ProStudioMasters.com

"Record of the Year ... epitomizes classical music’s way of reinventing itself and staying relevant to every generation." - Gramophone "Five Stars. These are very straightforward but also dynamic and dramatic readings, faithful to Brahms's intentions ... powerfully conceived, they are rhythmically alert ..." - BBC Music Magazine "Chailly's approach is radically rethought, reexamining the scores and the recorded interpretations of an earlier generation of conductors to bring a fresh, new and dramatic reading." - Classic FM "With its proud status as Europe’s oldest symphony orchestra, Leipzig’s Gewandhausorchester continues to renew its stellar reputation. Besides its lineup of top-flight principal players, the orchestra’s collective style, at once crystal clear and mellow-toned, is as ideally suited to Brahms’s tight-reined, yet also warmly Romantic idiom as you can get. Riccardo Chailly’s approach to the music is both empathetic and fresh." - Sinfini Music Following his 2011 landmark Beethoven cycle, Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly returns with this release, named the 2014 record of the year by Gramophone, its top honour. The triple-disc set includes the complete Brahms symphonies, orchestral works, overtures and Haydn Variations. This comprehensive overview includes several rarities, among them world premieres of two piano intermezzos orchestrated by Paul Klengel (brother of the Gewandhaus's principal cellist Julius Klengel), the original first performance version of the Andante of Symphony No. 1 and the even rarer revised opening of the Fourth Symphony. Chailly reverts to the recorded interpretations of a generation of conductors alive during Brahms's lifetime, principally Felix Weingartner as well as his predecessor Bruno Walter.