Blomstedts Brahms 4th.

I am sure this recording will have been discussed before, but please forgive me as I do not often look at this newsgroup.

What does everyone make of Blomstedt's Brahms 4th with the Leipzig Gewandhaus? When I first listened to it I considered it one of the finest Brahms 4ths I have ever heard, but have now begun to wonder if that's just because I've heard the thing too many times. I'm beginning to think Blomstedt (or his producer)was trying to be too clever by half.

I still share your earlier view. I think it's an exemplary disk in all departments. What do you find overly clever?

Tony Movshon

I don't think so. I fell in love with this recording's wonderfully autumnal quality and was pleasantly surprised by the even better performance by the same forces in San Diego last fall. One thing that Blomstedt and the Decca engineers have done, hoewver, is produce a much different sound from this orchestra than we were used to under Masur and others for various other labels. I think the results are excellent (their Bruckner 9th is another example).

It's just something about the sophistication of the phrasing and the tempo changes (although this depends on my mood) that sometimes make me feel that Blomstedt was trying to add something more to what is already there. That said there are certainly more wayward readings of the symphony (Barenboim for instance)and I will concede that you are probably correct. I'm probably being too literalist.