This recording features Brahms symphonies performed with smaller string forces, reflecting evidence that orchestras in Brahms's time were not fixed in size.
Performer Biography
Paavo Berglund (1929-2012), the conductor on this album, held principal conductor posts with several major orchestras, including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Composition History
Brahms completed his First Symphony at the age of 43 after a long gestation period, but his subsequent three symphonies were written within less than a decade.
Performer Biography
The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, founded in 1981, draws its fifty members from fifteen countries, with players pursuing parallel careers as soloists and chamber musicians.
Composer Biography
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) expressed significant self-doubt about writing a symphony, feeling overshadowed by Beethoven's achievements.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Brahms's symphonic composition was characterized by strict self-discipline and a powerful epic grasp, avoiding rhapsodic vagueness.
Compositional Technique
Brahms's symphonies consistently use a traditional four-movement form, with the opening movement always in sonata form and the slow movement always second.
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