Brahms: The Symphonies

Featuring

Robin Ticciati
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Johannes Brahms

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Recording & Production

The album was recorded over two weeks in Usher Hall, Edinburgh, with the orchestra playing to an empty hall under studio conditions.

Historical Context

Beethoven's symphonic legacy cast a long shadow, leading some to proclaim the death of the symphony and cultivate new genres like the symphonic poem and music drama.

Interpretation

The performers used small-bore trombones and Viennese horns from the late 19th century to achieve a brighter sound and historical coloristic detail.

Interpretation

This recording uses a smaller string section, similar to Brahms's favored Meiningen orchestra, to embrace the idea of his symphonies as enlarged chamber music.

Performer Biography

Robin Ticciati, the conductor, began conducting at age fifteen under the guidance of Sir Colin Davis and Sir Simon Rattle, after training as a violinist, pianist, and percussionist.

Composer Biography

Brahms initially resisted composing symphonies, stating in his mid-twenties that any symphonies after Beethoven "must look quite different" and later, "I shall never compose a symphony!"

Composition History

Brahms's Symphony No. 1 was premiered in 1876, the same year as Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, a timing often interpreted as a deliberate response to Wagner's magnum opus.