Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Serenade No 1 in D, Op 11 (1857-9) [39:09]
Serenade No 2 in A, Op 16 (1859) [26:09]
Gewandhaus Orchestra, Leipzig/Riccardo Chailly
rec. Gewandhaus, Leipzig, May 2014
DECCA 478 6775 [65:19]
Both Serenades on one CD? I should have known something was up. Even the late-analogue Boult accounts, with their notorious alla breve slow movements, required two discs, fitted out with appropriate fillers, to accommodate them.
In the booklet, Chailly observes that the D Major's first movement is marked Allegro molto ("very fast"), not merely Allegro, and adopts an accordingly swift tempo. The playing is articulate, and I prefer this to some of the sleepier accounts, but it's hard to make the music "perky" at this speed. It doesn't help matters when he pushes forward into the exposition repeat, and at the theme's return after the development.
The conductor, creditably but unfortunately, keeps the inner movements proportionate to the first - note the duration, twelve minutes shorter than the customary fifty-one. The first Scherzo conveys a hushed turbulence, with the rhythmic motto slightly hard-pressed; the Trio is bounding rather than bucolic. In the dignified Adagio non troppo, the textures thicken slightly as the climax builds. The chipper first Menuetto could have been a shade more relaxed. The second Scherzo is buoyant and rollicking; the Trio's string runs keep up, but it's a stunt rather than musically edifying. The final Rondo's driving pace flatters the dotted figures, but, again, it arbitrarily races. Despite the apparently purposeful intentions, the result is another Chailly recording where the goal is to get from the beginning to the end of the piece.
The A Major Serenade comes off better: the tempi are less self-conscious, less of an impediment. Still, I kept wanting more time to enjoy the music, especially in the first movement's second theme; and, in this smaller-framed score, some movements end before they've had a chance to start. I did like the playful Scherzo and the genial Quasi menuetto, and the closing Rondo is spirited, although the cheerful second subject inevitably slows down on each appearance.
To their credit, the Leipzig players remain unfazed by the speeds. Woodwinds and horns are particularly expressive and articulate - the flute actually manages some sweetness in the D major's first-movement coda. Decca showcases the orchestra in a nice simulacrum of their old analogue "house sound" - the homogeneous East German sound is apparently a thing of the past - and I enjoyed the definition and depth.
Those Boult recordings, his once-controversial tempi notwithstanding, are quite lovely and relaxed - it's worth hunting down the Angel Studio or "double fforte" releases. secondhand, or watching for a Warner Classics reissue. If you feel like reaching back further, Stokowski's rigorous yet leisurely unfolding of the First, with the Symphony of the Air - last seen, at least by me, on a Varèse Sarabande LP - should please traditionalists.
Stephen Francis Vasta
stevedisque.wordpress.com/blog
Previous reviews: Michael Cookson ~ Stephen Barber ~ Paul Corfield Godfrey
