Search - Brahms, Giulini, Vpo :: Symphony 4 / Tragic Overture

Acolades Forever

Roger W. Wood | Jacksonville, Florida | 07/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"(You may want to read my review of Giulini's EMI "Great Recordings Of The Century" performance of this same symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It offers a fuller representation of Giulini's actual thought and approach to this symphony.)



How many times in his towering career did Carlo Maria Giulini conduct the Brahms 4th? No one knows. I certainly do not. But He did it in at least three recorded cycles (PO/LAPO/VPO) currently available -- at least partially. And who knows how many single lp/cd issues or concerts this man did of the same symphony? One of my all time favorites is his great 4th with the CSO on EMI. This specific performance here was his last recording of the Fourth and was a LIVE performance on DG with the Vienna Philharmonic (Weiner Philharmoniker), the last symphony of his last Brahms cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic -- the whole cycle is just awesome and features some of the best orchestra work I have ever heard on Brahms. It is a co-favorite of mine with his CSO performance. Like the CSO performance, it is just sensational and one of his greatest. To have both cds or only one of the two is to know a great orchestra playing a great Brahms symphony under the baton of one of the great Brahms conductors and communicators of all time.



It was an orchestra that loved CMG and played with him often. The city loved him and gave him its Medal of Honor (1990). And the orchestra was and is -- possibly and arguably -- the greatest orchestra in the world.

Here then is no small offering: one of the great Brahms conductors of all time --conducting him more than 50 years -- with one of the great orchestras of all times. And, although this is but one of the 4 symphony cycle offering from DG, it is one symphony that CMG loved perhaps more than any (with the possible exception of the 1st). Here is a major, major performance. The orchestra plays with passion. Anytime Brahms and CMG come together, it is a major happening. Brahms is set forth nobly and eloquently. With love and understanding and passion. Unforgetable sonority. Get it. Get it. Get it. If you love Brahms. Get it. If you love CMG. Get it. If you love great music. Get it. But most of all, just get it.



CMG sums up his recorded Brahms career with this cycle, and this 4th is one of the great performances of my lifetime. After this, he would offer only the German Requiem to Vienna's music lovers (1995), and, fortunately, that too is available on DG and Amazon. Get it too. (See my review if you wish!) One can order the entire Vienna cycle from Amazon.de (Germany's Amazon)and wait about a month for it to arrive, but it is worth it. No one is better on this music than CMG and the Weiner Philharmoniker. By the way, the performance of the 3rd (and the 1st and the 2nd) in this cycle is also one of the great ones ever done. It too is to die for. Get it. And trust me on this one. You will not regret it if you love great Brahms and appreciate him enshrined in the understanding, depth, and vision of one of the great baton artists of our time. This towering artist's passion for Brahms is matched, in my opinion, by only one other artist in my lifetime, Wilhelm Furtwangler. What an association!

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The autumnal gaze!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 04/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The most autumnal symphony of the lavish Hamburg ` s son has always been a big challenge for any director. Its kaleidoscopic universe of livings as well as its sudden changes of tempo and modulation (specially in the last movement) constitute one of the most exigent Symphonic works in the wide repertoire of the music.



Just a very few conductors have been able to be successful. In the past we still remind four portentous versions: the legendary version of Arturo Toscanini conducting the BBC in the early Fifties (this set is still available in Amazon U.K.), a live recording (which was never released under commercial license) directed by Victor de Sabata conducting the London Symphony in 1953, another live version conducted by Paul van Kempen in the last Forties and finally the impressive version of Wilhelm Furtwangler and the Berlin Philharmonic.



After these untouchable performances there have been a set of memorable performances: Rudolf Kempe with the Munich Philharmonic, and this one directed by the great master Carlo Maria Giulini, whose masterful approach revives with renovated inspiration the overall mood of the Symphony.



Dignity, noblesse and sweeping passion without never fall in the self indulgency or even the theatrical and tearful posture so typical and pitifully considered in many distinguished directors.



Go for this sumptuous performance. It ?s a very good option.

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Brahms symphony 4.Does it get any better than this???

P. J. Ross | uk | 03/17/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is my own personal favourite of all the recordings of this symphony.It is possibly the slowest performance on record,but don't let that put you off,because it never drags,indeed the concentration of the playing of The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra ,here caught"live"(but with barely the trace of an audience)added to the magnetism of Giulini's control lead the ear persuasively onwards.The recorded sound is full and rich,capturing the burnished sound of the orchestra perfectly.The only thing preventing me from giving this recording the full five stars is that I know collectors tastes differ,and although this version satisfies me perfectly,other people may react differently,but on a personal level I can not recommend it highly enough."