IDAGIO | Elbphilharmonie First Recording - Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 886446245324

Featuring

Thomas Hengelbrock
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
Johannes Brahms

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Compositional Technique

Brahms's Third Symphony is noted for its 'filigree, translucent instrumentation,' with the composer using brass instruments in a wide compass and avoiding the typical compact massing of his time.

Compositional Technique

The Fourth Symphony by Brahms extensively uses 'developing variation,' a technique where nearly all musical ideas organically evolve from a basic building block, such as the interval of a third in the first movement.

Composer Biography

Johannes Brahms, whose symphonies are featured on this album, was born in Hamburg, a city with a rich musical tradition that also nurtured Handel, Telemann, and the Mendelssohns.

Recording & Production

This album is the first recording made at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, a spectacular new concert hall that opened in January 2017.

Recording & Production

The recording was made in the Grand Hall of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, a venue designed to place music at its center with a unique 'white skin' wall cladding for excellent sound.

Interpretation

Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock chose to include four 'curtain-like' introductory bars in Brahms's Fourth Symphony, which were in the autograph but omitted from the printed edition.

Performer Biography

Thomas Hengelbrock, the conductor on this recording, is the principal conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and was awarded the prestigious Karajan Music Prize in 2016.