Recorded during January last year, this is Zubin Mehta’s third recorded cycle of Brahms’s Four Symphonies. It follows two for Sony Classical, one in New York, the other in Israel, and not forgetting an earlier First in Vienna for Decca. Mehta has been a regular guest in Munich since 1987 and is now the Philharmoniker’s Conductor Emeritus. Their closeness is evident throughout these Brahms renditions, performances of generosity in tempo (measured) and timbre (refulgent), structurally cohesive and journeyed to wholeness and satisfaction. The opening of Symphony One immediately sets the stage that will be consistently managed – excellent recorded sound relaying powerful emotions and expressive playing of beauty, concentration and focus, never bland, indifferent or consciously novel: seasoned traversals that live, breathe and glow, a tribute to this orchestra-conductor relationship and the timeless greatness of the music, Mehta with no need to ‘sell’ it, or himself.
Fierier, faster and edgier accounts are of course available, odysseys of interpretation, starting Weingartner (1923). From Mehta and Munich, Symphony One is darkness to light personified (vivid timpani in both elements, the ultimate coda’s victory punched-out in majestic triumph); numbers Two & Three I previously covered (below); and the Fourth ranges from abundantly lyrical to stoically defiant. This rewarding release is on MPHIL 0032 (4 CDs).
A year later…