Brahms Symphonies Studio Master

This comprehensive overview of Johannes Brahms's orchestral works includes several rarities, among them world premieres of two piano intermezzi orchestrated by Paul Klengel (brother of the Gewandhaus's long-standing principal cellist Julius Klengel) and the original first performance version of the Andante of Symphony No. 1 and the even rarer revised opening of the Fourth Symphony.

Although his catalog lists just four symphonies, Brahms wrote several other works that come close to that genre: his First Piano Concerto was indeed planned as a symphony, and the Second (which is in four movements) has been called a symphony with piano obbligato. Although the Second and Third Symphonies were introduced in Vienna, Brahms decided to give his Fourth Symphony an outof- town tryout.

This comprehensive overview of Johannes Brahms's orchestral works includes several rarities, among them world premieres of two piano intermezzi orchestrated by Paul Klengel (brother of the Gewandhaus's long-standing principal cellist Julius Klengel) and the original first performance version of the Andante of Symphony No. 1 and the even rarer revised opening of the Fourth Symphony.

With almost 450 years of tradition, Staatskapelle Berlin is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Originally founded as court orchestra by Prince-Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg in 1570 the ensemble expanded its activities with the founding of the Royal Court Opera in 1742 by Frederick the Great.

Klemperer and Brahms had much in common, which may go some way to explaining the empathy with which Klemperer conducts the works of the great composer. As Richard Osborne says in the accompanying liner notes: ‘no detail was insignificant, yet none was allowed to subvert the larger whole’. The recordings in this box have all been remastered in HD from original tapes for the Otto Klemperer Complete Edition in 2023.

Klemperer and Brahms had much in common, which may go some way to explaining the empathy with which Klemperer conducts the works of the great composer. As Richard Osborne says in the accompanying liner notes: ‘no detail was insignificant, yet none was allowed to subvert the larger whole’. The recordings in this box have all been remastered in HD from original tapes for the Otto Klemperer Complete Edition in 2023.

The two stereo Beethoven cycles, those of the Symphonies (1965–70) and the Piano Concertos (with Wilhelm Backhaus, 1958–59), form the core of this edition of the complete Decca recordings of Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (1900–1973).

Supplementary to his legendary Beethoven cycles for Decca are Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt’s recordings for Philips, Mercury, Deutsche Grammophon and Accord.

The time when performers and composers had personal mottoes – Wieniawski's "Il faut risquer" (I must risk it), Joachim's "Frei aber einsam" (Free but lonely), Brahms' "Frei aber froh" (Free but happy) – is long since past, but still such mottoes are more than just biographical curiosities: there are at least two very well-recognized musical encryptions of those mottoes. Schumann, Albert Dietrich, and Brahms put their collective talents together to compose the "F-A-E" Sonata as a gift for Joachim, and, when Brahms came up with his own motto, he decided to use the pitches of its initials – F-A-F – as the motto theme for his Symphony No. 3 in F, Op. 90.