Customer Reviews

Brahms: The Four Symphonies

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been on the hunt for wonderfully performed versions of these magnificent symphonies for years. My love for them was born decades ago listening to the incomparable Toscanini recrdings on LP (performances still happily available on CD and well worthwile despite the unavoidable loss of sonic quality compared to modern recordings). Mackerras's set is simply superb.

I couldn't agree less with the reviewer who expresses dislike of Mackerras's version of the First. I cannot think of a peer to this performance and am overwhelmed by what McKerras has done with a work that has few peers in all of the symphonic lterature. My view? Bravo!! Not just to the First, but to all four.

My last stop in my hunt before the McKerras versions was the Sandlerling set, which I have reviewed at length at the Sanderling recording site. There I express more completely my admiration for the McKerras recordings, discovered only after I gave up on Sanderling, and my views concering certain other conductors' Brahms efforts. I won't repeat them here, but suggest a visit to the Sanderling cite if you're interested.

What I must say, however, in conclusion, is that Brahms does not sound very interesting when performed indifferently. Most of the performances I've listened to, in recordingas and in concert, have been so slow, so overfed (stuffed with lush strings), so droopy and uninspired that I've been slightly surprised that to find anyone who still listens to this music with attention and interest. (The old Toscanini recordings couldn't have been expected to bear the burden of interesting people in this music alone forever.) After hearing the fabulously conducted Mackerras versions, revealing again and anew the incredible, timeless beauty and energy of these great works, I don't think I need fear this any longer.

Thank you, Maestro Mackerras!

This, in my opinion, is the definitive recording with a CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, how it was meant to be. Anyone lucky enough to have heard Mackerras and the orchestra give live performances of these works will share with me the enthusiasm and colour that Mackerras gives the orchestra.

Forget comparisons, the SCO may not have the starts of the Berlin Phil, or be as highly paid as the Met, but they are a European Orchestra and have an affinity with the music (try their recordings of Mendelssohn 3&4 to prove this). Particularly impressive are the Double Basses, led by the dynamic young virtuoso Nicholas Bayley, while the woodwinds are clear.

Not forgetting the brass, always clear, precise and articulate.

Mackerras might not be as big a name as others, and this might be a touch $$$, but cough up, this is a quality set, if only for the orchestral playing - its inspired!

Finally, Brahms without all that icky thickness that we usually blame him for! This Brahms cycle strikes an excellent balance between clarity and richness of sonority. Mackerras's interpretations are full of vitality -- except in the Fourth, alas! I frankly cannot understand how Mackerras gives such an underpowered interpretation of the Fourth after giving such powerful interpretations of the first three symphonies. Perhaps he views this piece as resigned rather than defiant or tragic. Oh well, no matter. I'm glad I own this cycle. I can't really single out anything in the first three symphonies since everything is excellent. I have a feeling Gardiner will have something to say about these works, but for now, I'm happy with Mackerras, as well as my old Bruno Walter CD for the Fourth. Forget about Herby von K., Lenny B., and all those other people who claim they know Brahms.

This is not only my favorite recording of the Brahms 4, but it is in fact my favorite recording of anything whatsoever. There are several reasons for this:
1. It's Brahms.
2. It' his 4 symphonies. If you have never heard them, do so before you die. Which could be tomorrow. So GO!
3. Many have mentioned that this recording is different, that it is supposedly closer to the original way the music was played. Maybe. All I know is that when I listen to other recordings, I can't stand it. The strings overwhelm the winds, and the whole thing is rightly called muddled. This recording is lighter, more nuanced, and you can hear all the parts, including all 4 horns, each woodwind instrument (you don't have to strain to hear the bassoon!) and even the 3 trombones when they are allowed to play. Maybe it's because I learned these pieces playing in the horn section, but to me, it is a crime to mask all these parts that Brahms worked so hard on.
4. OK, some of the tempos are "extreme". But frankly, they work. They give a passion and a fire to these pieces that leaves me dissatisfied without them.

Honestly, I think I have listened to these tracks well over a hundred times each. It NEVER get's old. Order this today, and get it priority mail. If you're not happy, there's no helping you.

(...) This is by no means a first choice, but lovers of these symphonies will want these vital, nicely recorded "period performance" versions as alternates to the more straightforward readings by Klemperer, Karajan and others. Mackerass's interpretations consistently manage to sound fresh and exciting, which is no mean feat on this well-trodden ground. He takes elasticity of tempo to extremes at times, and this will not please everyone: for example, by the time he finishes the first run-through of the Big Tune in Symphony 1, movement 4, he's steaming along at almost double the pace he began with! And those pauses! Sometimes the silence seems to go on for four or five seconds even in the middle of a movement. But more often than not, Mackerass succeeds in finding surprising new possibilities in music we all feel we know well, and the balance produced by the use of period horns (not strings, thank god) and a smaller orchestra reveal new textures at almost every turn.

If you're new to this music, there are several fine bargain bin versions available (try Swallisch's) to bring you up to speed. At mid-price, you can get Karajan or Klemperer (still my favorite). But for those who already own a set or two and would like to experience this music anew, by all means, pick up this set by Mackerass.

Mackerras is one of the few conductors who is consistent in the recording studio, and this outing is no exception. His historical perspective is fascinating--the bonus disc with an interview with the maestro is definitely worth a few good listens!

Is this a Brahms recording for the ages? I don't think so, but it is a fun romp. The engineering is top-notch, as is the conducting, even if Mackerras skims some of my favorite passages where I'd like him to smell the flowers a bit more, so to speak.

While the orchestra acquits itself well, I personally would have preferred an ensemble that has a little more to offer. The winds and brass are excellent, no doubt, but the strings...First, thank Mackerras for using modern instruments--Gardiner's period strings in his recording of the German Requiem play very well, but there is no warmth. But Mackerras's strings...they do not always play that cleanly--I hear a lot of shifts that are not coming across as really portamentos, and there is the occasional disturbing lasp in intonation, although oddly, they can often produce some warm sonorities. A chamber orchestra, such as Orpheus, or a reduced string section from the Met Orchestra, Berlin Phil, Atlanta, St. Louis, Boston, etc., would have added a lot to this disc and performance.

Mackerras's first symphony is my least favorite performance: Brahms first symphonic outing, daring to be compared to those of Beethoven, benefits from the power of a well-behaved, large string section. For example, the climaxes in IV, lack the cataclysmic (sp) impact that I feel they should have. The 2nd symphony is appropriately warm, and if Walter's 3rd wasn't already out there, Mackerras's 3rd would have to be a top choice--in fact, if you are curious about this approach, I would recommend the single disc with 3. I enjoyed Mackerras's rendition of the 4th.

So what to do? First, if you don't have a complete set of the Brahms Symphonies and you want them in one fell swoop, grab Sanderling with Dresden on Eurodisc, a bargain of the century, or Walter. Then I would recommend adding this set for hours of fascinating comparable listening.

With all due respect to my fellow reviewers, I think at least some are missing the point; we can argue ad nauseum whether Brahms symphonies are better played with full or chamber orchestra...I say enjoy both, appreciate MacKerras's interpretations...besides, I think Brahms is sitting up there somewhere enjoying all this.

These historically informed performances of Brahms are a revelation. If you are at all interested in the composer you owe it to yourself to hear them. Brahms himself expressed a preference for small orchestras where the strings would not swamp the wind instruments. Here this correct balance, the use of period brass instruments (including the very different sounding narrow bore trombones and valveless horns that Brahms knew and preferred) and antiphonally placed first and second violins give thrillingly 'new' (in fact old) sounds to works one thought one knew and an extraordinary translucence to the texture - as does the much more limited use of vibrato. All sorts of details obscured in other performances come through clearly. It really is like hearing the pieces for the first time. The exciting sonorities make even the Academic Festival Overture an edge of the seat experience. Throughout, Mackerras's lively tempi (themselves historically supported), the fabulous playing of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Telarc's top quality recording combine to offer the most exciting recorded performances of these works I have heard. (Just a single coincident pair of microphones were used, so giving a completely honest picture of the performances.) When it first came out a combined review of this set and of Berglund's with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe led me to purchase the Berglund. It too is an excellent set, but this is the 'must have'. Two extras, a reconstruction of the original version of the slow movement of the first symphony, and a long and fascinating interview with Mackerras on a fourth CD, are the icing on the cake.

Sir Charles Mackerras' interest in late 19th Century performance practices yields this fascinating set of Brahms' symphonies. Although by no means this is a definitive set, it certainly is as vividly fresh as Harnoncourt's recently recorded cycle with the Berlin Philharmonic. Purists may prefer Masur's, Haitink's or Sanderling's for thickly woven orchestral textures and consistently broad tempi, but Mackerras offers some fascinating insights on Brahms' music which are no longer in vogue. The caliber of playing from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra is certainly commendable, though the string section does not quite come up to the high standards you'd expect from any of America's or Europe's leading orchestras (I suspect the level of playing might have been better too with the Chamber Orchestra Of Europe, or Orpheus.). I'll add that Telarc's sound engineers do yet another grand job in recording. Certainly this is one set of Brahms symphonies you should have in addition to those I mentioned above or any of Karajan's or Bernstein's.

It's not merely a matter of leaning down the music to get rid of the alleged "murk," it's bringing out the wealth of inner detail now that one can actually have a chance to hear it. Mackerras plays these like chamber versions of the older interpretations, meaning he's giving us the minimal aspects of all the qualities of the music. I say, either go for magnificently recorded "Grand" like the Haitink with Boston--where the sound is full and rich and you can hear the details, or go for the incredible and universally well-regarded Bergland set on Ondine--small orchestra but thrilling performances and plenty of texture. The Harnoncourt set is even more revealing and he brings the music to a point where one can understand Schonberg's fascination with it.

This set was a first try at this, and is laudable for that, but it's being surpassed left and right. I bought it with enthusiasm when it first came out, played it and said "well, that's interesting" and then found I never went back to listen to it. I'm starting to think Mackerras is a bit of a bland conductor from this and other items of his I've purchased. Avoid and buy the Bergland.