John Eliot Gardiner’s Brahms!
This audio CD will be issued today, Sept. 28, 2010
The performance of the Brahms Fourth Symphony on this CD, is taken from concerts at the Southbank Centre in London in 2008. However, we get a lot more on this recording:
Gardiner has added to this CD additional works designed to illuminate Brahms’s dependence on the classical tradition in the broadest sense: The program begins with Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture in a strong , highly theatrical performance, and moves through choral music by Gabrieli, Schütz and Bach. Remember that Brahms was a Choral director in his early career, and the Choral masterpieces surely had strong impact on the emergence of his compositional style.
And we get more: Two rarely – heard pieces by Brahms himself – the “Geistliches Lied, Op 30”, originally composed for choir and organ but sung here with a string accompaniment arranged by Gardiner, and the late biblical setting for a cappella double choir, titled “Fest- und Gedenksprüche Op 109”.
Finally, of course, this album is a celebration of the Fourth Symphony by Johannes Brahms.
The booklet in this CD includes a conversation between John Eliot Gardiner and composer Hugh Wood, explaining how the pieces relate to each other and giving a moving account of Brahms as a composer and as a man. All in all: A recording worth adding to your collection!
Tracks on this CD include the following compositions:
• Beethoven: Coriolan Overture
• Choral music by Gabrieli, Schütz and Bach
• Brahms: Geistliches Lied, Op 30
• Brahms: Fest- und Gedenksprüche Op 109
• Brahms: Symphony #4
Here is a video of Brahms’ Symphony No. 3, third movement: Poco Allegretto conducted by Gardiner:
Tags: Brahms, Symphony #4, John Eliot Gardiner, Southbank Centre in London in 2008