[SACD-R][OF] Brahms – Serenade No 2, Symphony No 3 (Bernard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra) - 2004 (Classical/Orchestral)

The 1st & final movements of Brahms’s 3rd Symphony contain some of the most dramatic music he was to compose, yet both end serenely & enclose 2 beautiful inner movements. The equally exquisite Serenade No 2, unusually scored for wind instruments, violas, cellos & double basses, was 1 of his own personal favourites & both receive superb performances under Bernard Haitink in the 3rd part of his internationally acclaimed LSO Live Brahms cycle.
AllMusic:
In these days of flamboyant incompetence & tasteless mediocrity, it is a wonderful thing to still have Bernard Haitink alive & well & conducting. 1st of all, Haitink is a supremely competent conductor with a superb baton technique & an almost unmatched ability to balance an orchestra & shape a movement. 2nd of all, Haitink is a supremely tasteful conductor who never imposes his will on the music through his interpretations, but rather allows the interpretation to arise from the music. Alas, neither of these qualities is much in evidence these days.
Nor, seemingly, are these qualities much valued, hence this disc of Haitink conducting Brahms with the London Symphony on LSO Live & not Philips or EMI. This is, of course, Philips & EMI’s loss because Haitink & the LSO’s performances of Brahms’ delightful Serenade No. 2 & courageous Symphony No. 3 are as fine & as deep as any new recordings of the works in the past quarter century. Haitink’s Serenade is bright & cheerful & romantic in the most bucolic possible sense & his Symphony is warm & passionate & immensely moving. In both pieces, the LSO plays with virtuosity & dedication & the live sound is a real & vivid as anything recorded in the studio by 1 of the major labels. Anyone who loves great conducting & especially great Brahms conducting will love this disc.
SA-CD.net review by Edvin March 1, 2006:
I love this.
Haitink has given us 3 cycles of these symphonies & the 1st from Concertgebouw was very good with the 3rd as a highlight. The 2nd cycle, from Boston, was simply boring, partly due to the Philips engineering. This 3rd cycle, well I have only heard this 1 & I find it absolutely masterful. Half way through the 1st movement I sort of envisioned this orchestra with no conductor. An orchestra fully in tune with the composer & his intensions. Haitink never lets his ego stand between Brahms & himself, this is music making on a level that has the composer & no one but the composer in sight.
The sound of LSO is full & warm & Haitink directs from the heart. I will not go into detail, simply because Brahms is presented so naturally. If you are a young listener you might want a bit more temperament, a bit more aggression. You might even become a bit impatient here. But this is as full blooded & as passionate a Brahms performance you are likely to hear..& it is so incredibly lovely. No agogic distorsions, just a natural flow.
The Serenade is wonderful, but I do wish that LSO-Live would record the 1st Serenade as well. Haitink’s old version from Concertgebouw is still the finest of this marvellous piece.
The sound is full & warm. Brahms orchestration is always a bit close no matter the accoustics. I don’t think he thought about Hi-Fi!!! But this is Hi-Fi, musically as well as sound-wise.