Search - Johannes Brahms, Gunter Herbig, Berlin Symphony Orchestra :: Symphony No. 4 & Haydn Variations

Gunter Herbig, Berlin SO: Brahms Sym 4 + Haydn Variations: B

Dan Fee | Berkeley, CA USA | 06/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gunther Herbig was born in Czech, then known as Czechoslovakia. He studied under some famous musical figures, including Hermann Abendroth, Arvid Jansens, Hermann Scherchen, and Herbert von Karajan. He rose first in leadership positions among East German bands, then gradually gained more exposure in the west as the Wall came down and Germany was reunited. Eventually, Herbig came to USA for a bit, and was music director of Detroit. It's probably too bad that we do not have any recordings, released from the Herbig years in Detroit. Given how richly Detroit likes to play, it probably would have been something wonderful to hear them under Herbig. Now this conductor has been music director in Taiwan of the national orchestra. If Herbig is as effective an orchestra builder as I am guessing, his work in Taiwan can only grow and strengthen musical life there.



On this disc Herbig is leading the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. He and the players are doing Brahms fourth symphony, plus the so-called Haydn Variations.



As it happens, this disc is a beauty. It deserves far wider circulation than it has received to date.



The playing is simply archetypal in its Brahmsian strength, directness, and glow. The Berlin Symphony of course has already made a benchmark set, under former music director Kurt Sanderling. Or make that two sets, as a later one was released on Capriccio. That second set seems to have disappeared; but the earlier benchmark set is still available on BMG-RCA-Sony.



For Herbig and the Berlin players, this fourth symphony is a chance to offer up big, hearty, singing, glowing playing. Each department of the orchestra seems lit with a special, warm inner tonal gold. The strings have plenty of expressive heft and song and edge. I've long cherished Carlo Maria Giulini doing the four Brahms symphonies with Vienna; but these folks are giving that set a good run for its obvious merits.



Just guessing from the small print on the CD materials, this reading seems to derive from 1979. It sounds good, in good stereo, with a wide frequency, and a compellingly wide-deep sound stage. Consonant with the richly performed music, the sound conveys a rich and blended orchestra.



There is nothing remarkable about the tempos set by Herbig, as such. He takes standard speeds. He has an extra bit of flexibility in his Brahms' phrasing, all the way from immediate moments which lift and sing, to serving up whole paragraphs of the music. Such vitality informs this reading that nothing for any moment is sleepy, or business as usual. The fourth movement, all based on rather strict variations above a ground, is done to a precise and musical point. Strict in this instance, does not mean, rigid. Yet the foundational tempo and harmony are rock solid. The elegance and richness of these variations is the authentic voice of the composer - not the work of a rock star conductor trying to make some new, passing mark by finding new, odd, flashy ways to do Brahms.



I'm going to try to track down the first three symphonies, done by these performers. If those readings are as good as this one, the set will be a keeper for sure. Hearing this Brahms makes me regret that Herbig has not gotten the recording exposure that his talents and insights obviously suggest. Rumor has it that Herbig can sound too heavy, too pedantic, on a bad night in the concert hall. But there is none of that complaint here. This is a real deal, Brahms fourth symphony. The variations are utterly charming, by the way. Five stars."