Customer Reviews

Brahms: Symphony No. 1 / Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates)

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

 

 

Pay no attention to bad reviews of this recording, because it is incredible. I've been collecting and listening to classical music for a while and until recently I haven't found a recording by Claudio Abbado that I would term my very favorite recording. With that said, I was hesitant to buy his Brahms No. 1. However, the Penguin Guide had given it a good review. I decided that I might as well take a chance. The symphony is great, so it couldn't be horrible. Well not only is this performance good, but it instantly charged up to my favorite recording of Brahms No. 1. I have von Karajan, Szell, Solti, Bernstein, and MacKerras. I like all of their recordings, but when I heard Abbado's, something became quite clear to me---this is awesome Brahms. It's high voltage, it's driven, it's impeccably played, and it's moving. Abbado has his orchestra delving into the music and strongly articulating various passages that other conductors mull over. I think that's what I like best about this recording is that it's so articulate and driven. Someone said below that Toscanini must be turning in his grave. I say who cares? I don't think Brahms is turning over in his, and that's what matters. This is an awesome recording of Symphony No. 1 and I can't qualify / recommend it enough. If you're looking for a recording, definitely get this one!

This Claudio Abbado performance of Brahms's groundbreaking first symphony is one of the most beautiful-sounding performances of this work today. Recorded during the early years of Abbado's partnership with the Berliners, it makes a fine listen for anyone who already has existing favourite versions of this work. The Berliners have the music instinctively in their blood, having played it with Karajan on many occasions, and Abbado shows that he can embellish the character of the Karajan sound in this performance. To add to this, the DG engineers give us top-notch recording quality, with digital clarity bringing out the best and most sumptuous sound of the orchestra, strong in atmospheric feeling yet never clouding in inner detail.

After a thundering Introduction with the timpani drumstrokes signalling a sense of foreboding, Abbado lurches into the first movement with a relentless, driving passion. This driving passion resembles clearly the impetus of the famous first movement of Beethoven's Fifth symphony (the key of which is shared in this symphony), whose famous four-note motto makes cameo appearances at certain points of the movement. The lyricism of the middle movements is keenly displayed, with a sweet-sounding violin contribution from the anonymous concertmaster in the slow movement, and beautiful woodwind contributions in the third movement. The fourth movement and its links with the Joy Theme of Beethoven's ninth symphony crowns a superb performance, with the tragic mood of the introduction keenly showing, and the horns blazing in its intensity. As in the first movement, there is forward drive and impulse, and the last few pages are intensely gripping. The Gesang der Perzen which rounds off this disc makes an unusual fill-up, even though at times I feel that the Tragic Overture (with its Beethovenian overtones) could have been more suitable. But nevertheless, both chorus and orchestra are able to get to the tragic heart of this piece very well.

In short, I would heartily recommend this performance of Brahms's first symphony not only to novices to the symphony, but also to Abbado admirers who would like a fine CD from his Berlin years. The booklet has a pretty good essay by musicologist Michael Steinberg, and the text of the Gesang der Perzen, with English translations.

Quite frankly, this recoring is quite a marvel. Never have I heard the Berlin Philharmonic sound smoother, yet at the same time crispier, fresher and as young hearted like on this disc. Abbado's Berlin legacy might be debatable, but his Brahms is absolutely stunning and first class.
The suaved-smooth-silkiness of the Berlin sound dating from the Karajan years with emphasis on the strings is still there, but the heaviness is gone. A new emphasis on italian playfulness shines through, and at least here, does these pieces wonders.
It makes me appetite for more...

This is certainly a tradional and massive approach to Brahms. Some of the reviewers below might have been looking for more clarity and inner details that recent Brahms conductors like Charles Mackerras or Marin Alsop dared to illuminate. Clearly Claudio Abbado goes for the big picture in this performance, from the thunderous opening to the heaven storming conclusion, his approach works wonders. It is a similar interpretation to Karajan's famous early 1960's performance. Abbado moves things along at a faster pace in the finale than does Karajan, other than that their views are sympathetic to one another. I would also put Klemperer up there too.

Certainly if you are a fan of Brahms, you should buy this CD on which Abbado also gives a stunning performance of Song of the Fates, a completely thrilling but neglectic Brahms choral piece. Just listen to the opening of the work, it's down right mean and dramatic!

The sound is terrific, lush and warm, basically perfect for Brahms. I think this Brahms cycle is possibly the best thing Abbado accomplished with the Berlin Philharmonic.

I've never been a fan of Karajan's Brahms, so it's a great thrill to have another conductor take a crack at this music with the great Berlin Philharmonic. Abbado delivers a uniquely polished but powerful performance. Karajan never sounded as fresh and exciting as Abbado does here, not even in his supposedly legendary 1964 reording. This is the highlight of Abbado's otherwise over-rated set -- only the 4th offers anything close to this in terms of sheer beauty and magnificence. Walter is also good and better value for money ( would it have killed DG to add one more piece on this disc?) And where is Levine's mad and intense reading with the Chicago Symphony on RCA? So much dreck on the shelves while classics are languishing in recording limbo. So Abbado and Walter will do the heavy lifting for now. If you can afford top dollar, then go for the Abbado.

I doubt that David Hurwitz really likes this big-boned but fairly soft Brahms First from Berlin. He just wants a stick to beat Karajan with. Abbado's Brahms is extremely well played--one notices from the opening bars that orhestral balances are exceptional. It's hard to imagine another orchestra that can produce such a complete sound in Brhams, without the slightest weakness from top to bottom.

But this excellence in execution is in service of a reading that has no ideas and not even a memorable contour. After a strong opening the first movement moves into choppy episodes of no great moment. A somnolent slow movement follows, bereft of rhythmic bite--it sags around the edges before we get eight bars in. To compare such a tepid approach with Toscanini, Karajan, Furtwangler, Bruno Walter in New York, Celibidache, Haitink in his first cycle from Amsterdam, or Bernstein in his second cycle from Vienna is very unpersuasive.

The Scherzo is light and rhythmically fresh,though--it's the best thing here, and I notice that's true of the other symphonies under Abbado as well. Given how things were proceeding, I didn't have much hope that the finale would begin with the needed mystery and anticipaiton. Surprise, it does. But then the air goes out of the tires, and Abbado is back to his user-friendly ways. Gorgeous sounds but no starch. The main Allegro gains more energy, thank goodness, but it's too little too late. Gesang der Parzen is a very unusual filler, but I am a non-fan of Brahms the patriot, so Abbado's stirring reading didn't compensate for the weakness of the main event.

A classical interpretation woven with sensitive and alert nuances makes this recording a memorable experience. Brahms is prpobably a difficult composer to play. His music, at the hands of some, appears crowded and overscored. Abbado's clarity and simplification is miles ahead of others who 'recited' the score but hardly played the piece.

The performance is endowed with a gentle, at times overpowering but almost always consitent flow. The number of conductors who dealt with Brahms in this manner may be counted on some fingures of one hand. Such counting starts with Abaddo.

...and passionate. What more could we ask for in this urgent work?
This is my opinion. Consider this one of the top, top no. 1 recordings.

I have gone through several recordings of this symphony: Gardiner, Giulini, 2 by Karajan, Klemperer, Jochum, Stokowski, Rattle and this one by Abbado. If I have to choose between them, surprisingly even for me, I would go for this one. The performance is very polished, but extremely passionate, direct and strong at the same time. Klemperer's and the earliest of Karajan's versions are also great, but both recordings show their age. Abbado's recording is their equal in performance but with a far better recording sound. So, even if you have several other recordings of this work I strongly recommend this one, it will not disappoint. By the way, Gardiner's disc is also great but, of course, it is not really comparable here because of the period instruments, another recommendation.

I'm befuddled that people slam Karajan for his overly-thick textures and homogenized sound, and then praise *this* recording, which sounds like the 101 String play Brahms. Along with the 101 Brass, the 101 Winds and the 101 Percussion. All of it recorded in the biggest echo-chamber this side of the men's room at Pennsylvania Station. These are thick, gloppy performances in which little nuance is possible (or at least audible) and the sound echoes through the stops and silences. I can sympathize with a desire for a big, epic approach to this work, but here the granite turns to slog, with no drive and never any rhythmic tautness. There's also little in the way of contrasting textures. Everything sounds big and *wet* (never thought I'd describe a recording as wet, but it fits), like a shaggy dog that needs to shake itself off. The violas, for example, are virtually inaudible throughout, as the higher, brighter, violins drown them out in what sounds to me like a totally synthetic acoustical environment. Bass is thick and boomy, even when I turn my controls way down. It's impossible to hear different colors from the bowings under these conditions. Forget balances. The BPO has no identity, other than "fat." This is Brahms that needs Jenny Craig.

For some dramatic Brahms 1sts, I recommend Furtwangler/Hamburg 1951 on Music & Arts, Klemperer 1958 on EMI, Toscanini 193(8?), Walter (late 50s, Sony), and even Karajan's mid 60s account on DG. Just off the top of my head, they all easily surpass this. I had very high hopes for this disc, but I still haven't heard an Abbado recording with the Philharmonic that rocks my world--although oddly, his collaborations during the same period with the Chamber Orcehstra of Europe are often very fine. As Geoffrey Rush would say, "It's a mystery."