Brahms: The Symphonies - Haydn Variations / Academic Festival Overture / Tragic Overture

One of the greatest faults of the authentic performance movement has been a lack of nuance and a dogmatic determination to "adhere to the score". Many leading HIP promoters have spent so much time following metronome markings, making sure they have the right instruments, etc., that they fail to find actual personality in their music. It's ironic, then, that Nikolaus Harnoncourt, one of the original proponents of period performance, happens to be one of our most innovative living conductors. It's hard to find a performance from him that doesn't have fresh ideas, and this set of the Brahms' symphonies is no exception.Given Harnoncourt's extensive background in Baroque music, one wonders if he views Brahms as a definite romantic. He doesn't, saying in the liner notes that Brahms' approach "seems relatively unromantic". But Harnoncourt's decision to record with the Berlin Philharmonic instead of a smaller, perhaps "authentic" orchestra seems wise, and reminds us that his thoughts are nuanced and rarely brash. They are still shocking, however. His attempt to remind us of Brahms' Baroque influences is idiosyncratic, to be sure, catching us off guard by how thoughtfully he weaves Brahms' contrapuntal harmonies. We feel we are looking beneath the surface, carefully analyzing every bar, sometimes finding a whole new sound world. Fussiness doesn't invade, because Harnoncourt's phrasing, while sometimes quirky, is guided by genuine personality that always sounds original.But for some, despite Harnoncourt's new ideas, this set will be guilty of perverseness. He asks the Berliners to play with a subdued tone that doesn't exploit the height of German richness. His phrasing leans away from legato and can sound choppy--the (in)famous clipped phrasing. But beyond these particulars, Harnoncourt asks us to forgive him for deliberately downplaying some of the most impassioned climaxes. (The great passacaglia of the 4th is played with a calm hand without a trace of searing intensity.) He wants us to think about the music instead of being gripped by its tension or warmed by its beauty. It's often cerebral, to put it in clear terms.I'm torn and at a loss to reach a definite judgment. I hear interpretative ideas sprinkled throughout Harnoncourt's entire transversal, but I end up unconvinced that his way is better than the usual passion. I can't accuse Harnoncourt of lacking interpretative value; he's too involved to be panned. Yet a decade before Harnoncourt recorded this set, Herbert von Karajan was at the helm of the Berlin Philharmonic, delivering Brahms that was full of intensity and rich, unabashed German romanticism. And little over a decade after Harnoncourt made this set, Sir Simon Rattle would give us his great Brahms for the new millennium, finding new variety and aching beauty while retaining Brahmsian structure and tension. I can't find Harnoncourt as great as either of these two competitors.Yet at the end of the day, since Harnoncourt undeniably has inserted his own personality, the judgment will rest with the listener. I find myself aligned with interpreters who believe Brahms deserves romantic treatment, but I am intrigued by everything Harnoncourt has to say. I wish all period-minded performances contained half of this insight.

My singing teacher once said "Too much Brahms is never enough".The great thing about this set is that the performances are so fresh and dynamic, you get to listen to these wonderful works as though you had a new set of ears.To sum up the whole set: Clean, clear incisive and a tad edgy. The sound of the recordings is exceptionally fresh. The lack of warmth comes from a very lean string sound and less bloom on the brass. It also comes from the phrasing. Every bar has obviously been re-rehearsed and treated as though it is a vital moment of the symphonic structure. The most important gain from this is the impetus it gives to the rythmic drive and also the excitment it gives to Brahms' polyrhythms. This works extremely well in last movements of the 1st (a truly thrilling experience) and the 2nd and in the 3rd movement of the First. These recordings put to bed the school of thought that Brahms didn't know how to orchestrate. The recording maintains a stunning balance between woodwind, brass and strings without ever becoming too clinical.What you lose with this approach is the element of dark, gothic mystery that more traditional perfromances can achieve and which we sometimes all want to hear when we are feeling a bit maudlin after our third glass of red.This set is one of my most treasured recorded discoveries of recent years. If you don't have a set of these works then this is an excellent first choice and if you aleady treasure these great works you would be mad not try these interpretations.

After reading the strong recommendations for this recording both here and in Gramophone, I listened to it a few times and was surprised by how mediocre it actually was. Harnoncourt's interpretations are not bad, but they lack the liveliness and distinctive textures that I have found in the best recordings of the Brahms symphonies. They sound flat, and they are not helped by the muddy textures of the recording. When I compared it to Haitink/Concertgebouw set, which I also picked up recently, I noticed right away that Haitink consistently displayed more passion, and the richness of the orchestration really came through. The Haitink recordings are 70s analog recordings, but even so I have heard many recent digital recordings that have better engineering than this Teldec set. I guess the Harnoncourt is worth a listen as an alternative if you are an avid Brahms collector, but it's not essential by any means.The point is that there are a number of excellent individual recordings and box sets of Brahms' symphonies out there. I'm not claiming that Haitink is necessarily the best version, though it's very strong. What I can say is that I expect more from Brahms than Harnoncourt delivered here.

ブラームスの性格の悪さを前面にだしたような感じです。面白いけど意地の悪い感じがする。毒を吐き続ける昨今のテレビの司会者芸能人を見ているような演奏です。ファンの方ならどうぞ。

Bei aller verpixelten Detailverliebtheit verlieren sich die Strukturen und mit ihnen die Temporelationen und sinnvollen Phrasierungen.Was die so genannte "historische Aufführungspraxis" angeht, hat Harnoncourt sowohl die Originalinstrumente und ihre Klangbalance als auch die von Brahms ausgehenden Interpretationstraditionen nie berücksichtigt (vgl. die von Blume edierten Interpretationskonzepte von Fritz Steinbach, die sich über Hermann Abendroth und dessen Schüler Günther Herbig bis in die Gegenwart verfolgen lassen, z.B. Charles Mackerras; die parallele Interpretationslinie verkörpert Felix Weingartner, Aufnahmen 1939/1940). Nur ein Beispiel: die verunglückten Temporelationen im Finale der 1. Sinfonie zwischen Hauptthema und Durchführung, die in der Partitur vorgeschrieben sind und sehr selten befolgt werden (sehr sorgfältig bei Günter Wand, selbstverständlich bei Abendroth, der seinen Brahms noch bei Steinbach gelernt hat), das beiläufige hektische Abspielen des so genannten "Chorals" in der Coda. Das sollte "gotische [!] Genauigkeit" sein (was immer damit gemeint sein könnte, aber hier gleich zweimal als Rezension zu lesen ist)? Hören Sie doch mal Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt! Was für eine Geschichtsvergessenheit. Und als "Geheimtipp": die Einspielungen von Herbert Kegel (1. u. 2. Sinfonie).Hat sich diese Entwicklung nicht schon abgezeichnet, als Harnoncourt von Bach und Monteverdi zu Mozart überging und geradezu manieristische Eigenheiten entwickelte (Sinfonie 41)? Jetzt popularisiert er das alles mit den ehemaligen Karajan-Orchestern in Wien und Berlin - eine Ironie der Geschichte... Noch ein 68er, der arriviert ist.Wie Brahms klingen kann, wenn der Interpret weiß, was er tut und sich historischer Instrumente und Praktiken bedient, zeigt die Aufnahme des 1. Klavierkonzerts mit Hardy Rittner und Werner Ehrhard - für meine Begriffe eine Ersteinspielung. Also und insgesamt: Brahms liegt noch vor uns! Und eine große Tradition hinter uns (zu der Harnoncourt einfach nicht gehört). Die Musik spielt anderswo. Und sie spielt gut!

As with his recording of the Beethoven symphonies, Harnoncourt uses modern instruments but the size of the orchestra and the performance practices replicate those of the composer's day. The result is a Brahms with less lushness than we've become accustomed to, but with a new clarity, a different kind of power, and, as always with Harnoncourt, some beautiful turns of phrase. I didn't find the absence of lushness to be noticeable except in direct comparison with more conventional recordings. The emphasis in the interpretations is more classical than romantic, which shows the symphonies in a different light than than lusher performances. I recommend this set if only as an alternate with more conventional performances.

When you see a set with coherent well-argued Amazon reviews in all five categories from * to ***** you know you will not be bored. Much of the playing is low key and rather reticent but that makes you appreciate the climaxes even more. The end of the third represents a particulat challenge for conductor and sound engineers to make proper sense of what is going on. As rhe main theme is passed down through lower and lower strings beneath wind chords there is a danger of the theme becoming submerged especially if the conductor messes around with the tempo. Here it is easy to follow.Just being given the name of an orchestra does not always tell you much. The agility of this band suggests to me a chamber orchestra so maybe the string numbers were reduced. OK so the sound lacks the sheen of the best versions from the Vienna Phil. But the fact it is not over-bright suits the interpretations.

Johannes Nicolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt (so sein voller Name....) ist trotz seines Alters wohl im Augenblick einer der besten Dirigenten der Welt. Mit dem von ihm in den 1950-ger Jahren gegründeten Concentus Musicus (dieser besteht vorwiegend aus Mitgliedern der hervorragenden Wiener Symphoniker) hat er seine Weltkarriere begonnen und sich von der Barockmusik bis zur Romantik ein breites Repertoire angeeignet. Als ehemaliger Orchestermusiker (Tutticellist(!) bei den Wiener Symphonikern damals unter Karajan) hat er ein unglaubliches Gefühl für jeden einzelnen seiner Musiker bzw. für jede Instrumentengruppe abgesehen davon, dass er sich ein enormes theoretisches Wissen angeeignet hat. Ein Vergnügen, mit ihm zu musizieren und ihn zu hören.