BaL 5.10.24 - Brahms: Symphony 1

[smittims]

I share your suspicion, Petrushka, though I couldn't criticise this set until I'd heard it all. But on paper, it looks unlikely to be better than some we know.

[AuntDaisy]

It looks a tad suspicious to my cynical mind that a brand new version - and a complete set, too - is the 'winner' on this occasion. One wonders how much thought went into this as it's certainly a nice little earner for DG to have 'Building a Library' choice included in its marketing.

If anyone's interested, Dave Hurwitz has good things to say about the First in this set, but less good for the others. His feeling was that the orchestra need more strings.

Thanks Petrushka. Dave Hurwitz was very entertatining & I enjoyed his comments "We need morrrrre strings...".
I haven't listened to BAL yet, like smittims the shifted time just doesn't work, but I'll try to.

Wouldn't it be lovely if Dave Hurwitz could appear on BaL?

[CallMePaul]

Thanks for the summary.

The website only gives the winner, which I'll add to the original posting.

Katy's choice:
Johannes Brahms: The Symphonies
Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Deutsche Grammophon 4866000

I didn't listen though at least have the reason/excuse that I was at today's matinee of Alan Ayckbourn's 90th play, Show and Tell, in Scarborough.

I only heard the beginning and end of this, but of the excerpts I heard, the winner was the only performance by a living conductor. No discussion of important issues such as observance (or not) of the first movement repeat, and no mention of period instrument recordings such as those conducted by Norrington and Gardner. Of those played, Mackerras appealed to me most but I see no need to add to my JEG version of what is my least favourite of the Brahms symphonies.

[HighlandDougie]

Some of the above posts trouble me, not least because they come from people who did not listen to the programme nor seemed to have played catch-up. Katy Hamilton provided reasons for her choice of the three 'finalists' and her choice of Y N-S at the end of the day was, by her admission, a very close run thing. I thought that she was going to opt for Karajan rather than Mackerras but it could easily have been the other way round so, in a sense, the winner was a bit of a compromise. That it happens to be a recent release is surely neither here nor there. The inference that the BBC has been influenced by a record company (or for that matter the presenter equally pressed to choose a recent recording), without there being any hard evidence to support it, feels just a bit grubby and Trumpian to me but maybe it's my exquisite sensibilities to blame. I can't see Radio Three Sam being very impressed.

[jonfan]

Some of the above posts trouble me, not least because they come from people who did not listen to the programme nor seemed to have played catch-up. Katy Hamilton provided reasons for her choice of the three 'finalists' and her choice of Y N-S at the end of the day was, by her admission, a very close run thing. I thought that she was going to opt for Karajan rather than Mackerras but it could easily have been the other way round so, in a sense, the winner was a bit of a compromise. That it happens to be a recent release is surely neither here nor there. The inference that the BBC has been influenced by a record company (or for that matter the presenter equally pressed to choose a recent recording), without there being any hard evidence to support it, feels just a bit grubby and Trumpian to me but maybe it's my exquisite sensibilities to blame. I can't see Radio Three Sam being very impressed.

Bravo, well put. When considering the recordings do we really want to know if it’s one’s favourite Brahms symphony or not? On the strength of the BAL I listened to the whole symphony; it well deserves its top recommendation.

[Pulcinella]

Some of the above posts trouble me, not least because they come from people who did not listen to the programme nor seemed to have played catch-up. Katy Hamilton provided reasons for her choice of the three 'finalists' and her choice of Y N-S at the end of the day was, by her admission, a very close run thing. I thought that she was going to opt for Karajan rather than Mackerras but it could easily have been the other way round so, in a sense, the winner was a bit of a compromise. That it happens to be a recent release is surely neither here nor there. The inference that the BBC has been influenced by a record company (or for that matter the presenter equally pressed to choose a recent recording), without there being any hard evidence to support it, feels just a bit grubby and Trumpian to me but maybe it's my exquisite sensibilities to blame. I can't see Radio Three Sam being very impressed.

It's a shame that the other two are not listed on the website.
Thanks for giving us the details.

[Petrushka]

Some of the above posts trouble me, not least because they come from people who did not listen to the programme nor seemed to have played catch-up. Katy Hamilton provided reasons for her choice of the three 'finalists' and her choice of Y N-S at the end of the day was, by her admission, a very close run thing. I thought that she was going to opt for Karajan rather than Mackerras but it could easily have been the other way round so, in a sense, the winner was a bit of a compromise. That it happens to be a recent release is surely neither here nor there. The inference that the BBC has been influenced by a record company (or for that matter the presenter equally pressed to choose a recent recording), without there being any hard evidence to support it, feels just a bit grubby and Trumpian to me but maybe it's my exquisite sensibilities to blame. I can't see Radio Three Sam being very impressed.

Perhaps my #60 was influenced by the Saturday night glass of chardonnay but when the Brahms symphonies, individually and collectively, have such a tremendous weight of recorded musical history behind them, you do have to wonder when a recording issued in June 2024 and reviewed as recently as the September issue of Gramophone (mostly favourably, it must be said) manages to emerge from that great recorded legacy.

I haven't counted just how many recordings of the Brahms 1 that I have but it must be fairly close to a hundred, from Klemperer in 1927 to Blomstedt 80 years later, so for BaL to choose one issued 5 minutes ago looks awfully like a helping hand given to a set in a very crowded market rather than a considered view of a vast recorded history.

I didn't listen to the programme but will now do so.