Brahms: Complete Symphonies / Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch (2003)

OK, I admit it - Wolfgang Sawallisch is not exactly chopped liver. Active as a conductor since 1947 he is now - at the age of 86 - very much an elder statesman of music and something of a legend in Philadelphia, with whose fine orchestra he spent his autumn years from 1993 to 2003. More to the point he is actually one of the twentieth century's supreme interpreters of Schumann, Bruckner and Richard Strauss, in many ways comparable to Günter Wand, whose sense for musical truth he always shared. Oddly enough his recordings of the Brahms symphonies (this one, and the one he made for EMI from 1989 to 1991 as well) have never been awarded any serious attention, an oversight I hereby hasten to remedy.

It may not be flashy, but out of the 25 versions of the complete symphonies by Brahms in my collection (comprising tree of the four sets made by Karajan), this one is the one I keep getting back to time and time again. Though always performing in the shadow of their cousins in the "Philharmonic" the Vienna Symphony is a fine orchestra, and in these inspired performances Sawallisch literally has every man jack playing fit to bleed from the cuticles. Though tempi are never rushed there is an intensity to every movement of these masterpieces that I have rarely encountered before or since, and the finale of the E minor symphony in particular takes us to dramatic hights that I think would have made even Furtwängler proud. The same is very much true for the finale of the D major symphony - played perfectly "molto ben marcato", and rivaled only by Takashi Asahina in his live recording, made when he was almost 90! - which rips open the indolence of that often rather leisurely pastoral work, letting fresh air sweep through every room.

The sound of these Philips remasterings is very good for being almost fifty years old, and though the recording, true to its origins in the early 60's, is fairly closely mic'ed it is never too much. The various instrument sections are remarkably well defined. ~ amazon

Biography

Born in Munich in 1923, Wolfgang Sawallisch is a prominent representative of the German conducting tradition, known for his thoughtful and refined interpretations of the classical repertoire. Beginning piano studies when he was five, Sawallisch developed rapidly as a child musician. His piano teachers were Ruoff, Haas, and Sachse. In 1947, following graduation from the Munich Hochschule für Musik, Sawallisch began his professional career, working first as a repetiteur and chorus master at the Augsburg Opera Theater.



In 1949, he and his recital partner, violinist Gerhard Seitz, won the Geneva International Competition as best duo. In the same year, he began obtaining guest conducting assignments. When Sawallisch conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1953, he was the youngest person ever to have led that orchestra. That year, he became General Music Director at Aachen, and this appointment made him the youngest music director in Germany. He remained in Aachen until 1958, when he moved to a similar position in Wiesbaden, staying there until 1960. From 1960 to 1963, Sawallisch was in Cologne, also teaching conducting at the Conservatory. He made his first Bayreuth appearance in 1957, opening the festival with Tristan und Isolde. Again, he was the Festival's youngest conductor. Also in 1957 he made two debuts in London: one as pianist in a lieder recital with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and the other as a guest conductor with the Philharmonia. He held concurrent appointments as principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, from 1960 to 1970, and the Hamburg State Philharmonic, from 1961 to 1973. He made his American debut conducting the Vienna Symphony Orchestra during a 1964 tour. Also in 1964, he made his first appearance guest conducting the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, and has returned every year to conduct it. He held another pair of concurrent appointments through most of the 1970s: Artistic Director of L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, from 1972 to 1980, and General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, beginning in 1971. Artistic director of the Bavarian State Opera from 1976 to 1977, he became the company's director in 1982. His first appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra was in 1984, part of his busy schedule as a guest conductor. He was appointed its Music Director in 1990, effective at the start of the 1993-1994 season. In 1993, Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra toured Japan, China, and Hong Kong, the first of several acclaimed international tours. In addition to extensive touring, Sawallisch has pursued a busy recording schedule with EMI, programming an intriguing mix of the established classics, major masterworks of the twentieth century, and new music, including compositions by Druckman, Pöntinen, Rochberg, and Ullmann. He led the Philadelphia Orchestra in the first appearance by an American orchestra in Vietnam, and directed the first live Internet performance by an American symphony. Sawallisch regularly conducts Europe's greatest orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and Concertgebouw Orchestra. A winner of numerous awards, Sawallisch has performed with such stars as Yefim Bronfman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Frank Peter Zimmermann. Continuing his career as a pianist, Sawallisch has accompanied some of the greatest performers of the twentieth century, including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Among Sawallisch's numerous acclaimed recordings is the 1998 video soundtrack of Wagner's entire Ring des Nibelungen cycle with the Bavarian State Opera.~ Joseph Stevenson






Tracklisting:

CD1
01. Symphony 1 in C minor Op. 68 - Un poco sostenuto / 13:22
02. Symphony 1 in C minor Op. 68 - Andante sostenuto / 9:19
03. Symphony 1 in C minor Op. 68 - Un poco allegretto grazioso / 4:44
04. Symphony 1 in C minor Op. 68 - Adagio / 16:51
05. Symphony 3 in F Op. 90 - Allegro con brio / 9:10
06. Symphony 3 in F Op. 90 - Andante / 9:02
07. Symphony 3 in F Op. 90 - Poco allegretto / 6:01
08. Symphony 3 in F Op. 90 - Allegro / 8:24



CD2
01. Symphony No.2 in D major (I) Allegro non troppo / 14:48
02. Symphony No.2 in D major (II) Adagio non troppo / 9:39
03. Symphony No.2 in D major: III. Allegretto grazioso / 5:13
04. Symphony No.2 in D major (IV) Allegro con spirito / 9:28
05. Symphony No.4 in E minor - I Allegro non troppo / 12:05
06. Symphony No.4 in E minor - II Andante moderato / 10:40
07. Symphony No.4 in E minor: III. Allegro giocoso-Poco meno presto-Tempo I / 6:06
08. Symphony No.4 in E minor: IV. Allegro energico e passionato-Pui allegro / 9:54




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