Brainwave Symphony CD 4

These are modern, big band, 21st-century readings of Brahms’s Second and Fourth Symphonies. Textures are clear and transparent, so that we hear details of inner voices and the felicities of the composer’s wind-writing for flutes and oboes. Timpani are also quite prominent. Tempos, especially in the Second Symphony’s first movement, strike me as a bit on the measured side, but still within the mainstream.

One composer damned to musty obscurity not too long ago was Eugen d'Albert; while regarded as one of history's legendary pianists, his composing activity – which spans an especially interesting period from the 1880s to the early '30s – was seen as a stick-in-the-mud retention of German post-romanticism and therefore an unnecessary pursuit. However, his 1903 operetta Tiefland never left the repertory of the German-speaking stage, and it is the Theater Osnabrück that is co-branding CPO's release Eugen d'Albert: Symphony Op. 4 – Seejungfrauen Op. 15, which features the in-house symphony, the Osnabrücker Symphonieorchester under the baton of general music director Hermann Bäumer. The Osnabrück Symphony is a notably compact band usually numbering around 45 pieces, but it has a big sound nonetheless, captured generously in this fine CPO recording.

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 – Laura Claycomb, soprano; San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Classical | 1 CD | EAC Rip | 242 MB | FLAC+LOG+Cue | Full scans | RS links
Publisher: San Francisco Symphony | Recorded: 2003 | Published: 2003

After a terrific First Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas' ongoing Mahler cycle with his San Francisco players really hits its stride with this latest release, one of the truly great recordings ever lavished on the Fourth… This is by any standard an extraordinary achievement, and no one who loves Mahler or this symphony can afford to pass it by. –David Hurwitz

This set of recordings of Tchaikovsky's last three symphonies by Valery Gergiev leading the Vienna Philharmonic contains performances that are undeniably fire-breathing, undoubtedly heaven-storming, and inarguably heart-on-sleeve. Gergiev, one of the most exciting Russian conductors, leads the works with a combination of reckless passion, imperious command, and unbearable drama that is his hallmark, and the Vienna Philharmonic.

Rued Langgaard composed in a late Romantic style, emphatically dramatic and endowed with colossal mood swings. Unquestionably, he was influenced by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss and, like Strauss, he was a master of orchestration. He was a prolific composer for the large orchestra, writing 16 symphonies as well as other orchestral works. –Wikipedia (read more)

A great complex of works. A huge cycle of symphonies. Some of these pieces are truly great, some exhibit pure genius, some are unlistenable, some are just plain banal. Yet somehow I feel that this man has to be accommodated into the Pantheon of Western composers. These CDs make a very brave attempt at beginning to secure this recognition. –www.musicweb-international.com (read more)

I'm lucky enough to have this collection, but for others who don't. Grab this while you can. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!! –oXbow (Avaxhome User)