Arts person, occasional trombonist, sunday cyclist, gardener, techie person, dad, and amateur photographer
Almost-daily ramblings, photos and links
I’ve been listening to John Elliot Gardiner’s recent CD recording of Brahms’ 2nd Symphony and it’s really grown on me. I like his authentic performance approach and his sensible, stripped down reading of the work. Yet for all its lack of excess, it still manages to sound very fresh and light (perhaps that’s the reason why). Although it took me a while to adjust, I’ve come to really like the string sound of the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (think of Gardiner’s Bach recordings and you’ll know what I mean). The brass sound more rough-edged and this helps give the work a degree of vitality and bounce.
My favourite work on the CD has to be his Alto Rhapsody, such a dark sounding piece which foreshadows Richard Strauss’ much later Four Last Songs. Unlike the symphony, I didn’t know this work as well - here’s a performance of the piece with different artists on YouTube.