# Best conductor for a brahms symphony



## Michael122 (Sep 16, 2021)

For each of the Brahms symphonies who do you think conducted it best, or would you choose one conductor for all 4?
My choices would be:
#1 = Bruno Walter
#2 = Wilhelm Furtwangler
#3 = George Szell
#4 = Otto Klemperer


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

#1 Eduard van Beinum
#2 Adrian Boult (Pye recording)
#3 either of the three 
#4 Otto Klemperer


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

1. William Steinberg. 
2. Bruno Walter. That NYPO mono recording is hair-raising. The adrenaline in the finale is breathtaking.
3. Bruno Walter. Get the tempo of the 1st movement just right.
4. Manfred Honeck. Has anyone else heard that new recording? It's stunning - as if I'd never heard the 4th before. Blows the hallowed Carlos Kleiber recording out of the running.


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

#1 Karl Böhm
#2 Stanisław Skrowaczewski
#3 Wilhelm Furtwängler
#4 Neeme Järvi

But if I had to choose one to conduct them all I`d choose Klemperer.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

1 Charles Munch
2 Bernsten/NYPO
3 von Kariajan (mid '60s)
4 Leinsdorf/BSO


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2021)

This is an easy one to answer: Carlos Kleiber playing Brahms #4. It is high-intensity and literally glows in the dark. I've loved it since the inception of the CD, when I first got it. The only thing which mars the perfection is the one-dimensionality of the recorded sound. It literally hits a wall with over-modulated sound; an early transgression from digital recording techniques!!

For me, there's no competition with this outstanding performance:


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2021)

mbhaub said:


> 1. William Steinberg.
> 2. Bruno Walter. That NYPO mono recording is hair-raising. The adrenaline in the finale is breathtaking.
> 3. Bruno Walter. Get the tempo of the 1st movement just right.
> 4. Manfred Honeck. Has anyone else heard that new recording? It's stunning - as if I'd never heard the 4th before. Blows the hallowed Carlos Kleiber recording out of the running.


Disagree with your 4th point!! Kleiber remains the benchmark and go-to for Brahms #4. Incidentally, this was found in Kleiber's Audi CD player a couple of days after he died in that little town in Slovenia. He had driven by himself all the way from Munich and was obviously listening to it. Can't help thinking about this whenever I listen.


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## Botschaft (Aug 4, 2017)

Chailly
Marriner
Saraste
Honeck


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2021)

Karajan/60's for the 4th, Maazel/Cleveland for the slow movements, Kertesz/WPO, Janowski/Pittsburgh, Barbirolli/WPO.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Christabel said:


> This is an easy one to answer: Carlos Kleiber playing Brahms #4.......For me, there's no competition with this outstanding performance:


The Kleiber/VPO Brahms 4 is definitely a good one, one of the best...but for me it doesn't match Toscanini/NBC or Reiner/RoyPO for power and intensity....they both build progressively towards the great finale which is delivered most convincingly in both cases.

for the Brahms symphonies, so many good ones, today's favorites for me [this may change by tomorrow!! ]

#1 - Solti, Toscanini
#2 - Monteux/LSO, Reiner/NYPO, Bernstein/NYPO
#3 - Reiner/CSO, Szell/CO [best ever for me - "live" Skrowaczewski/PhilaOrch]
#4 - Toscanini/NBC, Reiner/RoyPO


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

If forced to choose one for each

1 - Furtwängler/NDR
2 - Klemperer/PO
3 - Abbado/BPO
4 - Kleiber/VPO


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

My favorite is Mackerrass. I like his HIP informed performances with modern instruments.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

1. Karajan BPO, Live Royal Festival Hall, London 1988 (Testament)
2. Monteux LSO, 1962 or VPO 1959 (both on Eloquence)
3. Otto Klemperer, the Philharmonia Orchestra 1957 (EMI or Pristine Classical)
4. Carlos Kleiber, VPO 1980 (Deutsche Grammophon)

But Barenboim's Staatskapelle Berlin DG cycle is superb - my modern-day goto.

P.S. With the possible exception of Klemperer's third, my choices are inarguable!!


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

Don't know about 2 through 4, but my DVD set of Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic has to be number 1.


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## Livly_Station (Jan 8, 2014)

The first time I enjoyed a Brahms symphony was with Eugen Jochum. Still my favorite.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Symphony 1: Van Beinum/Concertgebouw
Symphony 2: Monteux/London Symphony
Symphony 3: Kempe/Berlin Philharmonic
Symphony 4: Walter/Columbia Symphony


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Brahmsian Colors said:


> Symphony 1: Van Beinum/Concertgebouw
> Symphony 2: Monteux/London Symphony
> Symphony 3: Kempe/Berlin Philharmonic
> Symphony 4: Walter/Columbia Symphony


Excellent choices


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

My historical choices would be Bernstein or Mackerras for the entire cycle. However, I really fell in love with Robin Ticciati's cycle when it came out a few years ago.


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

Jochum: stereo London cycle


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Olias said:


> My historical choices would be Bernstein or Mackerras for the entire cycle. However, I really fell in love with Robin Ticciati's cycle when it came out a few years ago.


Bernstein and Mackerras are "historical?"

Thanks for making me feel old lol


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> Bernstein and Mackerras are "historical?"
> 
> Thanks for making me feel old lol


LOL!! Reiner and Szell are ancient then, and Toscanini and Furtwangler are prehistoric!! :lol::lol:


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

I can't pinpoint it to one conductor for each symphony, but I like the cycles by Wand, Jochum, Karajan, Abbado, Klemperer and more recently by Andris Nelsons with the BSO.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Heck148 said:


> LOL!! Reiner and Szell are ancient then, and Toscanini and Furtwangler are prehistoric!! :lol::lol:


I go by sound quality in deeming a recording historical. Some of those Mercury, RCA, and Capitol recordings from the late 50s/early 60s sound better than most digital recordings.

Anything before 1950 can be safely deemed historical. Early 50s mono is a gray area. Some of them still sound really good.


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## FrankinUsa (Aug 3, 2021)

Dohnanyi with Cleveland Orchestra is my go to cycle for all 4. On Warner etc. I’m sure it’s nla. A great blend of toughness and tenderness. Sound engineering is good too.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

I have three complete Brahms' cycles: Szell/Cleveland (Columbia/Sony), Bernstein/NYPO (Columbia/Sony) and Bernstein/Vienna (DG); of those I find the Bernstein/NYPO to the one that is the most enthusiastic and energized. Szell is completely on-point but a bit stiff to my ears; and while Bernstein's Vienna set is unique in that Bernstein really stretches the tempos and dynamics, his earlier New York cycle has more "swing".


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

I own a score of Brahms symphony cycles and have heard a lot more. But I really don't think that I can pin down one conductor to any of the four symphonies. Every conductor that is technically good enough to record commercial discs of these masterpieces for big companies, has his/hers own merits of dealing the works, and it is simply impossible for me to rank one over the other based on quantitative standards.

Anyway, here are a few cycles that I feel great about the overall performance and sound quality: Abbado BPO DG, the 3 sets of Karajan BPO DG, Kertesz VPO Decca, Suitner Staatskapelle Berlin, Haitink RCO Philips 1970s, Sawallisch WSO Philips.


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## Bone (Jan 19, 2013)

1. Karajan (late 80’s)
2. Dunno. Maybe Barenboim (most recent)
3. Walter / Columbia SO
4. Kleiber / VPO
For a cycle, Ticciati / SCO, but Walter, Szell, Sanderling, Honeck, Barenboim, Nelsons, Chailly are right up there. This is such a glorious time to be a Brahmsian! No shortage of fantastic recordings!


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