van Beinum's Brahms 1st

Posted by TGR (A) on March 28, 2017 at 14:27:36

A few days ago we had a thread about Brahms, and the idea of acquiring Rattle's D2D set vs. perhaps some classic performances, and I went in for the classic performances, indicating that I was interested in the van Beinum stereo Concertgebouw 1st. Bought the Epic "Stereorama", and I am glad I did, although I wouldn't mind finding a good Philips set.

Anyway, van Beinum's interpretation is very interesting (and great string playing, by the way). The sonic perspective is a little more distant than I would like - the front of the balcony, when I prefer to be in the 12th row - but still very clear.

What makes his performance interesting is that he is clearly a conductor that leans towards the "objective" side of things, yet there are plenty of places where I believe he diverges from the score - ritards in transitional passages, and an acceleration of tempo in the finale, as examples - yet nothing seems like he is hammering home "his" Brahms = Brahms still comes across as Brahms.

What a loss his death was - he was in his late 50s. Had he been given another 12 years to the biblical 70 we would have had many fine performances in stereo.

I have the Philips mono set "the Art of van Beinum" which has many fine performances in it, although I miss the stereo perspective. Anyone have other recordings of van Beinum they treasure?

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Topic - van Beinum's Brahms 1st - TGR 14:27:36 03/28/17 (9)

I have the 8-LP Art of Eduard van Beinum on Philips... - vinyl1 07:29:16 03/30/17 (0)

Wow - that takes me back - Chris from Lafayette 19:41:18 03/28/17 (1)

I wouldn't mind having those LPs - TGR 09:08:14 03/29/17 (0)

Like my Solti/CSO for the first. - Opus 33 1/3 17:00:57 03/28/17 (0)

Nutcracker... - kuma 15:51:53 03/28/17 (4)

Van Beinum's Bruckner Eighth is very fine too (also mono only) [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 19:05:23 03/28/17 (3)

Thanks. I'll look out of one. (Nt) - kuma 00:05:28 03/29/17 (2)

If you're looking vinyl, you might want to look for the Philips - vinyl phanatic 13:20:00 03/29/17 (1)

That's good to know. Thanks! (nt) - kuma 17:49:14 03/29/17 (0)

van Beinum's Brahms 1st

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