On the whole this second installment in Barenboim’s Brahms symphony (and select other stuff) series makes a slightly better impression than the first. Part of this is due to the works themselves. The comparative brevity of the Third and Fourth symphonies makes the almost supersaturated richness of tone that Barenboim prefers slightly less overbearing than in the earlier, lengthier works. Still, compare these performances to Solti’s versions with this same orchestra (among his greatest recordings), and it becomes quite obvious that Romantic warmth does not preclude sheer physical excitement.
The German Requiem features some wonderful choral work, a couple of average soloists and, the lethargic second movement aside, effective leadership from the podium. Still and again, it’s not Klemperer, or Blomstedt, or any one of half a dozen truly outstanding versions of the work. And that’s the trouble with new (and many, many old) recordings of Brahms: there’s just too much excellence out there for anyone to have to settle for less, at any price.
