Symphonies no. 3 & 4

"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".

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"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".

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"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!".

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

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

"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".

"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".

"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".

"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 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".

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

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

"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".

"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".

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

"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".

"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.