The Sunday Times
Brahms Symphony no 3 (8 Sep 2009)
BRAHMS
Symphony No 3, choral works
Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
John Eliot Gardiner challenges the hallowed tradition of turgid, muddy
Brahms with his glowing yet athletic period-instrument account of the F
major symphony. This is the second instalment of his Brahms project
with Monteverdi Choir and ORR, which seeks to put Brahm’s four
symphonies in the context of choral works: his own, and music that
influenced him. The sound of the ORR’s mellow woodwinds brings
ravishingly pastoral alfresco sounds to the Andante, while the
astringent strings lend a youthful vigour to the great opening Allegro
con brio. Gardiner’s choice of choral works includes the relatively
substantial Gesang der Parzen, a near contemporary of the symphony, and
the lovely Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang for female chorus with horn
and harp solos. A must-have disc for Brahmsians.
))
