Search - Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein :: Brahms: Symphonie No. 1; Beethoven: Ouvertüren Egmont & Coriolan

It's amazing that Leonard Bernstein can turn in taut, dramatic, highly disciplined performances of the two Beethoven overtures on this disc and then make such a mess out of Brahms. You would think that the same virtues that make great Beethoven also apply to the later composer, sharing as they do so many of the same musical values. Well, evidently Lenny didn't feel that way, and his overblown, mannered Brahms symphony cycle for DG is to be avoided by all but the biggest Bernstein loyalists. --David Hurwitz