds of turbulent inner life) as the basis to configure all part, the experimental final a chaconne variations in the form of a sarabande on eight-bar theme, comprising a suction tolkiana cosmogony heroic pathos , ferocity and tragedy, and especially the transfer of vocalism medieval instrumental forces in the form of antiphonal conversation, the austerity of the medieval church modes drifting in harmonic and dramatic tension.
stubbornly embedded in the scheme of four movements, refuses instrumentation design to overcome the sixties and Beethoven. However, this pioneering approach to create a big way from a minimum of thematic material is the twelve-tone source. So how conservative or revolutionary? " A true tradition is not the testimony of a dead past, is a living force that animates and informs the present and ensuring the continuity of creation " (Stravinsky).
The correspondence reveals the ambiguity of his love life (human, all too human), and also his music finds its balance in two ways: the rapture and control the momentum and the economy, rage and discipline, romanticism and classicism. Perhaps it is this ambivalence is what generates the broad spectrum of interpretive approaches found in the discography.
confirmed Brahms's contemporaries one of the main features of your performances was the elasticity in the phrasing. This tradition was reflected in the original recording of Hermann Abendroth at the head of the London Symphony Orchestra (Biddulph, 1927), strong but technically inaccurate and deslabazada formally.
Felix Weingartner came to lead in the presence and with the express approval of the composer. Is a mediator of sober, stable, literal, neutral and non-interventionist, clarity and classical proportions, making a virtue of abstinence. Tempi precise and light, and crystal accents to get to the essence of the score. Weingartner brahmsianas bulky light textures with mellifluous voices and weightless half by the London Symphony Orchestra (Andante, 1938). The thirst for emotions call the next door.
our ears is fascinating style unrepeatable Willem Mengelberg conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam in 1938, eager to highlight the poetic elements of music, with ingredients extremely personal and expressive phrasing, unusual accents, and some idiosyncratic dynamics as sudden forte. Brahms himself said in the manuscript tempo changes to specific changes, then erased when sent to the editor. The reason, as is clear from his writings, is that " the musicians would come to them naturally ." Liberal expansions as bullientes tempo energy and numerous springs portamenti (landslides between notes) adding emphasis at key moments. Despite the meticulous preparation (or so) each time it sounds fresh, as fresh. Great attention to detail does not obscure the outline of the work together, something no doubt due to the continued study and interpretation of Bach's work by Mengelberg. The clarity of textures derived from its emphasis on balance of all the harmonic elements, for example, preventing metals from entering forte and thus attenuate ferrous brahmsiano velvet. Mention the quality of home recording Telefunken (low atmospheric pressure, due to the proximity of the microphones), which in the edition of Art One is an example of restoration on the projection of sound, dynamic and tonal fidelity. LYS option is ruled out for the abominable noise of the original slate.
knowledge is indispensable to the public concert of October 24, 1948 by Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker. This record has been published, among others, EMI and Virtuoso (with sound mate, light saturation and speed unstable). Audit has recently prepared a new edition from the tapes original RIAS (Radio in the USA-controlled sector of Berlin) proper tuning, the more variety of sounds, with good extension and spatially open, within the limits imposed by the length of the shot. Also added a slight reverb to dry up for the original sound of Titania-Palast cinema converted into a concert hall after the war. This invitation to the world of Furtwängler opens with a spiritual third where mortality of beauty comes from nowhere, this stark thriller turns into short bars in excited and vigorous, the usual accelerandi each crescendo (as proper technique director of linking the dynamic regulation of agogic tempo) and a turbulent coda to madness. Coughing and spitting various aggressive positions taken at the beginning of walking to subside in a warm and dense melodic lament, where the second theme sings Beethoven legato. The scherzo, Brahms mark giocoso, is carved in stone tools glass claims. In the finale (marked energetic and passionate allegro ) flows tormented and relentless momentum, going into a conflict visionary dream where tensions accumulate tubes to the devastation. Irresistible transitions: not simple to connect two ideas hodgepodge of different nature but areas of transformation, sometimes to a quite different field. Beethoven mode, the focus is emphasized by the percussion, which dominates the melody. In short, a radical choice that illuminates the burning orchestral variety (favoring the low and fine wood), the flamboyant expression of the strong accents, and composing a sweeping and brilliant reading. Remember that Lucifer means light bearer, the bearer of truth.
A brief note on other evidence furtwänglerianos: The preferred version in the forums by the tragic drama of his tempi is usually done with the same orchestra Berlin in December 1943. However, the issues handled (Tahra, Melodiya, Arkadia) sound tight, and above all, a cyclic noise of unknown origin that is percussing along the entire final movement unbalance the listener to schizophrenia. Salzburg's recording with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Orfeo, 1950) also has a terrible sound fundamentals opening bars.
Arturo Toscanini was 30 years when Brahms died. Although never personally agreed, considered him a contemporary, deserves a special place in his repertoire. The density and transparency of the strings of the Philharmonia Orchestra , probably at the zenith of its glory, was portrayed in this phenomenal concert takes sound harvested (Testament, 1952): The Apollonian conception in all its espledor, rail line in rhythm (with exceptions, the surprising escúchense rallentandi the concluding coda), but rigorously structured dizzying (the composer disliked metronomic rigidity and inflexibility in the interpretation of his works), sharp texture and articulation (the favorite phrase of Toscanini in the trials was "non mangiare piccoli you note). His address follows a vibrant intensity level, particularly appropriate in the outer movements, but that borders the abruptness and impatience in the subtle and ambiguous rhythms of plants. Dry and sharp accents, of timbre furious delineate the clinical interpretation and nothing elegiac. Forgive the slight cough at the clarity and definition of the document (discovered a hitherto unknown dynamic variations in the parmesan), which includes bursts of firecrackers that some pranksters released in the finale as spontaneous percussive effects. The Master remained imperturbable.
The first approximation of Bruno Walter in front of the BBC Symphony Orchestra ( EMI, 1934) was picked up by curious technique of continuous recording, duplicating several measures to avoid interruption of musical tide and give engineers time to prepare for the next album. However, this reading is not bitterness overshadows the posterior the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Sony, 1959). Its wide dedication to lied him a perfect knowledge of the subtle fluctuations of pulse brahmsianas permeate the songs, and that the composer himself called to become " with discrezione." Therefore, the phrasing is almost piano, soft, warm, pantheistic, and always supported by the underlying harmonic structure. Passionate succulent shades but also dynamic. Lethargic the errant , enjoyable as plebeian as its author, the scherzo . The tempo delinquency in the passacaglia drift into sentimentalization while the orchestral tissue acquires hypersensitive transparency. This page was support in the profession: Klemperer spat with disdain that "Walter is a romantic " and Toscanini that "melts moments." In fact you can find a certain condition, but always tempered by the appreciation of architectural form. Excellent sound, with low firm rich reverb.
business editor in 1962 Reader's Digest hired the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London to compile a selection of the most hackneyed of the repertory. It To clothed with several renowned directors: Horenstein, Boult, Krips, etc . In the late seventies was published briefly by the RCA , getting warm welcome criticism. It was however, the superb editing by Chesky, label specializing in recordings for audiophiles, that sparked a furious interest in this record, which still is used as a test sound equipment high flyer. The recording has an amazing presence, with a vast panorama, which roams the reverberation space. All this would have no importance if it were not accompanied by a memorable performance Fritz Reiner, that it regarded as the best of their discography. Energetic and rigorous tempi light with an aggressive rhythmic drive, unshakable variations finale, where the eruption buried metal strings. Reiner's legendary accuracy is not at odds with the warmth that the score needed everywhere, but find no introspection here tragic and heroic.
Carlo Maria Giulini in 1943 he spent nine months hiding in a tunnel with a family Jewish, while on the surface of posters with his face Roma in the Nazi troops persuade it to his capture and death. In this continuum of terror and despair studied the score of the 4 th symphony of Johannes Brahms. learning Perhaps this atrocious recordings could not be more darkly pessimistic. The scherzo minor problems with the New Philharmonia (EMI, 1968) are borne in the register (without trials and in one shot) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (EMI, 1969). An execution heir to the great tradition, which manages to combine the fluidity, the nerve and the expressiveness of the Latin School with humanism, the depth and constructive sense Germanic. Reverent before the work, Giulini revives the drama inside a warm phrasing, firmly focused on the warmth of the strings maroon socks, retaining the right bittersweet with a gentle touch popular. His operatic experience appears in re spiration theatrical errant. The passacaglia know give each episode its own likeness and integrate patiently in an organic and coherent. metal (then coached by Solti) is tamed, always clean but integrated into the solid wood, and only to the same conclusion unleashes its unrelenting power and gloomy. Take detailed sound, somewhat distant, with slight distortions. The last and felt wonderfully with the Philarmoniker Wiener (DG, 1989) is hampered by a tempi épicamente marchitos.
Las brasas toscaninianas se reavivan al escuchar a un exaltado y febril Carlos Kleiber en una de las escasas ocasiones en que se ha sometido a los estudios de grabación. La presencia klemperiana de las maderas abre una garbosa síntesis entre la incisividad del detalle y la disciplina de la lógica compositiva. Agógica y acentuación exquisitas en el tema del movimiento lento, que camina con presunción por the Strasse. The scherzo is the humorous sense, not the cabaret where Brahms played the piano for 13 years, but the aristocratic salon, where the percussion beat and elegantly dressed for the occasion, dancing with a narrow dynamic frigid. Its elegant rubato bill rests on the intensive analysis and not in the urgent emotion of the moment. This study spontaneity, inexorable precision in writing without being rigid, is the reconciliation in the emphasis of clarity Baroque passacaglia the end, where the champagne uncorked Kleiber ( Evohé!, Evohé! ) and flood bubbles relegation to the minor key conclusive, leading to Vienna Philharmonic at the limit of intoxication, but always keeping the glowing beauty of sound. Since its appearance (DG, 1980) has criticized the harshness of sound, crisp, sharp strident strings. Successive editions have managed to tune the transparency with warmth.
Intolerable romantic mind, overly perfumed solos, Leonard Bernstein tiptoes through transitions. Recreation is very wide, massive and relentless pulse expression, revealing the critical underlying dualism in the work, where, in the form innamovible braids come together notes outgoing, viciously brilliant, impetuous venomously, eloquently expressive, somewhat unbalanced, with sometimes tortured (strings in the adagio , bar 41), desperately angry (opening of the passacaglia ), distorted logic, emotional provocatively, torridly walterianas, contagious and persuasive. Lenny used scherzo drive without using their hands only movements of the head and shoulders , making each concert a celebration (personal) excessive, a rite (own) unacceptable. Be indulgent and spend a great time with the Philharmonic, Vienna (DG, 1981) . Register shocking dynamic range.
One day Sergiu Celibidache Furtwängler asked: " Master, how running this passage?, what is the tempo right? "The response was radiant," depends on how sound better. " Despite the power (in the geological sense) of the vocal textural smoothness is such that it could undertake a study orchestral timbre, in a last degree of perfection which facilitates appreciate the refined, expressive depth and sound perception of Romania, without Never give a sense of delinquency ( tempi brucknerianos but ever-changing). The interconnection of the lines is always extremely pure music, although this often alters the dynamic markings. EMI takes impeccable sound (with the Munich Philharmonic, 1985), preferable to that of DG (with the Radio Orchestra of Stuttgart, 1974), interspersed with vehement roaring that can only be due to the magician's voice underscores Celi " I want A Brahms German and sung with amplitude, not booed and hissed "abroncaba the orchestra at rehearsals.
Charles Mackerras revives the nineteenth-century scale of the Meiningen orchestra with which the symphony was premiered by placing second violins to the right of the director, as the old masters, thereby providing a dynamic sound and stimulating perspective. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra uses modern instruments but in some cases (for example, drums and metals) that have more rhythmic incisiveness. Although there is a certain amount of portamento in the strings and some deductions mengelbergnianas, will not find here the suggestion melancholy older versions, but that principle implies Wagnerian melody begin with a question, persisting in it, to accelerate slowly reaching the tempo several bars later. Sound magnificent collection takes the brief , with only two microphones and no subsequent blending (Telarc, 1997).
warned readers will know that the sound and style far more dependent on the performer to the instrument. Perhaps that is why the (dry) sound achieved with the old instruments by London Classical Players Roger Norrington is less attractive than Mackerras, especially in the lyrical moments, perhaps by making minimal use of inflections of tempo and articulation, vibrato and portamento (EMI, 1994).
Reconciling items melodic flow is a permamente challenge for the musician who comes to Brahms. If the option is pure Karajan melos, and Norrington chooses to emphasize the outline of the grounds with decision to bar becoming audible, John Eliot Gardiner achieves a joint breathed without the continued legato Wagner, highlighting the heritage of past (his passion for vocal music of the Renaissance and Baroque) in quasi phonetic nature of the work, while the variety of timbre, dynamic and textural musical discourse reflects its progressive nature, " Brahms uses the past as a means crossed the threshold of future. " To Gardiner music (the personality) of Brahms is a balance between opposites, hence the image refers to Borges' fire and glass. " The Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique articulates the archaic mode clearly distinguished choral groups, in dialogue with each other antiphonally. In terms of instruments, special color highlights the natural horns, so dear to the author, and transparency achieved by balancing rope and wood. An analytic, where the sentimental nature of some dynamic and expressive markings are ignored, far from the Mengelberg and Walter (although Furtwängler's shadow to take over the coda in the unchecked acceleration in the last 40 bars of the first movement). There are other details perverse abrupt and slow motion, like the gleaming presence of the drums, or the intrinsic quality danceable rhythms. At the end of the day, despite the scale of forces, it is intimate chamber music. The abruptness in tempi in external movements can induce a sense of urgency and sloppiness. Recorded full-fledged, combining spatial detail and, during a concert at the Royal Festival Hall (Soli Deo, 2008).
There are, of course, other notable versions, but sometimes miss a breath of poetic inspiration and personal
Igor Markevitch controls the Orchestre Lamoureux (DG, 1958 ) with accuracy, detail and brilliance. The peculiar timbre of the French orchestra challenges a curious experience.
Carl Schuricht is another toscaniniano debtor's legacy, which insures tempi, light and simple, with modest rubato to characterize each variation (extremely delicate n º 12, with its ghostly flute) without losing the sense of form. The recording (Ages, 1962) presents the usual problems in the mixtures (wood in the foreground, and soon after the bottom of the orchestra of Bavarian Radio).
Wolfgang Sawallisch contains the Vienna Philharmonic (Decca, 1963) in line with rigorous, objective and rational, serene sound balance, and short of inspiration.
That George Szell was an assistant to Toscanini is detected in the incisive style, textural clarity and rhythmic, and a certain disregard for the dynamics, not give in to romance and sometimes veering into the gloom. The measured tempo in the finale allows you to shore up its architectural sense. Recording lean, short on dynamics, The Cleveland Orchestra (Sony, 1967).
New Philharmonia Orchestra Leopold Stokowski (RCA, 1967) Focusing on the unique tonal range, which makes a subjective hyperbole chatterbox, without being rhapsodic amorphous.
Some critics demonstrate great loyalty to Kurt Sanderling recording with the Staatskapelle Dresden (Eurodisc, 1971): On the path between romantic and classical (as the best Giulini) gives a reading on earth, concise and restrained, soft, sharp attacks of broad tempi and sickly of rapture. His second attempt to Simphonie Orchester Berlin (Capriccio, 1990) provides better sound.
The Bernard Haitink with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam (Philips, 1972) is another interpretation calculated, rhythmically precise, wise to plan the games of tension and relaxation, but there is music (the Brahms especially) that support an approach only bad logic.
The recording Yevgeny Mravinsky direct leading the Leningrad Philharmonic (Melodiya, 1973) offers a full sound, colorful and sturdy, so it is even more regrettable that excessive rigidity in rhythms from marrying well with the Viennese adoptive Johannes Brahms.
Istvan Kertesz (Decca, 1974) approach would be in line with Haitink, but with the Vienna Philharmonic at its zenith. Excellent recording.
Karl Böhm Although often pigeonholed in the subjective tradition, this recording with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (DG, 1975) shows moderated, restricted, ordered, austere, noble, giving the feel of a lyrical asepsis.
"Beauty formless sound without meaning, because power without reason and without soul " said the distinguished British critic David Cairns about the recordings of Herbert von Karajan. Up to six times approached the Brahms Fourth Symphony. The 1978 for the Deutsche Grammophon version contains a very bright especially in its outer movements, but little chamber music textures of the intermediates are less convincing. Karajan achieved efficiently extracting the feature richness of the line of the Berlin Philharmonic, but with an excess of velvety legato, with a continuous vibrato lacquering as smooth a surface that hides the human presence.
The rhythmic gestures unrepentant Georg Solti with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Decca, 1978) in a recreation muscular, streamlined articulation in fast times, which preaches in the slow movements, with a section prominent metals, exalted and visceral.
Christoph von Dohnányi with the Cleveland Orchestra (Teldec, 1987) background, without risk. Forgettable.
Brahms's music has an emotional content that can not be neglected and their duality, sharp and tender, the director requires more than a good read, empty, no matter how splendid it is: Riccardo Muti is a self-made anachronism himself, a despot of the old school: impersonal and distant. Philadelphia Orchestra (Philips, 1988).
Cartesian spirit within the brain is a director of before, Günter Wand: The construction, true to the letter, is impeccable, but with the pulse so severely Viennese, who (secretly) echo lack of rabies in a Toscanini or a meditation Furtwängler. Takes live with the NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg (RCA, 1997).
giulinianista confesses Simon Rattle in Brahms. But it seems like the Berlin Philharmonic (EMI, 2008) which takes over and leads the interpretation as it has done in recent decades (including Claudio Abbado, DG, 1991): perfect sound and shrouded.
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