Notes and Editorial Reviews
This CD duplicates the original 1991 release of these performances on a full-priced EMI disc. They were also reissued in 2003 as part of an eight-CD set devoted to all Brahms’s symphonies and concertos featuring Sawallisch. Offered here at what is presumably midprice, these readings are well worth the cost and provide strong competition to the midprice RCA Gold disc devoted to Günter Wand’s 1982 account of the symphony. Both conductors give that work a strong, middle-of-the road interpretation, but some may prefer the leaner slightly more forward-pressing Wand account. However, as that release offers only the symphony, this reissue may prove more attractive in its inclusion of two additional works that add up to half an hour more of
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music. The Tragic Overture is particularly impressive in its grim assertion and powerful accents, but the Variations, though well played, may seem a bit too expansive for some tastes. Nevertheless, everything here reveals Sawallisch as a conductor of taste and temperament, and the engineering remains thoroughly contemporary.
-- Mortimer H. Frank, Fanfare [7/2005]
Reviewing EMI 86092
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Works on This Recording
1.
Symphony no 1 in C minor, Op. 68 by Johannes Brahms
Conductor:
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1855-1876; Austria
2.
Tragic Overture, Op. 81 by Johannes Brahms
Conductor:
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1880; Austria
3.
Variations in B flat major on a theme by Haydn, Op. 56a "St. Anthony" by Johannes Brahms
Conductor:
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1873; Austria
Sound Samples
Symphony No. 1 in C minor Op. 68: I. Un poco sostenuto - Allegro
Symphony No. 1 in C minor Op. 68: II. Andante sostenuto
Symphony No. 1 in C minor Op. 68: III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso
Symphony No. 1 in C minor Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Allegro non troppo ma con brio
Variations on a Theme by Haydn, 'St Antoni Chorale' Op. 56a
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