Loaded with German Romanticism & including variations on a Bach cantata, Brahms’ final symphony is a remarkable example of his mastery of symphonic composition. A rich, warm work that builds on a sense of movement & intensity right up to the final bars. This release also represents the completion of Bernard Haitink’s celebrated LSO Live Brahms cycle that has included the symphonies, Double Concerto, Tragic Overture & Serenade No 2.
This release in Praga's Reminiscences series of SACD remasterings features the great Russian conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky leading the Leningrad Philharmonic in recordings of two masterpieces of the Romantic repertoire. Brahms's refined and intellectually complex Symphony No.4 is paired with the rich, heart-on-sleeve passion of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.5 – one of the composer's best loved works.
Editorial Reviews- Amazon.com
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
Hi buddies!. Here you are the first recording of Braga Santos' 4th symphony, recorded in the late 70's under conductor Silva Pereira, who, with the also portuguese conductor Alvaro Cassuto, are the main champions of this excellent music. Joly Braga Santos was the most important symphonist in Portugal during the XX century, and many people say he was the best iberian symphonist of the last century. Of course there were not too many iberian symphonists and maybe competitivity was not really hard, but despite of all, here you have the proof to agree or not with that opinion... In my humble opinion, mmm yes, maybe he was :P I prefer the modern recording by Casutto with no added choir ate the end (it was suggested by Pereira to the composer), despite he is lively in the rest of the symphony. Stereo sound is ok, if not like Unicorn vinyls because Electrecord rumanian pressings are far from perfect, but it's still audible, so please.. Enjoy!