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Brahms: Symphony No.4
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| List Price: | £9.99 |
| Price: | £7.38 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details |
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Average customer review:
Track Listing
- 1. Allegro non troppo
- 2. Andante moderato
- 3. Allegro giocoso - Poco meno presto - Tempo I
- 4. Allegro energico e passionato - Più allegro
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #42645 in Music
- Released on: 1998-09-07
- Number of discs: 1
- Dimensions: .21 pounds
- Running time: 40 minutes
Customer Reviews
Incandescent!
At only 39 mins and 41 seconds, this might be thought to be short measure.
Until you hear the performance. Over the years I have tried a number of recordings of this symphony in an effort to find the work I can hear in my head. (Where did that come from?)
Some years ago I bought the Herbert Blomstedt recording on Decca: far too low voltage! I bought Eugen Jochum's, along with Tennstedt's recording of Ein Deutches Requiem. Worth it for the Requiem, but Jochum always pulls the tempi about a bit, and ultimately I felt his performance didn't quite measure up.
The 1972 Boult recording, with Janet Baker's incandescent performance of the Alto Rhapsody, came nearest. At least Boult gets the right voltage for the finale.
Carlos Kleiber has the Vienna Philharmonic which, as you would expect, outmatches Boult's LPO, good though they are. But he also has factor "X" - that deeper undertanding of this ultimately tragic symphony - which, for me, places this performance right out at the top.
Unsurpassed
I heard this performance a good while ago but for some reason it didn't get to me. I have listened again recently and I can't imagine why not. In fact I can't imagine a greater performance of this symphony anymore. It's so well played, with every part of the orchestra singing and involved but clearly articulated. However the thing that distinguishes the performance is the grasp of structure and overall balance. The effect of the playing and the conducting is an almost volcanic energy and sweep that is really unsurpassed in the many recordings and performances of this symphony that I have heard. It's shattering and exhausting. Somehow when you hear this it seems so obvious that this is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, and the most complete of the four Brahms wrote.
