COMPOSERS: Brahms
LABELS: Sony
WORKS: String Sextet in G, Op. 36; Horn Trio in E flat, Op. 40
PERFORMER: Rudolf Serkin (piano), Myron Bloom (horn), Michael Tree, Pina Carmirelli, Jon Toth (violin), Philipp Naegele, Caroline Levine (viola), Fortunato Arico, Dorothy Reichenberger (cello)
CATALOGUE NO: SBK 63209 ADD 1960/67
Tovey thought the Op. 36 Sextet ‘the most ethereal of all Brahms’s larger works’, and this 1967 CBS collaboration by Italian and American artists fully supports that view. The transfer sounds lush yet pliant, and little of the LP’s edginess survives to mar playing of abundant spontaneity and incident. Myron Bloom’s famous partnership with Michael Tree and Rudolf Serkin in the Horn Trio fares less well, but it would take more than residual tape-hiss to sabotage this magnetic account. Recommended. Michael Jameson
Brahms: String Sextet in G, Op. 36; Horn Trio in E flat, Op. 40
Tovey thought the Op. 36 Sextet ‘the most ethereal of all Brahms’s larger works’, and this 1967 CBS collaboration by Italian and American artists fully supports that view. The transfer sounds lush yet pliant, and little of the LP’s edginess survives to mar playing of abundant spontaneity and incident. Myron Bloom’s famous partnership with Michael Tree and Rudolf Serkin in the Horn Trio fares less well, but it would take more than residual tape-hiss to sabotage this magnetic account. Recommended. Michael Jameson
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:28 pm