Brahms - Symphony 1 [Jarvi-London Symphony Orchestra]The Brahms First Symphony in my opinion is his finest, i am not a fan of his Second and Third, and rarely listen to his Fourth, but this Symphony has always been a masterpiece, i grew up devouring a recording by Giulini.
The booklet and back insert are great, with light and dark green making a wonderful statement, i don't know what happened during the scan i made, the back insert is trying to be a Green Leopard!.
I played this disc while walking into Town and back, and it's good to listen to music on the move, the first movement really got me going, the very opening is so inspired, i love the dark timpani beat [0:00-0:39 & 1:33-2:09], it's like one of them Roman galley slave ships, where the drummer beats out the rhythm!, but it's also those dark stirrings among the strings, a lovely atmospheric start to a Symphony, and Brahms did have a long time to introduce himself to the symphonic world, and what an entrance, one of the greatest symphonic beginnings i can think of, the dark C Minor key is excellent, the Symphony proper only starts after this mammoth intro, and it's a headlong forward motion of incessant power [2:53+], it's relentless rhythm and drive reminds me of Beethoven's Fifth, and Holst's Mars, a third of the way through the movement the same punches land on you again [5:29+], it's almost demonic in the way it slowly ratchets up the screws tighter and tighter, in fact it's a bit like a boxing match, you get rests inbetween rounds, but then another wave of 'hits' gets to you [8:43+, 12:42+, 14:50+], i was really floored by this movement [ok i'm sorry for the pun!], but i think i like being punched silly by Brahms.
Here's Gunter Wand conducting the first movement on YouTube.
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