Brahms: Symphony No. 4; Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”

Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša

Tudor
LISTEN & BUY

This long-term edition of symphonies by Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvořák, performed by the Bamberger Symphoniker led by their chief conductor Jakub Hrůša, springs from a wish to stimulate a deliberate, interiorized and unbiased listening experience. Associating these two Romantic geniuses, bound by a unique friendship, in one edition enables a new viewpoint. It immediately becomes apparent that the two last symphonies of Brahms and Dvořák have more than their key in common – yet this also illuminates their differences. The encounter with these masterpieces becomes a sensual and intellectual adventure, sparking enthusiasm, amazement and joy. Both the Bamberger Symphoniker’s concert programmes and their discography have long been marked by openness and a readiness to take risks, as displayed for example in their pioneering Mahler cycle, or the complete recordings of Schubert symphonies alongside works by Berio, Rihm, Widmann and other contemporary composers. This production of the last symphonies by Brahms and Dvořák is not a confrontation, but places them in a new light – and continues the Bamberger Symphoniker and Jakub Hrůša’s dedicated championship of this repertoire.

Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andante moderato
III. Allegro giocoso – Poco meno presto
IV. Allegro energico e passionato – Più allegro

Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 ‘From the New World’
I. Adagio – Allegro molto
II. Largo
III. Molto vivace
IV. Allegro con fuoco

“Hearing these two E minor symphonies side by side proved far more stimulating than I anticipated. The orchestral playing is absolutely first-class and Hrůša’s conception of the music is totally compelling. This outstandingly recorded first instalment in a projected cycle pairing all four of Brahms’s symphonies with the last four by Dvořák has set the bar really high.” – BBC Music Magazine

“In Jakub Hrůša’s hands, the opening of Brahms’s Fourth becomes a series of world-weary sighs, an apt lead-in to a reading that’s at once elegiac and – with relatively broad tempos and some exceptionally emphatic playing by the Bamberg Symphony – monumental…The Czech conductor is slightly more pliant in the Dvořák while conveying a similar sonic grandeur that sometimes borders on the granitic.” – Gramophone

DISCOGRAPHY