Kar Ming wrote:

>I think I prefer the broad and expansive accounts of Brahms' Symphonies
>by Walter/CSO and, to a lesser extent, Szell/CO.  Can anyone recommend
>other versions of Brahms' symphonies that operate in the same mould?

I like Walter, too.  Although it's not a symphony, I've never found another
performance of the Academic Festival Overture that smiles like his does.

Perhaps not in the same mold, but the greatest Brahms conductor I know is
Furtwaengler.  I know not everyone has this experience, but with his tempo
flexibility he makes these works come alive for me in a way that no one
else manages to do.  He's at his best, I think, in the fiery or solemn
passages of the First and Fourth, but I wouldn't want to have to choose
to do without any.  There were a fair number of his performances recorded
(particularly of the First), and on its second try Music & Arts put out a
set that included the ones generally thought to be the best, but I'm not
sure it's still available.  The EMI set can perhaps still be purchased.

And now to destroy my credibility on this topic.  A recent set that has
a number of very good things to recommend it is the one by that genius,
Daniel Barenboim, with the CSO on Erato.  While I've perhaps been more
impressed with the momentary "touches" than the overall vision, it's given
me lots of pleasures, and I'm doubtless to blame for failure to appreciate
the larger conceptions.

Nick
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