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Review by JJ June 11, 2011 (5 of 5 found this review helpful)
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It is well known today that Arnold Schoenberg was a great admirer of Johannes Brahms. A great admirer, but also a fervent advocate who, as Willem de Bordes underlines in the accompanying brochure, “gave, in 1933, a talk on the hundredth anniversary of the composer’s birth. He called it ‘Brahms the progressive.’ At the time, Schoenberg explained how Brahms was a renovator, and important for the creation of the second Viennese school. To illustrate the progressive harmonics of Brahms, he took as an example his String Quartet Op.51 in C minor. Schoenberg demonstrated that the development of Brahms’ technique of variation and phrasal structure were the foundation of the genesis of Transfigured Night.” With the Quartet Op.51 N°1 in its version for string orchestra and the work of Schoenberg for the same formation, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta once again subjugates us by its most passionate approach, letting tones ripen with a breadth that is large, powerful and well-dosed. The remarkable equilibrium of the different instrumentalists can never be called heavy-handed, and it is from the ensemble’s clarity that poetry is born, never letting go of the listener until the end of this brilliant score. In exemplary sound, here is a major SACD of enduring artistic value.
Jean-Jacques Millo
Translation Lawrence Schulman
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Review by jeffreybehr June 1, 2011 (2 of 4 found this review helpful)
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My opinions of the music and performances on this disc certainly mirror Caster's, and I thank you, sir (?), for writing them, because they caused me to buy this disc.
GORGEOUS music! Who'da'thunk a Brahms string quartet could sound like this? Not me.
The recordings are excellent heard in MC. The hall is just the right size, and Jared Sacks and Tom Peeters knew just where to place the orchestra and microfones to capture all the detail AND hall resonance.
Buy this disc if you love Romantic-period Classical music!
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