Notes and Editorial Reviews
John Eliot Gardiner’s Brahms cycle reaches its culmination in more ways than one. The intellectual penetration has never been in doubt, but the emotional engagement has varied.
Here, though, everything seems in focus: not just the tempo, but also the rhythmic drive and urgency seem absolutely right in the third and fourth movements – the finale ferociously tragic yet also exhilarating. But at no stage in this performance is there any feeling that the music is being ridden too hard. The first movement’s lyricism seems to go through so many character changes and flows organically.
The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique sound, too, seems especially suited to this symphony, which Brahms compared in
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character to the flavour of sour cherries. The conductor Bruno Walter remembered how the sound of Brahms’s orchestral music softened and ripened during his lifetime – originally it was much more lean, muscular and tart.
This performance gives a lively sense of what that authentic Brahms sound might have been like, and the music gains enormously – not an ounce of flab on these textures.
The accompanying programme is also the most revealing of the series. Hearing the opening of the Symphony’s finale after Beethoven’s Coriolan establishes an unexpected connection right away, while the inclusion of the Bach Cantata from which Brahms derived his passacaglia theme makes perfect sense.
Gardiner’s very Brahmsian arrangement of the Geistliches Lied may throw less of that kind of light, but it’s utterly gorgeous and will come as a revelation to many. Excellent recordings, as ever.
Performance: 5 (out of 5); Sound: 5 (out of 5)
-- Stephen Johnson, BBC Music Magazine
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Works on This Recording
1.
Coriolan Overture in C minor, Op. 62 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Period: Classical
Written: 1807; Vienna, Austria
2.
Sanctus and Benedictus a 12 by Giovanni Gabrieli
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
3.
Symphoniae sacrae, Op. 12: Saul, Saul, was verfolgst, SWV 415 by Heinrich Schütz
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Period: Baroque
Written: 1650; Germany
4.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150: no 6, Meine Augen sehen stets zu dem Herrn by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
5.
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150: no 7, Meine Tage in den Leiden by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
6.
Geistliches Lied, Op. 30 by Johannes Brahms
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Period: Romantic
Written: 1856; Germany
7.
Fest und Gedenksprüche, Op. 109 by Johannes Brahms
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Monteverdi Choir,
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Period: Romantic
Written: 1886-1889; Austria
8.
Symphony no 4 in E minor, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms
Conductor:
John Eliot Gardiner
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Period: Romantic
Written: 1884-1885; Austria
Sound Samples
Overture to Collin's Coriolan, Op. 62, "Coriolan Overture"
Symphoniae Sacrae (1615): Sanctus-Benedictus a 12
Symphoniarum sacrarum III, Op. 12, SWV 398-419: Symphoniarum sacrarum III, Op. 12: No. 18. Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich, SWV 415
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150: Meine Augen sehen stets zu dem Herrn
Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150: Ciacona: Meine Tage in dem Leide
Geistliches Lied, Op. 30 (arr. J.E. Gardiner for chorus and strings)
Fest- und Gedenkspruche (Festive and Memorial Verses), Op. 109: No. 1. Unsere Vater hofften auf dich
Fest- und Gedenkspruche (Festive and Memorial Verses), Op. 109: No. 2. Wenn ein starker Gewappneter
Fest- und Gedenkspruche (Festive and Memorial Verses), Op. 109: No. 3. Wo ist ein so herrlich Volk
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98: I. Allegro non troppo
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98: II. Andante moderato
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98: III. Allegro giocoso - Poco meno presto
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98: IV. Allegro energico e passionato - Piu allegro
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