Brahms: Symphony no. 2 D major, op.73, Tragic Overture, op. 81
Daniel Barenboim
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Erato
Recording: October 1993 (Symphony); September 1994 (Overture), place not given

Rating: 6/8

This disc opens with a very warm account of Brahms' second symphony.  It
is an unashamedly "romantic" account, however not without some Barenboim
specialities.  Some of these are pleasant, such as the extraordinarily
clear textures, some less so - the absolute lack of excitement and drama.
Nonetheless, the beginning flows nicely, with long phrases.  Everything
sounds warm, comfortable and pastoral.  As soon as the end of the first
theme - after a wonderful violin cantilena - we begin to realise what this
performance lacks:  Fire.  The outburst is tame, very tame.  It doesn't
dare to leave the pastoral mood set earlier.  This could be very well
acceptable, but the sharp dissonances in the development also fail to
bite.  The second theme is in the recapitulation as wonderfully sung by
the cellos as in the exposition.  The coda too is very nice.  A spacious
but effective view.  Barenboim does not take the exposition repeat.  The
second movement is as soft as any.  Very early however it becomes clear
that this performance doesn't reply to the darker tones lying underneath
the texture.  This is shown especially by the first minor-key interjection,
which simply lacks drama, despite excellent playing especially by the
trombones.  The second minor key passages fares much better, for the
first time in the symphony the pastoral mood is seriously in danger.  The
third movement has lost everything of a scherzo-character here.  This is
nothing bad, but again it's too tame.  The presto trios are pleasant, but
the frequent off-beat accents don't really disturb because they're too
obvious.  However, this movement displays outstanding playing from the
orchestra.  Especially the winds play this music as if it were chamber
music.  Gorgeous.  The finale begins quite well and reaches a first great
moment with the beautiful largamente tune.  You won't hear it better than
here.  However, Barenboim can't resist to take Brahms' tranquillo marking
in the development as invitation for a long and large ritardando.
Curiously, when the music picks up speed at the recapitulation it gets
excellent.  The orchestra seems to wake up, the playing is alert and the
musicians obviously enjoy themselves and the music.  The rest of the
movement is very fine indeed.  The Tragic Overture is as far away from the
sunny symphony as any work in Brahms' orchestral oeuvre.  However, the warm
and lush sound of this recording doesn't promise very much.  And indeed,
the performance fails ultimately.  The beginning is fine, with a weighty
tempo and heavy strings.  The rhythms are very precise throughout the work,
mainly due to the slow tempi adopted by Barenboim.  The best feature of
this performance comes rather early in bar 68, when the basses' crotchets
are clearly audible against the violins' syncopes.  Barenboim's rubato
works quite well during the first part of the Overture.  However, the
wonderful passage that pre-echoes Mahler's first symphony doesn't sound
bleak at all even though Brahms' orchestration quite clearly demands
exactly this.  Barenboim for one takes Brahms' score by the word and
plays the slow middle part at half the speed taken for the outer parts.
Given the slow basic pace, this results in rehearsal-tempo.  Nothing of
the tension Brahms builds so carefully during the fugato really appears.
However, the individual lines are perfectly audible.  But then, what else
can you listen to when every quaver takes nearly an eternity? During the
last few measures Barenboim accelerates, but then it's too late to add
anything but silliness.  The second good point of this performance appears
right at the tempo primo, when the atmosphere is as mysterious as one could
wish.  The recapitulation plods on, until a very sudden and unmotivated
accelerando a few moments before the end.  We realise that it's getting to
the end because of the huge ritardando.  The orchestra plays fine and the
textures are as clear as in other Brahms by Barenboim.  Here, the slow
tempi add additional clarity to the contrapuntal lines.  But reading the
score is more exciting than listening to this.  The sound quality isn't
anything spectacular either, the background noise suggests that it has been
taped during concerts.  A CD of which only five minutes are really good
(the second half of the finale of the symphony) simply isn't competitive.
It isn't even worth the time you spend listening to it.

Jan