Brahms: the Symphonies/Ein Deutsches Requiem

MONO • HISTORICAL RECORDINGS FROM 1942-1952

Edwin Fischer, Willi Boskovsky, Emanuel Brabec, Yehudi Menuhin, Kerstin Lindberg-Torlind, Bernhard Sönnerstedt, Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler

Wilhelm Furtwängler saw “a wild, fantastic and even demonic universe” in the symphonies of Brahms. “Music is not something that is invented and constructed,” he wrote, “but something that grows, emerging … directly from the hands of nature.”

With organic development so crucial to Brahms’ music, his symphonies were destined for a prominent place in Furtwängler’s repertoire. Among the other works in this collection are the Violin Concerto with Yehudi Menuhin, and the Piano Concerto No. 2 with Edwin Fischer, both recognised as landmark interpretations.

Brahms:
 Symphonies Nos. 1-4 (Complete):
 No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
 No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
 No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
 No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
 Double Concerto for Violin & Cello in A minor, Op. 102
 Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45
 Hungarian Dances (excerpts)
 Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83
 Variations on a theme by Haydn for orchestra, Op. 56a 'St Anthony Variations'
 Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77