Eto Bieri And Meta4*, Johannes Brahms Gérard Pesson Salvatore Sciarrino – Quasi Morendo

This collection of the Complete Brahms Chamber Music has most of the best, famous and sensitive versions of the Brahms chamber pieces, (some of it very hard to obtain elsewhere) all brought under one roof. The Beaux Arts Trio interpretations are exquisite and just can't be found individually anymore.

Planned in 1974 as a piano concerto for the pianist Dino Ciani, after the latter's death in an auto accident, "An Image of Arpocrates" was turned into a long, agonizing "Adagio for piano, chorus and orchestra". The chorus comes in only at the end, to intone the incomplete last verses from Faust. The Goethian fragment undergoes further fragmentation, only some of the words, now and then, emerge, and even those are more whispered than sung. After the Goethe lines, the chorus sings the second part of Wittgenstein's proposition: "on this, one must keep silent".

from the CD booklet

These London Symphony Orchestra recordings were made at the Barbican in London in 2003 and 2004. The set includes not only the four Brahms symphonies but also the Tragic Overture, Op. 81, the Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102, and the Serenade No. 2 in A major, Op. 16. It adds up to more than four hours of music, but one can make a strong case for this as the Brahms set to own for those who want just one, especially for those who aren't concerned with audio quality. There is much to sink one's teeth into here – over a lifetime.

Over the past 100 years, there have been recordings of the complete Brahms' symphonies that rank with the greatest recordings of anything ever made. There are wonderful Weingartners, the fabulous Furtwänglers, the monumental Klemperers, the amazing Abbados…the list goes on and on. Of course, over the past 100 years, there have been recordings of Brahms symphonies that rank among the worst recordings of anything ever made. There are the obdurate Davalos, the superficial Karajans, and the uncomprehending Jarvis…again, the list goes on and on.

This astonishing project originally came about through the Holy Convent of Assisi and its intention to mark two then-imminent events due to take place at the same time: the inauguration of the Upper Basilica, now restored after its collapse In the earthquake of 1997 and the Roman Catholic Jubilee of 2000.
Today, the sense and value of this project are apparent whenever it is performed to mark a celebration and the themes with which it deals come across increasingly strongly. These are travel as an Image of the life of the Individual and of society and solidarity, which is becoming more and more alien to our modern way of life. Excessively so.
The integrating factor in this composition, in much the same fashion as a chorus, is provided by the words of Saint Francis, seeking the stones to restore his church and the work Is based on the infinite call and response between the small and the great. There Is undoubtedly a spectacular side to this composition simply in the number of performers involved. Yet this becomes secondary when the music itself begins to bloom or when the spell is cast of those gigantic natural acoustic phenomena which arise out of the multiplying of the tiniest of sounds. Think of a river, the song of the birds, of the crickets, the hubbub of a market, the hum of the traffic and the pitter-patter of the rain.
To the ears of those who open their consciousness, the desert comes alive: those are the voices of the intelligent silence. Everything is in tune, even what appears too vast and blurred. How can the sea be tuned?….
Salvatore Sciarrino

from the attached booklet