Search - Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra :: Symphony 1

Brahms in Boston, Courtesy of Haitink

Erik North | San Gabriel, CA USA | 02/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bernard Haitink remains one of the greatest of all conductors of classical music in our time, and the music of Johannes Brahms has been a specialty of his for years. His first Brahms cycle with his Concertgebouw Orchestra from the 1970s remains one of the best ones out there. However, his second one, this time with the Boston Symphony, isn't half bad either.This is a superb and even-handed performance of Brahms' epic and dramatic Symphony No. 1, a work which took Brahms twenty years to complete (he feared it wouldn't match up to the standards set by Beethoven). Haitink's conducting here (his second; the first was with the Concertgebouw in December '72) shows us that Brahms need not have been ashamed. The first movement is appropriately dramatic, the middle two elegiac and restrained, and the fourth movement appropriately triumphant. Of all singular recordings of the work, only the long-out-of-print 1982 L.A. Philharmonic/Carlo Maria Giulini recording on Deutsche Grammophon equals it.The CD concludes with Brahms' choral work "Nanie", based on a text by Friedrich von Schiller. Again, Haitink conducts the BSO with great tact, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is as glorious as ever. This is a classical CD well worth having."

One of the Great Recordings of Brahms' 1st Symphony

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 08/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Along with Haitink's splendid reading of Brahms' 4th symphony, his conducting of Brahms' 1st symphony must be regarded as one of the highlights of his second Brahms symphony cycle. Under his baton the Boston Symphony Orchestra gives a vibrant, warm performance as fine as the Concertgebouw Orchestra's. Philips' engineers have wrought one of their best recordings of a Brahms symphony. This fine CD closes with a lesser known Brahms choral work performed ably by both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Haitink is regarded by many as one of our foremost interpreters of Brahms, yet his CD sales have lagged in comparison to the likes of Abbado, Bernstein and Karajan."

Just an add-on to existing reviews

Wayne A. | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 08/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a terrific Brahms 1st but the entire set that was available from Philips is just as good. I'm not sure how this one got away from us!



The symphonies and extras (Tragic, Variations, Alto Rhapsody but oddly not Academic Festival) are beautifully performed (Ozawa didn't wreck the Boston THAT much!)and very mainstream but YIPES what great mainstream! This is the kind of balance of form, precision, and excitement that Haitink has always been a master of--unfortunately leading to the infrequent accusation of "bland" from music lovers who like more excitable (and sometimes unstable) or wowser conductors. While others praise a variety of those baton-wielders for various performances, Haitink (and the earlier van Beinum of the same home orchestra--the Amsterdam Concertgebouw)is still responsible for some of my favorite Bruckner and Mahler, most of the Debussy I like(the Concertgebouw is a great Debussy orchestra), and plenty of other stuff.



This is out of print but still kicking around in odd nooks and crannies. Worth a serious look."