Brahms: Symphony No.4 (Coriolan Overture/ Sanctus/ Symphony 4) [CD]

I've loved the music-making and recordings of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and I've very much loved this new CD series of the Brahms symphonies. Although I haven't had the chance to review the previous three symphonies, I think this CD with the Fourth Symphony is just about the perfect conclusion to the series. Gardiner has also re-recorded the Brahms Requiem and released it a few months back, and I think it is an absolutely superb recording, and a marked improvement over his 1991 recording.

Sir John and the ORR turn in some magnificent performances of the Brahms symphonies. Listening to this CD of the Fourth and the fillers that come before it, I get this sense that Gardiner's music-making has ripened over the years. There have been some marvellous recordings he's done in the past, including the various Bach oratorios and passions for DG/Archiv and the Beethoven symphonies. But I think that this Brahms cycle takes his music making to a new level.

The Monteverdi Choir sings the choral items with ease and feel at home in the music. They are at their best in the excerpts from the Bach cantata, BWV 150, that inspired the finale of the symphony.

As for the symphony, Gardiner and the ORR really shine. It's a different performance compared to the Furtwangler and Kleiber recordings one is used to. I think this performance is more stormy and fiery than most other recordings of the symphony. Gardiner's ORR may be small, but I like the way the sound swells in powerful climaxes. In the first movement I like the dialogue between the sections and I like how the music moves forward without sounding rushed. The slow movement flows nicely and doesn't sound rushed, and I think this performance allows the instruments to really sing. Later on the jolly and rambunctious third movement kicks things back into life superbly, and it's a different performance style compared to what we know. The finale really crowns the performance because Gardiner leads things off in a towering way but drives the ORR full steam ahead in the second half. Words can't describe the marvellous feeling I get when I listen to this recording, as it allows you to hear the Fourth Symphony in a new way without it sounding stodgy and thick.

I deeply recommend this version of Brahms 4, and I think that of all the Gardiner Brahms discs, this one has superb companion pieces to the symphonies and the musicianship is as superb as ever.

Now, as I write these words, I'm really hoping that Gardiner and the ORR will really have the chance to record the Mendelssohn symphonies soon. I'm hoping that once they clear their Ascension Cantatas project this year, they'll get round to doing a disc of the Scottish & Italian symphonies and the Hebrides overture.

Gardiner's Brahms series has been excellent - nicely paced, well recorded offerings from a conductor, who, as per the Bach cantata pilgrimage, seems to have got under the composer's skin. In addition, you get lots of other goods things with this record, a fine rendition of Beethoven's noble "Coriolan" overture, plus choral pieces from Brahms, Gabrieli, Schütz and Bach. Excellent CD.

The item was as described, a very good purchase and a perfect transaction. Very interesting booklet with original insights into Brahm's work.