Search - Johannes Brahms, Bernard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra :: Brahms: Symphony No. 4 [Hybrid SACD]

Rich, Powerful and Eloquent Brahms

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 02/16/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is one deserving the attention of even the most critical Brahms devotee. Released just last summer as part of the London Symphony Orchestra Live series the performance with Bernard Haitink conducting the London Symphony Orchestra is presented in SACD format. It is a recording that will elevate the spirit as well as the joy of current technology if it can be played on the equipment required for SACD.



But the beauty of this superb performance of the Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 is that even on standard equipment this is an experience that must be heard. Haitink conducts with his usual respect for Brahms' notations, managing to allow the surges of his melody lines to sing where they should and lead into the next thought in a natural and cohesive manner. The orchestra sounds particularly warm and resonant on this recording and the recording ambience is live without seeming cavernous. This is a fine performance, stronger than Haitink's own fine 1992 recording with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It simply has more majesty and is in keeping with the master's own thoughts that this was his most elegiac statement. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, February 06



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Best Recording of the Brahms 4th Symphony currently availabl

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 05/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"LSO Live concludes Haitink's latest Brahms symphony cycle with this mezmerizing live recording of the Brahms 4th Symphony. Without question, this Haitink Brahms symphony cycle may be regarded as among the finest currently available. Haitink's stately, riveting interpretation of this symphony is as magical an interpretation as Carlos Kleiber's acclaimed mid 1980's Deutsche Grammophon account with the Vienna Philharmonic or Herbert Blomstedt's Decca mid 1990's account with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Haitink has conducted the London Symphony in an unusually warm, vibrant performance of this symphony, which is replete with excellent solo performances from the french horns, woodwinds and strings. I was especially pleased with Haitink's dignified, but still brooding, interpretation of the 4th movement, which comes across as a musical interlude between darkness and light. For these reasons Haitink is without question one of our foremost interpreters of Brahms' music, though one little known to most North American classical music aficionados (Only recently has he begun conducting extensively in the United States again, having been associated only with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for many years. Speaking of which, I still treasure his early 1990s Philips recording of this same work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as one of the best recordings of the 4th symphony, even if this latest one is sonically and musically more important.). Fans of the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Bernard Haitink will not be disappointed with this recording. I believe that it is without question, the best recording of this symphony currently available."