Symphony No. 4 In E Minor: Allegro energico e passionato
Noted podium tyrant and sadist Fritz Reiner must have scared the daylights out of the Royal Philharmonic, which plays this music as though their very lives depended on it. This is one of the great Brahms Fourth Symphonies,... more » a performance of eruptive force and barely contained fury. It's been superbly transferred to CD, and anyone who loves this symphony simply has to own this recording. No question about it. --David Hurwitz« less
Noted podium tyrant and sadist Fritz Reiner must have scared the daylights out of the Royal Philharmonic, which plays this music as though their very lives depended on it. This is one of the great Brahms Fourth Symphonies, a performance of eruptive force and barely contained fury. It's been superbly transferred to CD, and anyone who loves this symphony simply has to own this recording. No question about it. --David Hurwitz
CD Reviews
A great Reiner Brahms 4th!
04/21/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"After the loss of their long-time music director, Sir Thomas Beecham (March, 1961), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra embarked on a series of recordings of classical music's warhorses in 1962 for Reader's Digest. These included big-name conductors such as Reiner, Jascha Horenstein, Charles Munch, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Adrian Boult, and maybe another name or two I cannot remember. This recording was available only in the Reader's Digest box set until it made it briefly on RCA's Gold Seal budget LP label in the late 1970's - early 1980's. It took the small enterprising label of Chesky to obtain the rights and reissue this recording and some of the other Reader's Digest recordings on CD, and the results are interesting.While a great recording performance-wise, recording producer Charles Gerhardt's and engineer Kenneth Wilkinson's approach toward recording Reiner in London's Walthamstow Town Hall is significantly different than Richard Mohr and Lewis Layton in Chicago's Orchestra Hall. There is a decidedly more distant perspective adopted by the Englishmen than their American counterparts. While this does simmer down the large orchestral sound of Mohr/Layton, the one advantage is that a bit more spatial clarity and proper aural perspective among greatly-contrasting instruments (such as a trombone vs. a flute) is realized.The difference between the regular Chesky CD and their gold CD as far as this recording is concerned is minimal, compared to two silver and gold CD Reiner/CSO recordings by RCA that I have of the 1954 Zarathustra and Pictures at an Exhibition. In these two Chicago recordings the difference between the silver and the gold CDs, is more pronounced (with the gold being better) in the Mohr/Layton approach to recording than in the Gerhardt/Wilkinson approach."
Surprisingly warm Reiner performance!
Brian H. Williams | Manteca, CA United States | 07/30/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Fritz Reiner, that tyrant of the conducting world, is usually known for his straight, business like manner of conducting. So here is a Brahms filled with warmth and emotion. What makes this performance so thrilling is that Reiner did not impose his Chicago Symphony sound on the Royal Philharmonic. The Royal Phil sounds warm and spacious. Chesky's remastering is outstanding. It sounds better than all of the modern digital recordings. This recording has a warmth and spaciousness not found in todays recordings. Reiner's brass is so strong and present. It's almost as if the engineers has placed microphones under the bells of the trombones! This recording was made in 1961, and shortly after this recording, Reiner suffered a heart attack and would pass in 1963. This recording serves as a great testimony to what great conductor Reiner was. Essential!!"
Brahms not loved to death, but
Gregory M. Zinkl | Chicago, IL | 04/12/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"played like you've never heard it before!It sounds like a really young person on the podium, what with all the fire that the Royal Phil gives. But it's not all cinder and ashes: there are some surpassingly beautiful moments.The tempi are quicker than in a lot of recordings--or at least they sound that way. If memory serves, Andre Previn's outing on Telarc with the same orchestra is a bit slower (and also a beautiful performance worthy of collection) and relaxed, as was Barbirolli in Vienna. In some ways, the performance recalls Mackerras's pioneering set on Telarc, tempo-wise.I have Kleiber in this work too, with Vienna (although that's on Exclusive instead of the more common DG), and he is also fabulous. But my favorite is this recording. At least as of today!The taughtness is energizing, and I find the observation of the Amazon reviewer to be quite true: The orchestra does indeed play like their lives counted on it. In fact, it sounds like they were terrified! This comes through in some of the string playing, which is beautiful, but sometimes lacking a little finesse in ensemble (yes, I know, this is Reiner conducting--imprecision is usually not the term one connotates with him!).The engineering is excellent stereo. A great addition!"
Admirable combination of beauty and power
Jeffrey Lee | Asheville area, NC USA | 09/06/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Fritz Reiner once said this was about the best recording he ever made. One can hear why. This is a sturdy, no nonsense account of the Brahms Fourth, but it does not lack a certain attractive quality, especially in the second movement andante, one of the composer's most inspired creations. For one who is identified sometimes with a cool approach, Reiner shows, in this movement, a lovely sense of warmth. In the first movement, he proceeds more rapidly than Bruno Walter, thereby adhering more honestly to the composer's allegro non troppo indication. I'm not really criticizing Walter, since I see his approach as helping to sustain a rather autumnal presence. Reiner's firmer view projects strength, but it also conveys musicality. This sense of integrity is evident also in his presentation of the third and fourth movements where, occasionally, some other conductors are inclined to go "over the edge" by displaying boisterousness or pushing things too far. Not Reiner. He maintains a splendid balance throughout, while providing both the requisite liveliness and feeling of forward momentum. There's virtually nothing to fault in this recording, which also demonstrates a pleasing ambience. This disc joins the list of my favorite Brahms Fourths which includes Walter, Klemperer, Weingartner and Abendroth."
A Great Brahms 4th and a great farewell
The Night Owl out on the Town | Los Angeles, CA United States | 05/25/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The reviewer below has summed up the greatness of this recording rather well, but it bears restatement.
Reiner was retiring as music director of the Chicago Symphony after recovering from a massive heart attack, when he went to London to make this recording for Reader's Digest. He was supposed to have also recorded the Tchaikovsky 5th but ill health again intervened. We should count our blessings we have this.
Charles Gerhardt, the producer had worked with Toscanini and was one of the most celebrated men in his field. He would later himself conduct the Classic Film Score Series for RCA, which resuscitated the reputations of Korngold, Rosza, and Herrmann among others and led the way for film music entering the accepted concert repertoire.
Kenneth Wilkinson "Wilkie" was the engineer for the series, coming from Decca. If he ever made a technically so-so recording I've never heard of it. His work always came alive when played back.
The Barbirolli Sibelius 2nd was in the Reader's Digest anthology which I once owned, and so were discs by Kempe, Fistoulari, Dorati, Pretre, Munch, Krips, Rene Leibowitz, Malcolm Sargent, Adrian Boult, the great Jascha Horenstein, Oscar Danon and a few others I'll probably remember later. It was a very special set.
This disc and the Barbirolli came in for the most critical acclaim. Reiner claimed this symphony was his favorite musical 'calling card', and it sounds it here. Illness or the post-Beecham RPO seemd to humanize him. There was the precision you expected from Reiner, and also notable warmth that was occasionally lacking back in Chicago.
Interestingly, while the reputations of Karajan, Solti, and even Szell (great martinets of the baton) have faded with time, Reiner remains one of the most celebrated conductors of the Twentieth Century in every accounting.
Though the gold Chesky disc is not greatly different from the silver. I don't miss the Leibowitz Egmont overture tacked on to the later, good though it is. It's just great to have this wonderful account of Brahms 4th period.
Now that Chesky has let these recordings out of print, I hope someone will make the Reader's Digest recordings Gerhardt and Wilkinson made so special available again.
(It would be nice if they threw in the Leibowitz rendtion of Pictures at an Exhibition as well. It's been as scarce as Liberal Republicans since it was made, and this unique rendition is rather fun to hear. )
Snap this Brahms 4th up if another copy comes available.
Track Listings (5) - Disc #1