Brahms: Symphonies No. 3 & No. 4/standard Version

With the same dedication they brought to Beethoven and Schumann, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi now turn their attention to the symphonies and overtures of Johannes Brahms. Once again, only after intensive rehearsals and closed sessions did they accept invitations to appear in New York, Amsterdam and Istanbul, for example, and at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Bonn International Beethoven Festival. And their success with Brahms exceeded all expectations. »A Brahms revelation« was the headline in the New York Times to a review that went on to declare »With risk came reward in this dark and ultimately triumphant reading of Brahms's Symphony No. 2 from Paavo Järvi and his virtuosic orchestra.« Complete Brahms cycles were given to great acclaim in Tokyo, Vienna, St. Petersburg, at the Rheingau Music Festival and at the festival in Lanaudière (Canada). Only with the experience gained in these many concerts and the resulting certainty that they had something important to say about the Brahms symphonies, and that they could make this music sound as if it were improvised, as if it had only just been written - only then did the musicians venture into the recording studio. Once again, Philip Traugott brought his perfectionism to bear on the role of producer, while Paavo Järvi and the orchestra plunged headlong into an adventure whose aim was to avoid safe and down-to-earth interpretations in favour of the same freshness and spontaneity that singled out their live performances.