Symphony No 4 in E minor / Geistliches Lied / Fest-und Gedenkspruche / etc

Editor's Choice Gramophone Magazine November 2010

"Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Brahms symphony cycle has been stimulating and richly rewarding in equal measure. This was not least because in the concert series, 'Brahms: Roots and Memories', during which these recordings were made, he chose to set the symphonies in the context of some of the composer's choral works and of music by earlier composers whose music Brahms especially admired. Gabrieli's Sanctus has grandeur and I appreciated very much the lightly-sprung jubilation that Gardiner brings out in the "Hosanna". The Schütz, by contrast, is an imposing piece. It's scored for two violins, six vocal soloists and two four-part choirs. Gardiner also includes the optional brass parts, which double the choir parts. The piece is a masterpiece of concision and the performance it gets here is darkly dramatic - the soloists are excellent. All these fascinating pieces lead up to the Fourth Symphony. Gardiner leads a trenchant and convincing account of the work. In I his interpretation is fluid and forward-moving and one feels a strong sense of purpose at all times. The ORR produces a lean, muscular sound and the part-writing emerges with great clarity. I particularly admired the dextrous woodwind playing. The coda is conspicuously successful; here the music is surging and powerful. This series has made me think about and appreciate the Brahms symphonies anew and that, surely, was the object of the exercise." (MusicWeb Oct 2010)

"Gardiner brings a delightful crispness and spontaneity to the work: he creates great sweeps of emotion without sacrificing inner details, and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique respond to him by playing with warmth and passion." METRO, 3rd September 2010

"[The motets] provide a surprising context for the symphony, given in a transparent, analytical performance by the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Harmony and counterpoint gleam, with no aural smudges and not a jot of bookish didacticism." The Observer, 12th September 2010

"...the variety of tone, dynamic and texture from Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique is consistently well defined...A no-prisoners account of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture opens a programme that explores Brahms' choral influences, with pristine excerpts of Gabrieli, Schütz and Bach." The Independent on Sunday, 12th September 2010

"Gardiner's highly energised, raw-boned account, superbly played by the ORR and never dwelling unduly on inessential expressive details, has a real sense of culmination, of the end of a creative journey that the whole series of recordings has illuminated in a genuinely original way." The Guardian, 16th September 2010 ****

"The symphony is upstaged by choral works (Schütz, Gabrieli, Beethoven and Brahms) which illuminate its creative background. The jewel is Brahms's wondrous Geistliches Lied, giving the Monteverdi Choir its finest hour." Financial Times, 17th September 2010 ***

"this disc is a triumph of imaginative programming, an education for anyone wishing to hear the music that inspired the composer...Gardiner's approach is the antithesis of the muddy sound of most "classic" recordings. His tempi are brisk yet flexible, as Brahms wanted, but he refuses to sentimentalise the music." Sunday Times, 26th September 2010 ****