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Discussion: Brahms: Complete Symphonies - Bychkov

Posts: 14
Page: 1 2 next

Post by diw January 6, 2005 (1 of 14)
Has anyone purchased this symphony set? How is the sound and performance?

Post by jdaniel@jps.net January 6, 2005 (2 of 14)
diw said:

Has anyone purchased this symphony set? How is the sound and performance?

The picture scares me a little. Another album cover I'm going to have to hide from the cool friends.

Post by Dan Popp January 6, 2005 (3 of 14)
jdaniel@jps.net said:

Another album cover I'm going to have to hide from the cool friends.

j,
Someone on this site has cool friends?! I'm envious. Perhaps I could rent one sometime?

Post by peteyspambucket January 7, 2005 (4 of 14)
Yes, the cover is quite unflattering. It looks like he's about to vomit or something. But I bet that Bychkov probably had the right to refuse the usage of it, and did not exercise it.

I bought this set early last week, and I have listened to it, but not thoroughly enough for a detailed review, which I will probably eventually get to. This is the first complete Brahms cycle to my knowledge (although I know the LSO/Haitink is in the works). It would have been nice if they had put some fillers in, given the pricetag, but OK...

The interpretations are really good. In fact, I think they're some of the best recent recordings of the symphonies since the VPO/LEVINE cycle, which is to die for. Bychkov's tempi are fast and exciting, not like the legubrious tempi that you might find in other (dreadful) interpretations.

In case some people want to go SACD shopping over the wkend, maybe these impressions will help out a bit: The energy level is very high, and the music is played very idiomatically. The sound quality is great, and the winds and brass are very nicely balanced against the strings. I love the bloom they were able to capture from the winds. The first symphony 1st mvmt has a wonderful yearning quality because not only is the tempo right, but the descending wind figure against the ascending strings sounds so tragic. The beginning of the first mvmt of the 3rd has the right punch and the energy level stays that way throughout the movement. The 2nd mvmt of the 3rd Symphony -- the clarinet solo is gorgeous!

Even after only listening to each symphony twice, I can recommend this set. I haven't gotten any of the LSO/Haitink recordings yet, as they have not showed up at my local Tower (in NYC). But I would like to hear them, and I hope that his interpretation(s) have improved since his old Philips cycle, which was very low-energy, IMHO. (His Brahms 1st sounded like Bruckner... yuck)

The only sets that I would really desire on SACD are Karajan's LAST BPO cycle, the aforementioned VPO/LEVINE, and one of the Toscanini cycles (although I don't know how much more fidelity can be squeezed out of those ancient NBC tapes).

Post by akiralx January 7, 2005 (5 of 14)
diw said:

Has anyone purchased this symphony set? How is the sound and performance?

I assume it is multichannel?

Post by tailspn January 7, 2005 (6 of 14)
akiralx said:

I assume it is multichannel?

From Simon Foster of AVIE on the question of MC for the Brahms:

This is a multichannel 5.1 production transferred to DSD prior to mastering of the SACD layer. Sound engineer Francois Eckert - multichannel mastering together with Everett Porter of Polyhymnia, the Netherlands (engineer on the Lorraine Hunt Lieberson AVIE hybrid SACD) and Pentatone 'regular'.


Hybrid SACD with stereo CD layer.


Hope this helps


regards


Simon Foster
Director - AVIE Records
Music Company (London) Ltd.
UK


Tel: +44 (0)208 545 0712
Fax: +44 (0)208 542 4854

Post by jdaniel@jps.net January 7, 2005 (7 of 14)
peteyspambucket said:

Yes, the cover is quite unflattering. It looks like he's about to vomit or something. But I bet that Bychkov probably had the right to refuse the usage of it, and did not exercise it.

Yes, exactly--your post cracked me up, I was going to say that it looks like my reflection in toilet water after I've been drinking too much, but I thought that *that* would be a little too much for the list.

Back to "real" issues: I think the 2nd mov't of the third is one of the most perfect mov'ts in all the literature--a critic found everything right *except* this mov't--which he thought was too slow. Your thoughts?

Post by peteyspambucket January 7, 2005 (8 of 14)
jdaniel@jps.net said:

Back to "real" issues: I think the 2nd mov't of the third is one of the most perfect mov'ts in all the literature--a critic found everything right *except* this mov't--which he thought was too slow. Your thoughts?

No I didn't think it was slow at all. I thought it was at the right tempo to deliver the poetry of the clarinet line. It really sings. I will listen to it again over the wkend, and perhaps write up a review of each symphony. :-)

I do so love finding that odd import SACD at Tower once in a while... this time it worked out well.

Post by tailspn January 8, 2005 (9 of 14)
peteyspambucket said:

I do so love finding that odd import SACD at Tower once in a while... this time it worked out well.

What was the Tower price? I just paid $57.40 delivered from AVIE's site. Not the best price I know, but I did want to encourage their efforts.

Thanks,
Tom

Post by peteyspambucket January 10, 2005 (10 of 14)
I don't remember the price. If I come across the receipt, I'll let you know here. I believe it was a very similar price to what you paid, but i'm not sure.

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