Home listening - Gardiner and the ORR live at the Concertgebouw

The Guardian 0

John Eliot Gardiner and co capture the youthful dynamism of Schubert and Brahms. Plus, Beethoven from the Trio Goya

• Both Schubert and Brahms, paired on a new disc from the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (SLG), felt the influence of Beethoven, especially in their efforts to write symphonies. Yet the lightness and transparency of Schubert’s Symphony No 5 in B flat major, D485 (small orchestra, no clarinets, trumpets or timpani) owes, if anything, more of a debt to Mozart. This buoyant live recording made in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw brings out the daring contrasts and sudden key changes of this essentially radiant work. The immediacy of the recorded sound, the rasping woodwind and lean string sonorities suit the music, unless you prefer your Schubert smooth.

Brahms, deterred from writing a proper symphony until midlife, first experimented with two extended orchestral Serenades. The No 2 in A, Op 16 (1858-9, rev. 1873) has five movements, no violins and double woodwind, giving prominence to the woodwind and creating an unusual, almost outdoor mood, especially in the rumbustious Scherzo. This tender, early Brahms, dedicated to his friend and mentor Clara Schumann, isn’t played often in the concert hall. Worth knowing if you don’t already.