Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg/Kent Nagano
rec. live, January 2019 (No. 4) & April 2023 (No. 3), Großer Saal, Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany
BIS BIS2374 SACD [81]
Neatly packaged in its eco-friendly cardboard sleeve, this latest release from BIS offers Brahms’ last two symphonies recorded in live performance. A preliminary note in the booklet suggests that Brahms himself excoriated too heavy and inflexible an approach to performing his symphonies and preferred a lighter, freer style with more portamento, so I was obviously on the look-out for those features on listening to this disc.
As a recent septuagenarian, I am amused to read of Brahms in the notes that “When he completed his Symphony no. 1 in 1876, he had already reached the comparatively venerable age of 43”. Certainly, I would not claim that Brahms’ symphonies are a young man’s music but … Be that as it may, any new recording of these works is up against a formidable back catalogue and some splendid newer releases, such as Honeck’s No. 4 (review) or Blomstedt’s pairing of the same two symphonies (review).
That there is an ease Nagano’s direction here is immediately apparent from the opening of the Third; phrases swell and subside languorously and rubato is lavishly applied. The Second Symphony might generally be considered to be Brahms’ most “pastoral” but the Third, too, is suffused with bucolic serenity – yet Nagano knows when and how to pick up the tempo, such as in the urgent acceleration at 6:45, before relaxing again, then there is real grandeur at nine minutes in before the reprise of the lilting waltz – all moods are successfully encompassed and the gentle coda is deeply satisfying. The strings and woodwind duet sweetly in the comparatively simple Andante, supporting the impression that this movement could easily be lifted from one of Brahms’ serenades. Nagano’s fluid way with the brief, slightly of halting, three-quarter time Poco Allegretto third movement reinforces a certain ambivalence the listener will experience in listening to this melodic yet oddly melancholic music, standing in complete contrast to the stormy thrust of the opening of the finale. It hurtles forward, at first seemingly without pause and apparently heading towards a triumphant conclusion with the kind of momentum that permits the Hamburg orchestra to demonstrate its virtuosity but then there is that slightly eerie pulling back at six minutes in and the symphony ends ambiguously, teasingly, without the anticipated peroration. Nagano nails it.
The rocking motion of the opening of the Fourth is beautifully articulated but I can understand how for some, Nagano’s subtle, refined inflection of Brahms’ rhythms might be lacking the drive and animal passion we find in interpretations by such as Toscanini, Furtwängler, Levine – and the aforementioned Honeck. For me, this is another way to do it and there is no lack of tension in the culmination of the movement, even if the second movement Andante moderato is a little stately at twelve minutes. Nor is there any lack of exuberance or momentum in the jolly Scherzo and the finale is first driven but, as is the pattern with Nagano’s conducting of these symphonies, the lyrical interludes are relaxed and flowing. Occasionally I could ask for a little more staccato “stabbing” in the tenser passages but the timpani are nicely prominent and emphasis is always on clarity of articulation. The climax is emphatic. There is no applause.
The sound is faithfully “concert hall” in its acoustic: broad, open, well-balanced and utterly without distractions.
Ralph Moore
Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free
