MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW Plain text for smartphones & printers


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

Support us financially by purchasing this disc from
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Serenade No. 1 in D major, Op. 11 (1858) [50:45]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Romances for violin and orchestra: No. 1 Op. 40 (1802) [7:30]; No. 2, Op. 50 (1802) [8:54]
Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra/Augustin Dumay (violin)
rec. 4-6 May 2012, Matsuka Hall, Kobe, Japan
ONYX 4101 [67:28] 

The first orchestral work Brahms completed was his D major Serenade, written during the years 1857-60 when he was employed at the court of Detmold. The music follows the precedent of Mozart’s orchestral serenades by using a standard classical orchestra of double woodwinds, pairs of horns and trumpets, timpani and strings, while containing the essential movements of a classical symphony plus some additional dance movements besides.
 
The CD cover introduces the Serenade as ‘a sunny work full of bracing and exuberant tunes’, and whoever wrote this has captured the essence of the matter. That essence is exactly what Dumay and his excellent Japanese regional orchestra succeed in conveying. For example, the opening has a real sense of uplift, the momentum generated throughout the orchestra and captured in very clear-textured sound by the Onyx engineers. At the opposite remove there is an extended slow movement, a true Adagio fifteen minutes long, and the quality of the playing is beyond question. While not engaging in the powerful drama to be found in the symphonies created later in Brahms’ career, this Serenade remains a substantial composition what is longer than the symphonies, and this performance does it justice. Perhaps the performance doesn’t quite match the eloquence achieved by Claudio Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (DG 4765786), but it remains very fine, and there is an interesting coupling. The latter is provided by the two Beethoven Romances composed during the first years of the nineteenth century. The music is engaging and eloquent, and these words suit Dumay’s performance too. Most of his work has been as a violinist and his enviable reputation is enhanced here. 

This Brahms Serenade is perhaps less well-known than it might be, so it is useful to have the advantage of Philip Borg-Wheeler’s perceptive and informative notes. 

Terry Barfoot


Previous review: Albert Lam