BaL 28.04.18 - Brahms: Symphony no. 1 in C minor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30
Building a Library: Brahms; Symphony No.1 in C minor, Op.68, with Ivan Hewett.
Brahms' 1st Symphony begins in struggle, in C minor, and progresses from the turbulent searing string line kept in check by the powerful, persistent timpani beat in the opening bars to a triumphant finale in C major by the end. The whole symphony feels in a sense like a battle. Although Brahms began to compose the first movement of his 1st Symphony in 1862, he took the best part of fourteen years to complete the whole symphony. During the intervening years, he composed the Variations on a Theme by Haydn, his Sextet and many solo piano pieces. When the 1st Symphony was finally premiered in 1876, it was hailed as the most significant since Schumann. There are echoes too of Beethoven's 5th Symphony which likewise progresses from C minor to C major.

Available versions:-

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado
Utah Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Abravanel
Chubu Philharmonic Orchestra, Kazuyoshi Akiyama (V)
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Kazuyoshi Akiyama (V)
Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Gerd Albrecht (V)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Marin Alsop
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Cleveland Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy (V)
Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, John Axelrod
Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir John Barbirolli
Hallé Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli (x2)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim (V)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Barenboim (DVD)
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim (DVD)
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Eduard van Beinum
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiri Belohlavek
Transylvania Philharmonic Orchestra, Erich Bergel
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Paavo Berglund
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (DVD)
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (V)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Leonard Bernstein
Wiener Philharmoniker, Leonard Bernstein (DVD)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Karl Böhm
Cologne West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Karl Böhm
Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm
Aachen Symphony Orchestra, Marcus Bosch
American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein (V)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
London Philharmonic Orchestra, SirAdrian Boult (V)
Dresden Philharmonic, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos
London Symphony Orchestra, Yondani Butt
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Semyon Bychkov (SACD)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Semyon Bychkov (DVD)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Guido Cantelli
Philharmonia Orchestra, Guido Cantelli
Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, Sergiu Celibidache
Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Milano, Sergiu Celibidache
Münchner Philharmoniker, Sergiu Celibidache
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidache (V)
Wiener Symphoniker, Sergiu Celibidache
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly
Gewandhausorchester, Riccardo Chailly
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard (DVD/Blu-ray)
Symphonie Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sir Colin Davis
Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard (SACD)
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Andreas Delfs (V)
Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi
Philharmonia Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnanyi
Houston Symphony, Christopher Eschenbach (V)
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Asher Fisch
Suisse Romande Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay (D)
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer (SACD)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler (V)
NDR Sinfonieorchester, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler
NDR Hamburg Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Symphony Orchestra Torino della RAI, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, Nodar Gabunia (V)
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner
London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev (SACD)
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Michael Gielen
New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert (V)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Carlo Maria Guilini
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlo Maria Guilini
Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini (x2)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Carlo Maria Giulini
Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Howard Griffiths
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Staatskapelle Dresden, Bernard Haitink
London Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Berliner Philharmoniker, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orcheste, Thomas Hengelbrock (DVD/Blu-ray)
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Günther Herbig
Bamberger Symphoniker, Heinrich Hollreiser (V)
French National Radio Orchestra, Jascha Horenstein (V)
SWR Baden-Baden, Jascha Horenstein (V)
Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Owain Arwel Hughes
Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Norichika Iimori (V)
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Eliahu Inbal (V)
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Marek Janowski (SACD)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Marek Janowski
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons
Wiener Philharmoniker, Mariss Jansons (DVD/Blu-ray)
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
London Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
Berliner Philharmoniker, Eugen Jochum
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Eugen Jochum (V)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, James Judd (V)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski
Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, Djansug Kakhidze
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan (x5)
Berlliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan (DVD)
Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Herbert von Karajan
Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan (V)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan (x2)
Münchner Philharmoniker, Rudolf Kempe
Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester, Günther Herbig
Wiener Philharmoniker, István Kertész
Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer
Berlin State Opera Orchestra, Otto Klemperer
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Otto Klemperer (V)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Otto Klemperer (V)
Staatskapelle Dresden, Hans Knappertsbusch
Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Ken-ichiro Kobayashi (V)
Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Ken-ichiro Kobayashi (V)
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Franz Konwitschny
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Franz Konwitschny
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sergey Koussevitzky (V)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Josef Krips
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik (V)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Rafael Kubelík
Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, Gustav Kuhn
Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Alexander Lazarev (V)
Philadelphia Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf (V)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Levine (V)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Levine (SACD)
Munchner Philharmoniker, James Levine
Orchestra Of St. Luke's, Gilbert Levine
Wiener Philharmoniker, James Levine
Orchestra Sinfonica Della RAI Di Torino, Peter Maag
Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel
George Enescu Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, Cristian Mandeal (V)
Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Manze (SACD)
Symphony of the Air, Igor Markevitch
Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Kurt Masur
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Kurt Masur
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta (x2)
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta (DVD)
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta
Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Willem Mengelberg
Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Pierre Monteux
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Yevgeni Mravinsky
Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Munch (V)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch (DVD)
Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons
Hungarian State Orchestra, Gyula Nemeth (V)
Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Takeharu Nobuhara
Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Sir Roger Norrington (SACD)
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Sir Roger Norrington (DVD)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Grzegorz Nowak
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Saito Kinen Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlos Païta (V)
London Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Pasternack
YOA Orchestra of the Americas, Carlos Miguel Prieto (V)

(continued in next post)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(continued)


BRT Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels, Alexander Rahbari
Rhenish State Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Raiskin
Berliner Philharmoniker, Simon Rattle
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Witold Rowicki (V)
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Rico Saccani (V)
Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Kurt Sanderling
Staatskapelle Dresden, Kurt Sanderling (V)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch
NHK Symphony Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Hermann Scherchen
Sinfonieorchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks, Hamburg, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
NHK Symphony Orchestra, Wilhelm Schüchter (V)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Carl Schuricht
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Carl Schuricht
Members of New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras, Gunther Schuller (V)
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam
Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Martin Sieghart (V)
Budapest Concert Orchestra, Yuri Simonov (V)
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserlautern, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
L’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Tugan Sokhiev (DVD)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti (DVD)
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg (V)
All American Youth Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski (V)
Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski
London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski
Orchestre National de France, Leopold Stokowski (V)
Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski
Staatskapelle Berlin, Otmar Suitner (V)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov
USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny Svetlanov
Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell (V)
Swiss Festival Orchestra, George Szell
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Emil Tabakov (V)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Klaus Tennstedt
Münchner Philharmoniker, Christian Thielemann (V)
Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann (DVD/Blu-ray)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Robin Ticciati
Philharmonia Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini (x2) (V)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini (DVD)
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter (V)
New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
Wiener Philharmoniker, Bruno Walter
Münchner Philharmoniker, Günter Wand
North German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Günter Wand
NDR Sinfonieorchester, Günter Wand (DVD)
London Symphony Orchestra, Felix Weingartner (V)
Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser- Möst (DVD/Blu-ray)
Landesjugendorchester Baden-Wurttemberg, Christoph Wyneken (V)
Hamburg Philharmonic, Simone Young (SACD)
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, David Zinman
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden


Piano - 4 hands:

Duo Crommelynck
Christian Kohn, Silke-Thora Matthies



(V = download)

[Bryn]

Wow! The SCO/Mackerras has fallen out of the catalogue. A favourite of mine.

[Tevot]

Crikey Charlie,

That will take a lot of sifting !!!

Over 165 there ? Arithmetic never my strong point

Which is your favourite Alpie ?

[Tevot]

Crikey Charlie,

That will take a lot of sifting !!!

Over 165 there ? Arithmetic never my strong point

Which is your favourite Alpie ?

YIKES - I didn't see the further list !!!

[jayne lee wilson]

Has anyone heard the SCO/Ticciati yet? I couldn't face a Brahms cycle just now, but AF-C gave it a...positive-with-reservations review in Gramophone, 4/18. He had nothing but praise for the Linn engineering, and playing standards (which latter he felt were more polished & precise than in the Mackerras set, the CDs of which are still widely available and quite cheap .https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...ckerras+brahms... Telarc has never distributed many downloads. HDTracks have a few though not the Brahms, but those wonderful SCO/Mackerras Serenades are on Qobuz).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Symphonies-Scottish-Chamber-Orchestra/dp/B079JGMVZH/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1524237675&sr=1-1&keywords=ticciati+brahms&dpID=41jOa%252BV4CrL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

[Tevot]

Has anyone heard the SCO/Ticciati yet? I couldn't face a Brahms cycle just now, but AF-C gave it a...positive-with-reservations review in Gramophone, 4/18. He had nothing but praise for the Linn engineering, and playing standards (which latter he felt were more polished & precise than in the Mackerras set).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Symp...70_&dpSrc=srch

Weren't excerpts of this played recently by Andrew McGregor on Record Review ?... Must admit to liking my Brahms Symphonies (at this moment in time) heftier in all honesty.

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[vinteuil]

.

... the earlier Norrington with the London Classical Players can usually be found without difficulty. It was the performance that enabled me to appreciate orchestral Brahms.

http://amzn.eu/2iu0w11

.

[MickyD]

I've got the JEG cycle but haven't listened to it for ages, must give it a try. I seem to remember rather disparaging comments about it, but there were interesting couplings with each disc.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Which is your favourite Alpie ?

I suppose the answer must be the 1952 BPO Furtwangler, though VPO/Bernstein is pretty good too.

I've got the JEG cycle but haven't listened to it for ages, must give it a try. I seem to remember rather disparaging comments about it, but there were interesting couplings with each disc.

I don't know why people should be derisory about the JEG, as his is the one that actually uses the natural horns that Brahms scored for. When a composer makes a choice like this, it isn't the same as writing for whatever happened to be around at the time (which I consider to be a generally weak argument for necessarily using such instruments now). If Brahms decided not to write for the valve horns current in the 1870s, it meant he really wanted the natural horn sound, though he probably never got his wish in performance.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

YIKES - I didn't see the further list !!!

Yes. I'd exceeded the maximum 1,000 characters.

[Beef Oven!]

They won't be able to sample them all on the BaL. They'll need to concentrate on a short-list and ignore the rest, IMV.

10 years ago Bergland and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe was my favourite. These days Karajan has come back into my ken, along with other oldies like Monteux (#2).

Jurowski LPO & Thielemann Staatskapelle Dresden are sufficient augmentations for me ............ I'm not in the market. Although Norrington and the London Classical Players always turn up trumps for me, and I don't have that set.

[Petrushka]

I recently had some new CD shelving and was finally able to alphabetically arrange those discs purchased in the psst 4/5 years. To my amazement, Brahms easily came out on top, numerically speaking, so along with the ones already purchased I have a lot of the 1st Symphony and am not currently looking for more!

Of those I have, my favourites are Klemperer/Philharmonia, Barbirolli/VPO, Haitink/Boston SO and Karajan/BPO (the live 1988 London performance). A special mention to for the BPO/Jochum 1950s recording. And the Concertgebouw/van Beinum while I think about it.

[Beef Oven!]

I recently had some new CD shelving and was finally able to alphabetically arrange those discs purchased in the psst 4/5 years. To my amazement, Brahms easily came out on top, numerically speaking, so along with the ones already purchased I have a lot of the 1st Symphony and am not currently looking for more!

Of those I have, my favourites are Klemperer/Philharmonia, Barbirolli/VPO, Haitink/Boston SO and Karajan?BPO (the live 1988 London performance). A special mention to for the BPO/Jochum 1950s recording. And the Concertgebouw/van Beinum while I think about it.

Thanks for the reminder on the Klemperer - a must have (all four), IMV.

[verismissimo]

Amazing list, Alpie. Longest ever?

I appear to have on CD and/or LP only 10 Brahms 1s, 8 of which are in the list. The exceptions are BPO/Kempe on Testament (1960) and Halle/Loughran on CfP (1974), both of which I like a lot.

I keep thinking about acquiring SCO/Mackerras ...