Customer Reviews

Brahms: Symphony No. 4; Hungarian Dances Nos. 2 & 4-9

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

 

 

This is my first Alsop recording (I bought the digital download). It's not bad, but it's not very inspiring, either. The playing is clean and balanced, but lacks passion.

The third and fourth movements are distinctly better than the first and second. The third has a good tempo, appropriate boisterousness, and very appealing textures. The fourth is played with ample drama, thought it's hard to go wrong here; the music speaks for itself.

The big problem is the first movement. It must be the most difficult in the entire Brahms canon, and too often misunderstood. There is an incredible, rhythmic pulsing of tension and release throughout the movement. We should be propelled forward, even though it's hard not to linger on some of the beautiful passages. By the time we reach the coda, it should have an aura of inevitability to it, and the powerful drumbeats bring it to a crashing conclusion.

Very little of this comes across in Alsop's version. The tempo is too slow and lacks energy. Particularly in the beginning it sounds simply dull and undifferentiated. The coda arrives with little build-up.

The second movement is pretty in Alsop's hands, but again lacks the "twin peaks" of tension and passion. It should be more than pretty -- it should be heartbreaking.

All in all, not even close to a classic Brahms 4.

There has been a mixed critical response to Marin Alsop's Brahms Symphony cycle, and indeed the first customer review received for this present release, from Santa Fe Listener, is a bit less than laudatory. However, I must respectfully disagree with him. I found this to be a thoroughly satisfying performance and recording. It is true that Alsop tends to take middle-of-the-road tempi, but her way with nuanced rubato and dynamic shaping is really quite special. She certainly seems to have her own ideas about how to play this work. Indeed, the second movement, marked Andante moderato, is actually taken at what I would call an Adagio. At first I was dismayed by this, but as I continued listening (and listened again and again) I was completely won over by her approach. In fact, I kept thinking that the grandeur this lends the movement makes it almost Mahlerian in effect. Perhaps, this slow tempo is not precisely what Brahms intended, but it is effective for all that. As for the rumbustious third movement marked Allegro giocoso -- which almost always in concert draws applause from listeners unfamiliar with the work -- it is a magnificent performance. And then we get to what some feel is Brahms's most brilliant symphonic movement, the finale containing that majestic passacaglia. What a way for Brahms to go out! I was struck again and again how responsive the London Philharmonic is to Alsop's subtle shaping of the movement. And my goodness all departments of the orchestra play brilliantly. I have to say that this Brahms Fourth is magnificent. As for the recorded sound, it too is absolutely top-drawer with clarity, richness and power at all dynamic levels.

The filler on the disc comprises performances of a set of new orchestrations of those Hungarian Dances that Brahms himself didn't orchestrate, i.e. Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9. Slovak composer Peter Breiner did them and they sound echt-Brahmsian to me, particularly in their idiomatic use of percussion, reminding us that Brahms did the same in his orchestrations of Nos. 1, 3 & 10. I don't understand another reviewer saying they don't catch fire. All I can say is that for me they did.

Yes, this is a marvelous finale for this series. I recommend it heartily.

Scott Morrison

Marin Alsop's Brahms Fourth is a miss. As elsewhere in her Brahms cycle she uses a bit too much flexibility in her tempi but the big problem is that when she does build up some tension, some anticipation of great things to come, she lets go and all that tension, that energy, dissipates. It's disappointing to the listener to have this happen, but it does, several times through the first movement. The middle movements aren't bad. They're just not special. The last movement passacaglia...a theme and ostinato variations...should have an inexorability climaxing in a powerful conclusion. Alsop just doesn't let this happen, dropping a tempo here, taking a phrase too softly there. Listen to Klemperer's account, if you want to hear how powerful this movement can be.

Marin Alsop - the new music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra - concludes her Naxos Brahms symphony cycle with this splendid recording of the Brahms 4th Symphony in E minor. It's truly a rousing, exciting interpretation with elegant playing from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. While it is not the fastest interpretation I have heard of, Alsop's rendition merely demonstrates that she has to be regarded as among our foremost interpreters of Brahms' symphonies. Hers is an interpretation that doesn't sound either rushed, or excessively slow; instead, she emphasizes the score's sonic complexity, obtaining a bright, warm tone from the orchestra which sounds more reminiscent of what I have heard from a great Central European orchestra like the Wiener Philharmoniker. Indeed I honestly haven't heard the London Philharmonic Orchestra sound better, with exquisite, warm performances from the strings and the winds. This studio recording is quite simply the best I have heard from Naxos in this symphony cycle, comparing favorably with the superb live recordings wrought by producer James Mallinson and his team for LSO Live. The CD ends musically on a most interesting note, with spirited performances of several of Brahms' Hungarian Dances, newly orchestrated by Peter Breiner. So is this a primary recommendation for the Brahms 4th Symphony? I'm not sure, but it certainly equals those from the likes of Haitink, Harnoncourt, and definitely, her mentor, Bernstein.

Marin Alsop has an attractive career profile, but one can go only so far by being the most successful woman conductor in the world. Conducting is a demanding profession, and at a certain point musical results count. This nicely presented Brahms Fourth is in terrific sound. The London Phil. plays with a suave sheen, yet I have to wonder: Is Brahms only about surface impressions? Alsop's interpretation is cautious to a fault. She takes moderate tempos throughout and carefully avoids making any personal points. There's an overall lack of intensity that fails to do justice to such profound music -- the cathedral still stands, but it's made of cardboard.

It wouldn't be fair to fault Alsop for not being the best interpreter in the world, becasue some famous male conductors have done little better in their Brahms cycles. I'm thinking of Muti, Dohnanyi, Chailly, and Haitink's recent live cycle with the London Sym. All of them produce readings as uneventufl as this one. Even the rousing Hungarian Dances fail to catch fire. It would make such a good story if Alsop were a blazing talent. She isn't, at least not as exhibited here. As for how the Fourth stands up to the rest of her Brahms cycle, I'd say it is second-best of a medium-good lot, falling just behind the Third.

Marin Alsop continues to put her magnifying glass to every symphonic warhorse composition, purportedly looking for those hidden interpretive nuances that no other conductor has been able to extract from the composer's score. What we get, invariably, is a performance that is not the sum of the parts. Maestra Alsop's laser-beam focus only serves to bring forth the oddly turned phrase ... or an inner voice that should never have been brought to the fore. And the audience comes out with the short end of the stick as the full impact of the piece is lost in all of the interpretive fussiness. The Brahms 4 deserves better than this ... and you can get it in any number of other interpretations -- really anyone else's would be preferable, except maybe Solti.

In the Hungarian Dances, the conductor has chosen a curious orchestration that to my knowledge has rarely or never been recorded before. These orchestrations are really lame-sounding. Usually it's better off to leave things alone rather than tinker. But of course, the tinkering adds novelty value to a recording that, if it had been made with the "standard conventional" orchestration, would pale in comparison to the exciting readings of Antal Dorati, Neeme Jarvi, Paul Strauss and other conductors that are already out there.