One For All Time!
Wayne Dawson | New Zealand | 05/03/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"These performances have received critical acclaim elsewhere and after listening to them it's easy to see why. The orchestra's sound image is up close and firmly captured, giving us a breath taking involvement in its at once lush (Brahms), then lean and transparent textures (Schoenberg). The Brahms fourth, tender and tough, with Nagano letting out the reins on the unruly beast in the last two movements, will not need replacing, nor will the equally memorable Schoenberg composition that offers a striking contrast to the maelstrom of the Brahms. Like Sigmund Freud, a little bit of Schoenberg goes a long way and this performance is a fine example of not just his twelve tone technique but his emotional expression as well. The orchestra's clarion clarity and tactile textures, beautifully delivered by Nagano and caught for all time by the engineers, are not to be missed!"
The Conquest of 'Early Music' Sensibilities
Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 01/13/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Kent Nagano spent too many years as a student and conductor in Berkeley, CA, not to be influenced by the 'historically informed' performance movement which thrives in that city. Nagano's work with the utterly modern-instrument Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, to my ears, exhibits many of the musical values of that movement. Brahms was, everyone should know, a composer very much influenced by his study of pre-Haydn composers, to the point that his vocal music might safely be called 'neo-Renaissance' in character. But Brahms's four symphonies also manifest a deep understanding of polyphonic composition. It's highly apt, then, to look for such 'early music' sensibilities in any performance of Brahms.
What makes Nagano sound so hip:
*Attention to inner voices, achieved by clarity, balance, and transparency. Listening to this CD, you may hear instruments you've never noticed in other performances of the 4th, unless you were sitting among the oboes and bassoons.
*Forthright tempi, with attention to cross-rhythms and dance-like phrases.
*Integrity of consonant chords; no big bow-wow rumble-jumble.
*Avoidance of top-voice melodrama; build from the 'tenor'.
*Avoidance of heavy vibrato, even among the strings; no scooping, no swooping.
Nagano rescues Brahms from Konzert Halle bombast and returns him to musicality.
Schoenberg has never been as subject to romanticist abuse as Brahms, and the Variations pour Orchestre op. 31 have not been so often recorded that they need rescue. The notes for this CD suggest that part of Nagano's programmatic intention in pairing these two compositions was to emphasize their common affiliation to the music of JS Bach, especially through the use of the chaconne in Symphony 4 and the reiterated serialism in the Variations. In any case, Nagano etches the Schoenberg in acoustic glass, rendering every timbre translucent. If you've never much liked Schoenberg, this recording may change your mind."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1