Brahms: Symphony No. 4 & Hungarian Dances (selection)

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It's a rhythmically taut, finely structured reading with plenty of dynamism and thrust, but giving full rein to the work's deep elegiac aspects and darker shadings. — BBC Music Magazine, October 2007, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 28th Aug 2007
Catalogue No: 8570233
Label: Naxos
Length: 64 minutes

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Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

Work length41:52

$10.00

$12.85

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Marin Alsop
Recorded: 21-22 March 2005
Recording Venue: Blackheath Concert Hall, London, UK

I. Allegro non troppo

Track length12:47

$3.00

$3.85

II. Andante moderato

Track length12:41

$3.00

$3.85

III. Allegro giocoso - Poco meno presto

Track length5:57

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Allegro energico e passionato - Piu allegro

Track length10:27

$3.00

$3.85

Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances, WoO 1 (excerpts) (arr. P. Breiner for orchestra)

Work length22:39

$7.00

$9.10

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Marin Alsop
Recorded: 22-23 April 2006
Recording Venue: The Colosseum, Town Hall, Watford, UK

Hungarian Dance No. 2 in D minor

Track length3:34

$1.00

$1.30

Hungarian Dance No. 4 in F sharp minor

Track length5:16

$1.00

$1.30

Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor

Track length2:36

$1.00

$1.30

Hungarian Dance No. 6 in D major

Track length3:43

$1.00

$1.30

Hungarian Dance No. 7 in F major

Track length1:54

$1.00

$1.30

Hungarian Dance No. 8 in A minor

Track length3:18

$1.00

$1.30

Hungarian Dance No. 9 in E minor

Track length2:18

$1.00

$1.30

Reviews
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Reviews

October 2007

It's a rhythmically taut, finely structured reading with plenty of dynamism and thrust, but giving full rein to the work's deep elegiac aspects and darker shadings.

2010

The LPO, London's finest Brahms ensemble, has been in vintage form during this cycle under Marin Alsop's measured and thoughtful direction.
Not since the classically incisive Loughran/ Hallé recordings of the mid-1970s has there been a more obviously collectable budget-price Brahms set.
Alsop's reading of the Fourth Symphony is not dissimilar to Sir Adrian Boult's 1972 LPO recording. Like Boult, Alsop is happy to establish a tempo and emotional trajectory for each movement and leave it at that – a plausible view given the astonishing degree of thematic integration that underpins the work.
As elsewhere in the cycle, tempi tend to be measured.
The Andante moderato is downright slow, though Alsop manages to maintain line and interest.
The Scherzo, happily, is a true Allegro giocoso, which is important. By acting out the role of a conventional finale, the Scherzo leaves the actual finale free to enact its own tragic destiny.
The recording sounds well if played at a decent level. In the Scherzo, the triangle (deliciously placed and recorded in the Hungarian Dances) is more an impression than a presence. There is also an editing glitch midway through the movement, not the first in this series. The seven Hungarian Dances, unorchestrated by Brahms, are heard in newly commissioned orchestrations by Peter Breiner. The thudding fairground timpani in No 6 doesn't appeal. Elsewhere, piquancy is the watchword, with stylish playing from the LPO, gamesomely led.

February 2008

The LPO, London's finest Brahms ensemble, has been in vintage form during this cycle under Marin Alsop's measured and thoughtful direction.

Alsop’s triumphant cycle of Brahms symphonies with the LPO comes to a climactic end with this hugely impressive account of the Fourth. She has that ability, vital in music as dense as this, to hurry nothing, to make the most of the moment, yet always to maintain a sense of impetus.

Brahms: Symphony No. 4 & Hungarian Dances (selection)

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