Customer Reviews

Brahms: Complete Symphonies

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Muti's recordings of the Brahms symphonies are powerful and sweeping, with good detail and a realistic acoustic. Muti provides his usual (and wonderful) lyricism, which fits most of the pieces very well.

Karajan's First Symphony on DG is more darkly dramatic than Muti's is here (if you like drama -- and drama works for the First -- you might consider Karajan). Muti's performance is anything but slack, however. And Muti gets a better sound than Karajan does from the engineers; Muti's recording is more natural, with nice, open imaging.

For me, Muti's Fourth is bested only by Kleiber's classic interpretation on DG. Kleiber doesn't dip as far into the emotional possibilities of the work as Muti, maybe, but that isn't Kleiber's goal. His Brahms is more classical than Muti's, more Appollonian, and only Kleiber solves all of the Fourth's problems with his extraordinary panache and grace, IMHO. Still, I enjoy Muti's version very much, and if it were my only version I'd be mighty happy with it.

Overall, if you want a very good collection of all four symphonies, Muti and the Philadelphians won't disappoint.

Nutshell: Committed performances and digital sound coupled with a midline price. Very fine.

When this set first came out in the early 90s, I bought the recording of the Second Symphony, which critics thought the strongest of the set. In deference to their judgment I avoided the rest of the recordings until now. I'd always thought the Muti Second a strong one without being absolutely first class, but now, heard in the company of other three symphonies and the Haydn Variations, it emerges even stronger in my estimation. Whereas Ormandy tended to wallow a bit in Brahms, Muti's approach is characteristically leaner without being in the least meaner. In fact, the ripe nostalgia of the Third Symphony, probably nobody's favorite Brahms, comes across wonderfully, as does the high drama of the Fourth, especially given Philips' burnished but impactive sound-those marvelous trombones in the finale! and trumpets and drums in the scherzo! (Not to mention the famous "auto horn" cadence from the Second Symphony finale!) The beauty of the string-and-wind playing is a given with this orchestra. But I think I've never fully appreciated the loveliness of Brahms's writing for woodwinds before hearing this set.

Luckily, though (for example) the Tragic Overture moves along at quite a clip in the faster sections--all the better for it, too, since dawdlin' in this work tends to make it sound maudlin--Muti isn't the juggernaut he often is, glossing over the subtleties along the way. This happens to some extent in his Beethoven, but he really lets Brahms breathe. A case in point is the First Symphony. I thought Muti's reading a bit too static, a bit too granitic on first hearing. But as I've lived with the performance, I've come to believe that Muti fully captures the Olympian grandeur of this best of all first symphonies, as British music critic Bernard Jacobson calls it in his notes to the recording.

So here you have a great Brahms orchestra captured in clear, assertive, yet airy sonics, in performances that are obviously the product of affection as well as serious study and attention to detail. At Philips' Trio price, this is certainly a deal.

This set was my first introduction to Brahms. In high school I played in my high school orchestra and also in college. So classical music has never been a problem for me. I however was not that familiar with Brahm's works. Several years ago I walked into a Tower Records (store has closed since then) and I saw this budget set of the complete symphonies and picked it up. I have always been a fan of symphonic music and I figured why not? After all everyone speaks highly of Brahms, i guess I should familiarize myself with his work. After having taken the set home with me and hearing it on my cd player--i thought to myself not bad, but it didn't wow me either. I shelved the set and didn't hear it again until years later. At the time I didn't "get" what was so special about Brahms--In my mind i said "he was certainly no Mozart, Bach or Beethoven".... Well, I was 20 then, I am now in my late 30's--just a few short years away from turning 40 and after having heard Brahm's symphonies again I find that they speak to me a great deal more. Perhaps Brahms is just something you only get to appreciate with age.

Maestro Muti, it seems to me, is a good introduction to the world of Brahms's symphonies. He is never any less than competent and always gives a good "overview" reading of the symphonies and tempos are never played with or changed excessively. If he has any fault it is that he perhaps he plays it a bit too safe. Think of it as taking the 101 survey course in college on Brahms. The orchestra plays very well--certainly it never sounds "cheap" as would befit the bargain price on this set. The orchestra I think plays a bit on the bright and cheery side, so if you like your Brahms darker or more dramatic and angst filled this is not the set to get. However if you come into this set knowing absolutely nothing about Brahms and love orchestral music you will be happy with this performance. Sooner or later however you'll outgrow it. What do I mean? Well after knowing only this Muti interpretation, when I first heard Karajan interpret Brahms,I thought wow--and when I heard Celibidache conduct Brahm's symphonies my mind was totally blown away. In classical music often the conductor can make a great difference between the listener thinking a piece is boring or is a masterpiece. Think of these 2 conductors as being Brahms 300 or 400 level courses. You need to have heard the basic interpretation of the piece first (like Muti) in order to understand how Celibidache or Karajan change the piece with their particular interpretations. They make the drama and conflict that is in the interior of these symphonies come to the fore--all of a sudden you have a very dynamic view of Brahms and you "understand" the symphonies and why so many people are moved by them. Of course the price on those sets is expensive---so until you are ready to move up a level the Muti will do quite nicely. Using a school analogy-- Think of the Muti as a reference set you can go back to over and over again for a basic understanding, but when you're ready to do in depth research move on the more expensive Karajan or Celibidache sets.

I will say this--for the bargain price, this Muti set is hard to beat--you get a lot for your money not only in total minutes of music played but also in quality of sound. The sound is always clear--never muddy. You can pick out the individual instrument sections with ease if you listen closely. Certainly this beginner set is head and shoulders above many of the other Brahms CD's that are in the music store bargain bin starring conductors you never heard of leading out small orchestras. Both Maestro Muti and the Philly orchestra have a long history on the classical scene and have rightfully garnered a certain amount of respect. Then again, Philips is usually a good classical label and can be trusted to put out quality most of the time.

For those thinking I gushed too much about Celi or Karajan--my apologies. I have heard good things about Klemperer and Furtwangler's Brahms interpretations as well but I have not yet had the opportunity to hear them.

I concur with Santa Fe Listener on this one...this is classic Muti, preferring not to take any chances, remaining true to his belief that the composer, rather than the conductor, should do the talking. While his performances don't have the same creepily synthetic quality of later Karajan, nonetheless it has the generic, all-the-notes-in-right-place flavor which makes it all too easy to forget after a short time.

As a cycle, it is nicely affordable & certainly doesn't run roughshod over the music, so it at least has that going for it. I guess it would a good starter set for the novice, but for anyone already familiar with these symphonies, there are far better sets (my own personal preference is Walter) from which to choose.

I'm an admirer of much of Muti's work particularly in opera however, these performances recorded near the end of his tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra are disappointing. The orchestra, playing with outstanding form was caught in glorious sound. Tempos are well judged but Maestro Muti's conducting carries no insights in interpretations that are at best not distinctive and at worst bland. He and the orchestra float above the scores apparently unaware of the turbulence below. Beauty and felicity abound but the lack of dramatic contrast, tension and shading can cause the listener to lose interest quickly. This is evident particularly in the performances of symphonies 2 and 3. His "beauty for beauty's" sake approach does least harm to the first symphony perhaps because the score contains a fair share of overt drama- but white hot it's not. Brahms packed so much into the fourth symphony I thought even a generic performance could provide some satisfaction but I was mistaken. After passable first and second movements Muti offers a nondescript third and a flat, emotionless fourth, a movement that can be gut wrenching in the right hands. I'm not sure any recorded performance I'm familiar with has the fourth symphony's full measure but I am sure Muti isn't very close. In short these are precise, clear, well played performances in wonderful sound that avoid extremes and tone down the emotion. All this is unfortunate because this great music demands and deserves all the skill, imagination and heart a conductor and orchestra can give.

Interpretively these can't compete with the ever great von Karajan and Furtwangler renditions. If great sound is an important factor consider instead the recent Simon Rattle set with the Berlin Philharmonic a modern touchstone that can bear comparison with some of the great recorded performances. Brahms: Complete Symphonies