Brahms - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 / Remastered (reference recording: Wolfgang Sawallisch)

Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem, The 4 Symphonies, Overtures and Choral Works by Wolfgang Sawallisch
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Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
00:00 I. Un poco sostenuto, Allegro, Meno allegro (2023 Remastered, Vienna 1962)
13:19 II. Andante sostenuto (2023 Remastered, Vienna 1962)
22:38 III. Un poco allegretto grazioso (2023 Remastered, Vienna 1962)
27:20 IV. Adagio, Più andante, Allegro non troppo (2023 Remastered, Vienna 1962)

Wiener Symphoniker
Recorded in 1962, at Vienna
New mastering in 2023 by AB for CMRR
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When Johannes Brahms completed his First Symphony at Lichtentaal in 1876, it represented not only his greatest compositional achievement to date, but also the culmination of 14 years preparatory work. The composer was only too well aware of Schumann's prediction that he was the man destined to "take over the mantle of Beethoven," and so it was only natural that he should have spent so long ensuring that his new work would prove worthy of such high praise. In the event, so complete was his success that the symphony soon became popularly, if somewhat glibly, known as "Beethoven's Tenth." Brahms even paid homage to the Bonn master via the fourth movement's chorale theme, which bears an uncanny resemblance to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from the Ninth Symphony. When questioned at the time, Brahms typically snapped back impatiently: "Any donkey can see that!" The  was given by the Karlsruhe Orchestra under Otto Dessolf on 4 November 1876.

Not everyone took to the 43-year-old composer's densely contrapuntal and at times severely logical style. After directing a performance in Munich in 1878, the conductor Hermann Levi recalled: "I have never been through anything more painful. Total silence greeted the first movement and persistent hissing broke out after the second and third. After the concert there was a move afoot to compel the Academy to publish all its programmes at the beginning of the season so that in the event of a Brahms symphony being presented, one could decline to subscribe!" Posterity has been somewhat kinder in its judgement, and the work is now recognised as a seminal work in the history of symphonic form.

The volatile landscape of the first movement is immediately signalled by an introduction of the highest intensity which contains all the essential thematic elements to be employed therein. Schoenberg picked up on the formal processes involved by aptly describing the technique as "developing variation." The second and third movements inhabit an entirely different world; indeed their relative brevity and melodic grace led Hermann Levi to suggest that they were "more suitable for a serenade or a suite than a symphony on this scale." One interesting feature of the Allegretto, however, is the opening clarinet melody, which inverts halfway through, and proceeds to play the first half again, with all the original intervals turned upside down! The finale opens with one of the most extended of all symphonic introductions, its decidedly brooding atmosphere ultimately soothed by the calming influence of the solo horn. The main allegro section begins with the famous chorale melody loosely based on the "Ode to Joy" theme, which re-emerges triumphant on the brass section just before the final magnificent peroration.

Johannes Brahms PLAYLIST (reference recordings):    • Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)