Customer Reviews

Brahms: Serenade No. 2 / Haydn Variations / Hungarian Dances- selections

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

 

 

With all due respect to Brahms, let me begin by shifting gears and saying that this is my first CD by conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. Recently, I have heard rave reviews about his Stravinsky and Copland collections, but I have never bought them because I have enough CDs of "Rite Of Spring" and "Appalachian Spring." But comparing this Brahms disc's performances of "Variations on a Theme by Haydn" to Szell's, and the "Hungarian Dances" to recordings by both Ormandy and Dorati, I can see why people get excited over Michael Tilson Thomas. The disc's centerpiece "Serenade No. 2," which is for small orchestra, is absolutely beautiful. The next time Thomas brings the San Francisco Symphony to town, I'll be there!

As with his recording of the First Serenade, this one feels lackluster. The darker orchestration of the Second Serenade, and the predominance of tempos that are much the same--just short of allegro moderato--make it hard to dramatize or enliven this piece unless the conductor has a great deal of feeling for Brahms. MTT doesn't, to my ears, and so I put this CD near the bottom of my list.

This DDD mastered disc sounds very good as far as classical cds go and I don't doubt the pedigree of MTT and the LSO but I do question the choice of material which although is good and yet is not great and it leaves me wondering why one would assemble such great talent to cover this and not some other better Brahms work. Rather forgettable cd and not really worth the dough. Save your money for the MTT versions of Stravinsky instead.