Brahms: Symphonies Nos 1 And 3

In a quirk of discographical history, Eduard van Beinum made three recordings of Brahms’s First Symphony, and two of the Third, but none of the Second or Fourth. All three accounts of the First were made with the Concertgebouw, and this newly remastered Eloquence album presents his second thoughts, as it were, from September 1951. Cut from the same cloth as his Beethoven symphonies, Van Beinum’s interpretation is notable for its dignified, classical approach. Similarly, the Symphony No. 3 is treated not as an emotional roller-coaster, but as a powerful and finely crafted statement of Brahms’s respect for the composers who preceded him, not least Robert Schumann: in the symphony’s first movement, Brahms pays poignant tribute to the memory of the man who had nurtured his career at its outset by quoting from the latter’s ‘Rhenish’ Third Symphony. Dating from 1946, this is the first of Van Beinum’s two recordings. It was made by Decca in the conductor’s first sessions with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, just two months after his impromptu concert debut with them: substituting at the last minute for Albert Coates, Van Beinum happened to be on business in London, but he did not have his tails with him and conducted the concert dressed in a brown suit. Van Beinum expressed approval of the LPO’s autonomy of organisation and spirit: ‘this means that the members of the orchestra will, so to speak, be rapping each other over the knuckles if necessary. They feel responsible, which is

Tracks

1~1~Symphony No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 68
1~2~Symphony No. 3 In F Major, Op. 90 (First Cd Release On Decca)

Details

Format: CD
Artist: Eduard Van Beinum
Release Date: 06 July 2018
Genre: Classical Music
Label: ELOQUENCE / DECCA
Distributor: Universal Music