Search - Johannes Brahms, Kurt Sanderling, Berlin Symphony Orchestra :: Brahms: 4 Symphonien; Haydn-Variationen; Alt-Rhapsodie

A Master's Brahms

T. Beers | Arlington, Virginia United States | 08/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a fan of Kurt Sanderling's magnificent analog Dresden Brahms cycle for 30 years and wasn't too keen to investigate this Berlin cycle, recorded digitally in 1992. And it didn't help that the usual Brit and American critics almost unanimously panned it as being slower and much inferior to the Dresden performances (still available on RCA/BMG.) But the critics are wrong: Sanderling's Berlin Brahms remake offers some of the most insightful Brahms conducting I've ever heard. Yes, Sanderling's tempos tend to be slower than in Dresden, but that's neither here nor there. What is important is that Sanderling's tempos invariably work in relation to each other so that musical texture and harmonic relationships are wonderfully articulated and defined. This is some of the richest sounding Brahms you'll ever hear, but it's also amazingly transparent. Some of that achievement is due to the gorgeous sound quality achieved by Capriccio's engineers, but most of the credit is Sanderling's, the result of very careful balancing of orchestral choirs. Brahms once said something to the effect that melody per se didn't fire his composer's imagination, but a good bass line was absolutely crucial. Sanderling understands the structurally foundational importance of the Brahms bass, that quite literally everything in a Brahms composition develops out of it. As a result, with Sanderling Brahms's symphonic arguments develop inexorably and with a marvelous cumulative effect. Not flashy, not hysterical-sounding, but tremendously exciting nevertheless. In retrospect, we can now appreciate that Kurt Sanderling (now in his nineties and retired) was the last of the great German conductors, an artist whose musical insights deepened over the length of his career. Nothing proves that point better than these Brahms performances with the (now defunct) Berlin Symphony Orchestra. As good as his earlier Dresden cycle is (and it is spectacularly fine), Sanderling's valedictory Berlin cycle is finer still. It is an amazing achievement. Although the set is spread out over four discs and is quite pricey, it is worth every penny!"