Music / klassiske symfonier

Symphonies no. 3 & 4


Reviews (34)


Klassik.com

d. 29. June 2022

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By

Matthias Lange

d. 29. June 2022

"Wach und feingliedrig, strukturklar und klangsensibel: Herbert Blomstedt kennt seinen Brahms und gibt ihm im Zusammenspiel mit dem Gewandhausorchester Leipzig Raum zum Atmen. Altersweise? Sicher. Altersmilde, im Sinne eines Nachlassens der Ansprüche und des Herunterschaltens in einen Modus der Klangverwaltung? Keinesfalls! Herbert Blomstedts erstaunliche Karrierephase im hohen Alter findet mit diesem Brahms-Zyklus eine schöne Ergänzung".


The observer

d. 26. Jan. 2014

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By

Fiona Maddocks

d. 26. Jan. 2014

"They are at once modern in their transparency and detailed nuance yet old-fashioned in their relaxed tempi, long, overarching phrasing and use of string portamento ... Each approach opens our ears. These LPO performances are true bargains as well as fine performances".


Klassik heute

d. 28. Aug. 2018

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By

Georg-Albrecht Eckle

d. 28. Aug. 2018

"Thomas Dausgaard, der dänische Dirigent auf Erfolgslinie mit symphonischen Gesamtaufnahmen von Schubert oder Schumann - bei Brahms denn doch vielleicht etwas zu unbekümmert. Dausgaards Aufnahme offenbart einen zu leicht wiegenden Zugriff ... Freude macht natürlich die Rarität dieser Edition: die Orchestration von sechs Schubert-Liedern ... was beide Sänger, Anna Larsson und Johan Reuter, stimmdarstellerisch unterstreichen: Reuter gewinnt bei relativ hell timbriertem Organ eine geradezu wagnerische Gebärde".


MusicWeb international

2022 May

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By

John Quinn (musikanmelder)

2022 May

"These two performances really don't need extensive commentary. As was the case with the first two instalments in the series, this disc offers interpretations and playing of great distinction: when I listen to either symphony in Herbert Blomstedt's hands the music is presented just as I would wish to hear it. That's not to say that Blomstedt's readings are the only way to play Brahms - I continue to admire the smaller-orchestra versions ... but these are readings which are central to the received tradition of Brahms performance and I find his way with all four symphonies deeply satisfying and completely persuasive ... No matter how many Brahms symphony cycles you may have on your shelves, there should always be room for such fine contributions as these to the Brahms discography".


The guardian

d. 3. June 2021

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By

Andrew Clements (musikanmelder)

d. 3. June 2021

"Conductor Iván Fischer has taken time over his Brahms cycle with the Budapest Festival Orchestra ... and now the Third Symphony completes the series. As in the previous instalments the pairing is more Brahms, in this case the substantial, symphonic-scale Serenade No 2. And as in the earlier releases, too, Fischer's performances are wonderful svelte ... But they are also just a bit too objective and detached; these are performances to admire more than to live with".


MusicWeb international

2021 July

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By

Chris Salocks

2021 July

"Of the previous albums in this Brahms series, I've heard only the First Symphony/Haydn Variations coupling ... and, in both of those works, I felt that Fischer's renditions were excellent, but ... not really in the very top category of performances. This performance of the Third Symphony is considerably more than that, because it achieves, with one significant exception, a clarity of texture which far too many performances of this work fail to attain ... My only trouble with this new recording is that, ever since I heard the Masur/LGO Philips recording ... with its slower tempo in the first movement, all other conductors sound as if they're hustling things along too much in this section. Otherwise, I love this new Fischer recording!".


Kristeligt dagblad

d. 9. May 2022

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By

Peter Dürrfeld

d. 9. May 2022

"Brahms komponerede kun fire symfonier, men de er alle mesterlige værker, især når de kommer i hænderne på en så indsigtsfuld dirigent som Herbert Blomstedt ... Med udgivelsen af symfoni nr. 3 og 4 sætter pladeselskabet Pentatone punktum for en lille serie ... Med en samlet spilletid på 80 minutter får man også med hensyn til kvantiteten uhyre megen musik for pengene. En smuk udgivelse, indspillet i foråret 2021 i Gewandhaus".


Jyllands-posten

d. 15. Sep. 2014

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By

Jens Povlsen

d. 15. Sep. 2014

"Tyngde og sikkerhed følges med udtryk og store armbevægelser, når Gergiev dirigerer Brahms' to sidste symfonier. På over-fladen sikkert udført, men lytter man efter dybden i Brahms, skuffer Gergiev ... der langtfra leverer en anonym Brahms, men desværre lader detaljerne fylde for lidt i det samlede billede".


Politiken

d. 7. Nov. 2018

By

By

Thomas Michelsen

d. 7. Nov. 2018

"Dausgaard dirigerer Brahms' 3. Symfoni med friskhed. Her er ikke påfaldende gammeldags træfløjter som hos Gardiner, og når første sats valser, presses musikken næsten for hårdt. Men i øvrigt oplever man spændstighed og sprødhed - og det er stort at høre Johan Reuter synge Schubertlieder arrangeret for orkester og sangstemme af beundreren Brahms ... Den svenske alt Anna Larssons efterhånden meget modne stemme står sig bedst i Brahms' symfoniske Altrapsodi ... Dausgaard sparker endnu en gang en af klassikerne op ad banen.Til glæde for en ny generation af fans".


BBC music magazine

2009 November

By

By

Stephen Johnson (f. 1955)

2009 November

"Vurdering: BBC music choice" - "This is Gardiner at his penetrating, combative best, making contact with the music's heartbeat in a way that sounds both radical and natural".


BBC music magazine

2022 July

By

By

Malcolm Hayes

2022 July

"You won't hear lovelier playing of Brahms's music, nor clearer presentation of its ceaselessly inventive inner workings. What doesn't come across as strongly is how these are two of the greatest symphonic masterworks ever to have been written down".


Fono Forum

2021 Oktober

By

By

Clemens Haustein

2021 Oktober

"Iván Fischer ist ebenfalls ein Dirigent, der Leichtigkeit und Eleganz liebt. Mit dem Budapest Festival Orchester hat er einen Klangkörper geformt, der ihm hierin wach und beweglich folgt ... Die grosse Besetezung der Streicher sorgt für weiche Pastelltöne , die dank Fischers Artikulations- und Phrasierungsarbeit feine Konturen erhalten. Glücklich gehen hier die Möglichkeiten des grossen Sinfonieorchesters mit dem Streben nach Durchhörbarkeit zusammen".


BBC music magazine

2021 September

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By

Erik Levi

2021 September

"The performance of the Second Serenade is entirely enjoyable. Fischer coaxes his Budapest wind players to deliver some beautifully mellifluous playing, especially in the slow movement and the minuet, and there is an irresistible lightness of touch in the Finale ... But there are more convincing performances of Brahms 3".


Fono Forum

2019 Juni

By

By

Clemens Haustein

2019 Juni

"Zweiter und letzter Teil der Gesamtaufnahme der Brahms-Sinfonien ... Es ist vollbracht und ein Meilenstein gesetzt auf dem Weg der Brahms-Wiedergabe ... Aber hören wir doch einfach zu: wie vielfarbig Brahms' dritte und vierte Sinfonie hier plötzlich erscheinen ... Man möchte die Sinfonien nicht mehr anders hören als in dieser Weise freigelegt".


BBC music magazine

2007 January

By

By

Calum MacDonald

2007 January

"I rather felt a lack of power in the outer movements, though they are elegantly paced and shaped ... Throughout, the performance is testimony to the remarkable rapport she has developed with the Bournemouth Symphony, but it just fails to make it to the top beacket of performances of this much-loved work".


Fono Forum

2018 Oktober

By

By

Gerald Felber

2018 Oktober

"Überhaupt erhält die lyrische "Dritte" hier locker beschwingte, luftige und duftige Tönungen, aus der sich erst im wild sturmgepeitschten Finale grosse Fragen und Verlorenheiten öffnen".


Diapason

2018 décembre

By

By

Patrick Szersnovicz

2018 décembre


BBC music magazine

2019 January

By

By

Rebecca Franks

2019 January

"If some of the rubato and tempos in the Third Symphony don't always feel natural, the sound and phrasing is always stylish. There's beauty in Anna Larsson's Alto Rhapsody, although she sounds off-colour in the songs".


International record review

2009 October

By

By

Carl Rosman

2009 October

"Certainly Gardiner's series continues as the most striking Brahms traversal of recent years, for both its performances and its programming".


The gramophone

2009 November

By

By

Richard Osborne (f. 1943)

2009 November

"Gardiner takes the Third at quite a lick and the choral works are glorious".


The gramophone

2022 August

By

By

Rob Cowan (f. 1948)

2022 August

"The principal beauty of this current release - aside from that famed Blomstedt 'honesty' - is in the sound: the rich pizzicato bass chords near the beginning of the Third and the resplendent brass in both symphonies ... Performances that exhibit a distinctive tonal bloom, emotional warmth, conceptual nobility and a high level of musical understanding ... But definitive? Not too sure about that. Some listeners might prefer something rather more dynamic, midday-sun Brahms as opposed to Blomstedt's rich-textured autumnal approach".


Diapason

2022 juin

By

By

Hugues Mousseau

2022 juin


Opus

2022, nr. 111

By

By

Axel Lindhe

2022, nr. 111

"Med den här dubbelutgåvan fullbordas Herbert Blomstedts och Gewandhausorkesterns Brahms-cykel. Likt de tidigare inspelningarna av första och andra symfonin slås man av orkesterns varme och fullödiga klang. Herbert Blomstedt kärlek till musiken är inte att ta miste på, framför allt hans förmåga att lyfta fram de sångbara elementen i den tredje symfonin väcker beundran".


The gramophone

2021 August

By

By

Peter Quantrill

2021 August

"Editor's choice: A Third to savour and repeat, in touch with its fleeting, dusky nature like few others ... The orchestra bends and yields to the music's expressive pulse with a unanimity of purpose that entirely belies the sophistication of Fischer's rubato".


Opus

2021, nr. 106

By

By

Axel Lindhe

2021, nr. 106

"Ungerske dirigenten Ivan Fischer och hans Budapestorkester har nått fram till sista delen i sin Brahmscykel ... Uppriktigt sagt tror jag det finns få som kan tävla med den här orkesterns välljud - maken till honungslena stråkar och välklingande träblås får man leta efter. Men vill du även ha Brahms spelat med rytmiskt framåtdriv och energi finns mer att önska".


The gramophone

2014 March

By

By

Richard Osborne (f. 1943)

2014 March

"The expressive power Jurowski brings to both symphonies derives in large measure from the plasticity of his articulation of the musical line. Such plasticity might seem mannered were it not for the strong sense of forward momentum which informs his conducting here".


International record review

2014 March

By

By

John Warrack

2014 March

"Not everything in these interpretations seems apt, but they are honest and intelligent performances that have thought through these two masterpieces".


BBC music magazine

2014 March

By

By

Stephen Johnson (f. 1955)

2014 March

"Does it live up to expectations? Partly. The freshness, the expressive generosity combined with feeling long evolving paragraphs, the liberating rhythmic vitality - they're all here, though only intermittently in the Third Symphony".


The gramophone

2014 December

By

By

Edward Seckerson

2014 December

"The Fourth, which is lamentable and quite one of the worst performances I've ever heard of the piece ... the Third demonstrates resilience and muscularity".


The gramophone

2019 May

By

By

Peter Quantrill

2019 May

"Paavo Järvi's direction is unusually succesfull at recreating live and contingent drama in studio conditions ... Throughout the ensemble ... the quality of voice-leading raises them above most modern rivals, large or small. Everyone knows where they are going, and how to get there. Järvo allows the pulse to relax without slackening tension during the most searching passages ... Brahms for our time, certainly, but then Brahms is for all time".


The gramophone

2007 March

By

By

Richard Osborne (f. 1943)

2007 March

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "Brand-new budget-price recordings which can rub shoulders with the best are rarer than one imagines ... but this fine new Brahms disc probably comes into that category ... It is a long time since I heard a performance of the Variations as well grounded and as keenly profiled as this".


High fidelity (Kbh.)

Årg. 40, nr. 6 (2007)

By

By

Mogens Wenzel Andreasen

Årg. 40, nr. 6 (2007)

"En af de bedste udførelser af dette indtagende værk, jeg nogen sinde har hørt".


Opus

2018, nr. 85

By

By

Axel Lindhe

2018, nr. 85

"Tonalt är trean den mest särpräglade av Brahms symfonier, med yttersatser som svävar mellan dur och moll, och kanske är det musikens motsägelsefullhet och hemlighetsfulla sinnelag som gör att Dausgaard inte riktigt ror verket i hamn på samma lyckade sätt som i inspelningarna av första och andra symfonierna ... Man får känslan av att den danske dirigenten helst vill spela Brahms oms om han vore Beethoven. Inget fel i det, och visst är det häftigt att lyssna på i stunden ... Skivans största behållning blir istället de sällan framförda orkestreringarna av Schubertsångar ... samt Altrapsodin, där Larssons innerliga altröst glimrar sagolikt".


The gramophone

2018 October

By

By

Andrew Mellor

2018 October

"More muscular, immediate Brahms here from Thomas Dausgaard's Meiningen-sized Swedish Chamber Orchestra but, where the previous two instalments have been blessed with invigorating momentum, this performance os the Third is more problematic ... None of that stops this series being ever illuminating and an added benefit here is the generous fill-ups ... All of this is worth hearing; Reuter's singing, totally united with the orchestra, is rather more.