Simon Rattle, Berliner Philharmoniker - Brahms: The Symphonies (2009) [Reissue 2011] PS3 ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

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Simon Rattle, Berliner Philharmoniker - Brahms: The Symphonies (2009) [Reissue 2011] PS3 ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

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Simon Rattle, Berliner Philharmoniker - Brahms: The Symphonies (2009) [Reissue 2011]
PS3 Rip | 3x SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 166:25 minutes | Scans | 4,83 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/44,1 kHz | Scans included | 1,61 GB

This recording of Brahms' four symphonies suggests that Simon Rattle has given little thought to the works. Rattle leads the Berliner Philharmoniker in respectable performances, with the details all in place, the tempos all moving forward, the harmonies all connected, and the themes and their developments all coherent. The Berlin musicians play with unsurpassable virtuosity. From the brilliant brass in the First's finale's coda to the characterful woodwinds in the Second and Third's central movements to the sumptuous strings of the Fourth's second movement, the orchestra demonstrates that it is manifestly one of the world's very best. There is nothing here, though, to indicate that Rattle is truly involved in the performances. One listens in vain for a conductor's trademark interpretive touches: faster or slower tempos, bigger or smaller accelerandos and ritardandos, unusual and unlikely inner voices. But nothing disturbs the surface of the music as it rolls onward without any untoward – or even interesting – incidents to impede its stately progress. A comparison of Rattle's cool interpretations with any of the orchestra's great performances of Brahms' symphonies (notably the robust heroics of Abbado, the lush lyricism of Karajan, or the monumentality of Furtwängler) shows how much the English conductor is missing in these scores. Abbado, Karajan, Furtwängler, and many others reveal Brahms' symphonies as the finest works in the form since Beethoven's. Rattle makes them sound like just four more Austro-Germanic symphonies between Beethoven's and Mahler's, more interesting than Bruch's, perhaps, but nothing special. EMI's live digital recording is thick and heavy, with too little light and color.