Dgg Original Sound

This is a prestige issue if ever there was one, not so much for its music (though in fact this very apt coupling is not otherwise available) as for its presentation and aural glamour. Naturally DGG is proud to have its new contract with the Boston Orchestra, and the German engineers have done marvels in a new environment at capturing the characteristic Boston sound.

These live performances were recorded for broadcast during WWII in Germany, and while the sound is not up to modern standards it is surprisingly good for its time. The microphones in the concert hall were wired to a small, windowless control room, where they were primatively "mixed" and the signal sent via telegraph wire to the radio transmitter studio, where it was recorded on early Magnetophone tape recorders. The tapes were captured by the Soviets after the liberation of Berlin and transported to Moscow, where they languished for many years. Some performances were released by the Soviets, but the tapes were eventually returned to Germany and reprocessed in the 1980's.

Brahms: Cycle Bernstein: The Symphonies - BoxSet 5DVD - Symphonies 1& 2 - DVD 1/5 [DVD9]
Classical | DVD | with complete scans (covers and booklet) | 7,46 Gb (DVD9) | DVD´s FULL No compression
Audio: PCM Stereo - DTS 5.1 | Relesase: October 9, 2007 | Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon

Leonard Bernstein chose to record this collection containing Brahm's orchestral symphonic music with the Vienna Philharmonic because of their homogeneous sound. The musicians are similarly schooled and, most important, the majority of their instruments are uniquely handmade: many of them dating back to the era of Brahms. In a strange (but very real) way, this collection presents Brahms played on original instruments, performed in an historically informed fashion. You cannot fail to be impressed how right everything sounds. These are Bernstein's romantic vision of Brahm's symphonies and no one does the style better. Strongly recommended.

Brahms: Cycle Bernstein: The Symphonies - BoxSet 5DVD - Symphonies 3&4 - DVD 2/5[DVD9]
Classical | DVD | with complete scans (covers and booklet) | 7,46 Gb (DVD9) | DVD´s FULL No compression
Audio: PCM Stereo - DTS 5.1 | Relesase: October 9, 2007 | Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon

Leonard Bernstein chose to record this collection containing Brahm's orchestral symphonic music with the Vienna Philharmonic because of their homogeneous sound. The musicians are similarly schooled and, most important, the majority of their instruments are uniquely handmade: many of them dating back to the era of Brahms. In a strange (but very real) way, this collection presents Brahms played on original instruments, performed in an historically informed fashion. You cannot fail to be impressed how right everything sounds. These are Bernstein's romantic vision of Brahm's symphonies and no one does the style better. Strongly recommended.

This recording, made in 1991, contains two fine performances. Indeed the performance of Hamlet is better than fine, it is positively thrilling. The Polish orchestra are well able to deliver on this and Leaper shows considerable empathy for the music. The recording is good, if a little lacking in absolute clarity at the bottom end which tends to be just a touch inclined to 'muddiness' at moments of greatest demand. This should not be over-emphasised in view of the excellence of the music making and the general acceptance of the recording. Indeed, the weighty sound-stage and quite close balance suits the heavier approach of Leaper when compared to Karajan on DGG for example, and to a lesser extent, Jansons on Chandos.

Five Piano Concertos and the Piano Sonata No. 32, opus 111, recorded in stereo in 1962 and 1964, respectively, by Wilhelm Kempff [1895-1991] and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Ferdinand Leitner [1912-96]. The sonata, the composer’s last, is certainly more than a mere filler, from the opening hesitancy of the ‘Allegro con brio ed appassionato’ to the extended closing section of the second movement.