Brainwave Symphony CD 4

Franz Schmidt - Symphony No. 4 / Intermezzo from "Notre Dame"
Beethoven Orchester Bonn - Stefan Blunier
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 173 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1631-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2010
Genre: Classical | Style: Late Romantic

…MDG’s 5.1/stereo/2+2+2 recording, apparently the first in a new series of live recordings by these artists, is superb. It is spacious with a wide dynamic range. The sound reaches the listener from a midway position in the Beethovenhalle, Bonn, that in no way limits the impact of the massive tam-tam strokes and cymbals at the climaxes, yet allows the strings to exhibit a pleasing smoothness and bloom. There is no trace to be heard of an audience or applause at the end of a work that demands reflective silence following its conclusion.Those contemplating purchasing a recording of this supremely beautiful masterpiece should definitely add Blunier’s eloquent reading to their shortlist.

Following a concert performance in October 1970 Jascha Horenstein went into the studio with the London Philharmonic to record Mahler’s Fourth Symphony as one of the first recordings for the then new Classics For Pleasure bargain label produced by John Boyden. The result was musically deeply satisfying though the sound on the original LP left much to be desired. This led to a poor one-star review being enshrined in the very next Penguin Guide and that must surely have contributed to killing the release on the shelves so it was never considered among the recommended versions for this work.

If you have got this far, you will already have an idea of what awaits you in the music of Braga Santos. So I would just give a brief summary about the composer. He lived from 1924 to 1988 where he died as a result of a stroke. Although he was composing through the middle of the 20th century, for much of the time he avoided the musical trends of the period, obviously thinking there was still more that could be said within a tonal framework. Around 1960 he changed his style of composition, exploring the musical trends that had been occurring during his life. He wrote his first four symphonies in a short period between the ages of 22 and 27. These are all a product of his tonal period, and to any lover of the Romantic Symphony, all four are deserving of being in their collection.

This CD accompanied BBC Music Magazine Vol. 25 No. 9. In our June issue, we enjoy an exclusive interview with Sir Mark Elder as the Hallé’s conductor turns 70 and present a free cover CD of the orchestra performing Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, ‘The Inextinguishable’.

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 4 & Symphony No. 7
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen · Paavo Järvi
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 287 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: RCA Red Seal # 88697129332 | Country/Year: Europe 2007 | Genre: Classical

…Once again, Järvi and his band have captured Beethoven's wilful and often irascible character, rhetoric, polemics and sheer genius in fully-charged performances which also reveal his deep humanity. They certainly should number among the elite.

Felix Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 4 "Italian" & Symphony No. 5 "Reformation"
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Charles Munch (conductor)
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 2,37 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,04 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: RCA Red Seal "Living Stereo" # 82876-71616-2 | Country/Year: US 2006 (1957, 1958, 1960)
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School

"…The sound has remarkable little tape hiss, and is typical of the Boston recordings from this source. The strings are warm and solid, the brass not as piercing and obviously virtuostic as at Chicago, the stereo spread rather wide but without a hole in the middle, the orchestra bathed in a lush but not overresonant acoustic." ~sa-cd.net

Mariss Jansons' EMI Shostakovich symphony cycle took nearly two decades to complete, yet it was mere weeks after the release of the final installment (Symphonies 3 & 14) that this new boxed set appeared, providing an opportunity for collectors to get all 15 symphonies at a bargain price. But don't let the packaging's diminutive dimensions fool you: there's nothing small-scaled about the music making.

Franz Schmidt - Symphony No. 4 / Intermezzo from "Notre Dame"
Beethoven Orchester Bonn - Stefan Blunier
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 2,68 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 792 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Live" # 937 1631-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2010
Genre: Classical | Style: Late Romantic

…MDG’s 5.1/stereo/2+2+2 recording, apparently the first in a new series of live recordings by these artists, is superb. It is spacious with a wide dynamic range. The sound reaches the listener from a midway position in the Beethovenhalle, Bonn, that in no way limits the impact of the massive tam-tam strokes and cymbals at the climaxes, yet allows the strings to exhibit a pleasing smoothness and bloom. There is no trace to be heard of an audience or applause at the end of a work that demands reflective silence following its conclusion.Those contemplating purchasing a recording of this supremely beautiful masterpiece should definitely add Blunier’s eloquent reading to their shortlist.