Search - Brahms, Berlin Phil, Walter :: Symphony 2 Op 73 / Song of Destiny Op 54

Walter's triumphant return to the Berlin Phil. in 1950

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/20/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a welcome release of a historic Brahms Second from the concert in September, 1950, when Bruno Walter returned to the Berlin Phil. He had first conducted this work with the same orchestra as a student in 1893, a full 57 years earlier. The Nazis forbade Walter, a Jew, to take the podium at a Philharmonic concert in 1933, his last prewar engagement with them (Richard Strauss reluctantly took over the concert). Given the special singnificance, I'm happy to report that Urania's source is in good AM-radio mono, which is to say that it's listenable and without obvious defects, even though the overall qualty is no better than a Toscanini NBC broadcast of the same era.



The performance has the vigorous contours of his New York Phil. studio Brahms cycle from around that time. The autumnal Walter is nowhere in sight. This reading is sinewy and firm-handed, with excellent ensemble and a sure grasp of the line. The Berliners, still under Furtwangler, play extremely well. Walter's habit with the finale wasn't to start softly and then explode into a forte but to begin strongly from the first notee. The whole movement is propulsive, probably the best account he's given us, but be prepared for a boomy timpani.



The filler is Brahms's "Song of Destiny" from a concert in Oct. 1947 with the L.A. Phil. in gritty, dim sound. To boot, the amateur chorus is ramshackle and out of tune. It's better to stick with the remake Walter did in the studio for Columbia/Sony. But for the historic and uplifting Brahms Second, this Urania release is invaluable (the only previous CD release listed in a Walter online discography was from Japanese Denon)."