Brahms: Symphony nr. 2

The recording that has spooked around in my head a lot of the time the past few weeks is a 1977 recording of Brahms' Second. It is one of Stokowski's very late recordings - the symphony was taped in the spring and the man died in the fall of that same year - but it doesn't sound at all as if a 95-year old stood on the rostrum. To the contrary, this is a reading with a very energetic pulse, though never aggressive. There are none of the quirks we are associating with this conductor. The playing has poise and flourishes vibrant autumnal colours, avoiding the shrill melodrama that tends to mar symphonic Brahms. As I said, I have been carrying this music around for a while now. Not even the splended Mahler Seventh I heard in a live performance yesterday seems to be able to dislodge it from my mind.

This recording has been previously issued (by Cala) but is now repackaged in a budget-priced 10 CD box with Stokowski's stereophonic recordings for CBS from the early 1960s onwards.