Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

“Brahms Symphony No 2...has clarity and detail but lacks grandeur. Christoph von Dohnányi elicits plaintive tone from the opening horns and balances the parts with care. The romantic surges of the Adagio are well measured and the Scherzo has a dainty charm, but in neither movement is there any sense of awe. The strings lack sheen, the oboe warmth. A second CD includes Symphony No 4 but the story is the same – accuracy, expertise but no real fire.” Sunday Times, 24th August 2008 ***

“[These recordings] are typical Dohnanyi accounts, tough-edged, no-nonsense, massive and unsentimental, but just falling short of the real intensity that makes his best work compelling...And though the orchestral playing is consistently outstanding, there is no sense of occasion or elan.” Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 29th August 2008 ***

“Alsop’s triumphant cycle of Brahms symphonies with the LPO comes to a climactic end with this hugely impressive account of the Fourth. She has that ability, vital in music as dense as this, to hurry nothing, to make the most of the moment, yet always to maintain a sense of impetus.” The Sunday Times

“A rhythmically taut, finely structured reading with plenty of dynamism ad thrust, but giving full rein to the work's deep elegiac aspects.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2007

“The LPO, London's finest Brahms ensemble, has been in vintage form during this cycle under Marin Alsop's measured and thoughtful direction.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2008

A reading of power and elegance: Kleiber always had something fascinating to say about this greatest of works - James Jolly, Gramophone 1000th issue