Search - Johannes Brahms, Michael Gielen, SWF Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden :: Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1; Tragic Overture

Johannes Brahms, Michael Gielen, SWF Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1; Tragic Overture
Genre: Classical

Track Listings (5) - Disc #1
1. Tragic Overture, in D minor, Op. 81
2. Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: Un poco sostenuto - Allegro
3. Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: Andante sostenuto
4. Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: Un poco allegretto e grazioso
5. Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: Finale. Adagio - Pi? andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio

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CD Details

All Artists: Johannes Brahms, Michael Gielen, SWF Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden, SWR Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra
Title: Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1; Tragic Overture
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Hanssler Classics
Original Release Date: 1/1/2006
Re-Release Date: 3/14/2006
Album Type: Import
Genre: Classical
Styles: Historical Periods, Modern, 20th, & 21st Century, Symphonies
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 4010276018025

Synopsis

Album Description

Collectors around the world have eagerly sought after Michael Gielen?s recordings for Hänssler Classic. His unique, disciplined approaches to the full spectrum of repertoire, from Beethoven to Boulez, are among the finest ever committed to disc. Gielen?s understanding of the idioms of the 20th century is universally acknowledged but his unique, straightforward approach to the Romantic repertoire serves as a model for future generations. This current Brahms cycle ? first in Gielen?s cycle of the complete Brahms symphonies ? is certain to rank among the finest productions of a long and distinguished career.

CD Reviews

A winning variation on the Toscanini-Szell way with Brahms

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A piece like the Brahms First, heard and recorded to exhaustion, survives one performance at a time. There are no surprises left in the printed score but much room for new expression and feeling. On that score, I think Michael Gielen gives a highly successful reading -- it made me listen from beginning to end. At under 45 min., including the first movement's exposition repeat, this fast-paced, tensile interpretation fits the mold of Toscanini-Szell.

They are old stories by now, so what does Gielen add? A real feeling for phrasing and a beat far more flexible than either Toscanini's or Szell's. By taking out the tension of strict discipline, Gielen ffinds more beneath the surface than merely a "non-romantic play-through," to quote the Gramophone's reviewer. Not that I am a total convert -- I much prefer the freedom and warm heart of Bernstein, Furtwangler, Klemperer, and Bruno Walter. But Brahms is more malleable than his stodgy photographs suggest, and he invests so much passion in the First Sym. that leaving some out still makes for an engrossing experience.

My five stars roll off the side rail, since Gielen succeeds in a mode I don't actually like. But this 1995 recording, which is clear and detailed, deserves praise. The middling-good SWR SO of Baden-Baden plays with real enthusiasm, something I don't hear in rivals like Dohnanyi, Sawalisch, Abbado, and Marin Alsop, whose Brahms is too institutionalized for its own good."