Brahms conductors
Tue, Aug 23 2011, 5:48PM
#2
RE: Brahms conductors
What about Karajan-BPO, 1978?
Wed, Aug 24 2011, 5:24PM
#3
RE: Brahms conductors
The Brahms cycle by James Loughran and the
Halle Orchestra together with other orchestral works is reviewed
favourably here
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Dec02/Brahms_Loughran.htm
I have the second and fourth symphonies on LP which are very much to my liking but then I've long been a Loughran fan particularly for his way of building/balancing chords from the bottom up, the negation of "top-lining". You'll find three performances of his with other orchestras on the site given below.
Sat, Aug 27 2011, 4:00AM
#4
RE: Brahms conductors
After all these valuable contributions, may one dare to say that Janowsky is brilliant and spectacular in his recent recordings on Pentatone, in demonstration sound, where you don't have to think of what you hear, in order to complete the picture. Everything is in the air.
As for some other valuable conductors' contributions to Brahms, I aways believed Karajan had this unique sound flair for such a composer whose music needs the most lustre of the sound of the orchestra players; and BPO delivered the most under his baton. Bernstein, heretic or erratic, has always been an enormous source of spirit that lies abundantly in any interpretation of his; and with VPO the results are most spectacular.
Finally, I dare to mention that, from the young generation, Simone Young, after a quite succesful and very ineresting cycle (on the way to completion) of Bruckner, is embarking upon Brahms; her First is very promising, solid and, most importantly, to the point.
Parla
Thanks for the interesting background on the Reiner, Troyen. He seems to have made very few recordings in UK but did make a few for Decca in Vienna. I thought the delightful way he pulled about Brahms's Hungarian dances showed he did have sense of humour (and perhaps even the autocratic VPO did too)!