Brahms: Symphony No. 1 / Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 [Import]

Lucia Valentine-Terrani (Artist), Johannes Brahms (Composer), Peter Maag (Conductor), Turin RAI Symphony Ochestra (Orchestra), Milan Symphony Orchestra & Choir (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Turin RAI Symphony Ochestra, Milan Symphony Orchestra & Choir
• Conductor: Peter Maag
• Composer: Johannes Brahms
• Audio CD (December 27, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Arts Music
• ASIN: B000B7VZYM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,630 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great Italian (!) Brahms First from Maag, in the shadow of Furtwangler, August 22, 2011

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This review is from: Brahms: Symphony No. 1 / Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 (Audio CD)

I don't know the date of this live recording, since my version is a download, but the late Swiss conductor Peter Maag (1919-2001) made me sit up in this Brahms First. His commercial recordings hardly reveal, stylistically, that he was a protege of Furtwangler's, nor does his streamlined Beethoven. But here we are in Furtwangler territory with a Brahms First that aims to sink deeply into the expressive world of this romantic monument to passion and struggle, a true continuation of Beethoven's ideals, and Furtwangler's. There is rigor and strength, and once he has dived in, Maag keeps up the intensity (not to Furtwangler's extent, but let's not ask the impossible).

The orchestras of the Italian Radio system regularly featured outside European conductors, and they tended to have a high standard of musicianship. Here the one in Milan sounds like a real Brahms orchestra (i.e., central European). Furtwangler almost made the Rome one sound like a Wagner orchestra, but the time was the early Fifties, and the damage done by the war was all too apparent still. Here the playing is quite expressive; the sheen on the strings in the slow movement is magical. But everything feels right to me from beginning to end. I can't hear the clarinet obliggato in the Scherzo well enough, and other niggling balance problems appear, such as underpowered French horns in the finale. What matters is the urgency and authenticity of Maag's interpretation. If he didn't learn it at Furtwangler's knee, I don't know what. Curious devotees of either Brahms or Furtwangler should listen to this, a kind of afterglow that brings him back, the best part of him. The sound is excellent broadcast stereo.

The Alto Rhapsody that comes as a filler is a total loss, since the soloist and male choir were apparently recorded in a highway tunnel.