Brahms Symphony No1

[richardfinegold]

I'm not sure Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra has been mentioned: very well reviewed, a fresh performance, though I've only played it once.

Good sound, too, although it can't compare with Janowski

[richardfinegold]

I haven't heard the Sanderling Dresden set, and never got round to getting the Abbado on DG which is also very highly praised by so many. I guess Sanderling's Dresden orchestra's horn players use far more vibrato than West German ones.

The Sanderling set is outstanding

[Barbirollians]

RO did all four symphonies back in LP days c1979-80. He chose EMI LPO/Boult for a set of all four, and BPO/Furtwangler (a DG single LP 2535 162), Halle/Loughran and the LPO/Boult as his single-disc picks for the 1st.

Loughran? - his CfP Brahms set was highly rated when it came out but seems never to be mentioned these days. My local musical mate has to be restrained from spitting at any mention of him, and he seems to have heard him live a good few times. I've never sampled his Brahms. RO rated his 2nd too, but not 3 and 4. Can anyone explain what seems like a meteoric fall from, ahem, the podium?

Very interesting LMP - he seems to have come round to the Loughran in his recent Gramophone Collection on Brahms 3 last April .

[Tony Halstead]

Royal Philharmonic, available on Chessky.

I have a CD of that Horenstein performance and it's superb.

Just 'for the record', HS ( no pun intended) I have played Brahms 1, as either 1st or 3rd horn, under the following 'most memorable' conductors as well as some other less memorable ones:
Alphabetically -

Moshe Atzmon
Sir John Barbirolli
James Loughran
Ole Schmidt
Christopher Seaman
Leopold Stokowski

I was a production assistant for Roger Norrington's LCP recording, so I suppose I can count that one in as well.

For me, the most meaningful and satisfying interpretations were by Loughran and Norrington.

[mathias broucek]

There's a new Tennstedt on the LP0 label. Has anyone heard it yet?http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B009...sr=8-1&pi=SL75

[Andrew Preview]

I likethe Rattle too, Stanfordian.

I have BPO/Karajan (1963), BPO/Abbado, RCgbw/Chailly, BFO/Fischer and BPO/Rattle. I enjoy all of them, but find Rattle's the most satisfying overall. His pacing is spot on for my taste, balance is excellent, and (notwithstanding a rather overblown solo flute early in the finale) the playing is terrific.

I've heard a fair amount of praise for Jurowski's coupling of 1 and 2, but his pacing in the climax of the finale is very strange - that curious slowing at 14:49...

[verismissimo]

There's a new Tennstedt on the LP0 label. Has anyone heard it yet?

Wonder if it's the same as the one that came out on BBC Legends in 2009 (RFH, 6 May 1990)?

[Tony Halstead]

Royal Philharmonic, available on Chessky.

I've just listened to that Chessky CD to remind myself how excellent it is!
However:
the RPO play the Wagner Bacchanale (Tannhauser)
BUT it's the LSO who play Brahms #1.

[mathias broucek]

I've just listened to that Chessky CD to remind myself how excellent it is!
However:
the RPO play the Wagner Bacchanale (Tannhauser)
BUT it's the LSO who play Brahms #1.

That's right - I have the original LP on RCA

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Loughran? - his CfP Brahms set was highly rated when it came out but seems never to be mentioned these days.

AHEM!! It was "never mentioned" quite favourably in #18, LMP.

My local musical mate has to be restrained from spitting at any mention of him, and he seems to have heard him live a good few times. I've never sampled his Brahms. RO rated his 2nd too, but not 3 and 4.

If your "musical mate" spits at the neglect of this superb Musician, I second his sentiments if not his expectorant medium of expression. If his phlegmatic response is in contempt of Loughran as a conductor, then I humbly suggest that the epithet "musical" for your "mate" is severely inaccurate!

Can anyone explain what seems like a meteoric fall from, ahem, the podium?

Not really. As I understand it, the Hallé got concerned at the emphasis Loughran placed on the "core repertoire" (Beethoven - Elgar) and wanted someone more interested in contemporary Music - and with a bigger international profile. Loughran then moved to Germany and then Denmark and Japan and was rather lost from UK performances. A great pity: in the late '70s and early '80s, no conductor's live concerts had a greater influence on my Musical education.

I think that a fellow Forumista (can't remember which) has contact with him via a golf-playing mutual friend.

[Barbirollians]

I mentioned him in post 1 I thought - a very fine set . A shame if that was why the Halle gave him the push - I know he has his fans but Skrowacewski's reign was notable for a number of very routine and dreary concerts certainly at Sheffield City Hall .

[Curalach]

I think that a fellow Forumista (can't remember which) has contact with him via a golf-playing mutual friend.

Indeed, one of my friends plays golf with Jimmy regularly. As has been said, most of his conducting, post Halle, has been furth of the UK. I used to bump into him regularly at Glasgow Airport and at Heathrow. Today, he is semi-retired as his wife does not keep at all well. He is a regular attender at RSNO and BBCSSO concerts.

[Petrushka]

Indeed, one of my friends plays golf with Jimmy regularly. As has been said, most of his conducting, post Halle, has been furth of the UK. I used to bump into him regularly at Glasgow Airport and at Heathrow. Today, he is semi-retired as his wife does not keep at all well. He is a regular attender at RSNO and BBCSSO concerts.

In agreement with FHG that James Loughran did much to further my own musical education too during his time with the Halle in concerts at Stoke on Trent and Manchester in the mid-1970s. One of those concerts included a very fine Brahms 3 which was given near the time of the recording.

A badly under-rated conductor.

[Lordgeous]

Cantelli for me (not that Ive heard all the others) but maybe biased as I've grown up with it since being a teenager. What a glorious sound too. I only have it on vinyl - assume it must have been transferred to CD?

[Alison]

Wonder if it's the same as the one that came out on BBC Legends in 2009 (RFH, 6 May 1990)?

I see that the performance on the LPO label is from 1992 so must have been one of KT's last performances anywhere.

The 1990 is joyous beyond measure and I can't wait to hear the new one.