Brahms's two orchestral serenades of around 1857-9 belong to his period at the princely court of Detmold and No. 1 is not only his first known essay in orchestral writing but also a substantial work. But even with a length of 45 minutes for its six movements, you may well feel that it offers less than good value for a full-price CD, given that the alternative account of the same work from Philips at full-price offers the Siegfried Idyll as well. The six movements remind us that the First Serenade as we now know it is what its name implies (though Brahms at one time had only four movements in mind and described the piece as a ''Symphony-Serenade''). The final model must have been Mozart's works in this form, which for all their essential geniality are often lengthy, for it seems that Brahms heard some of them at around this time. The work was originally written for a largish chamber ensemble, but later Brahms took note of his friend Joachim's view that it had an orchestral quality and re-cast it in the more familiar orchestral form in which it was published in 1860.
What gives both issues here a special interest is that the original chamber version, probably (though not certainly, and it seems that the composer destroyed the score) a nonet for wind and strings, has been reconstructed by Alan Boustead for the Philips performance and by Jorge Rotter for the Schwann one. Boustead's booklet essay tells us something of how he went about his task, for example how Brahms's known preference for valveless horns has guided his writing of the horn part, and this makes good reading. However, in declaring that this or that procedure ''is almost certainly exact'' or ''can hardly be disputed'' Boustead may elicit the very doubts that he evidently wishes to dispel.
In any case, the result, in the hands of an expert group of players, is most pleasurable and the fresh and often pastoral character of the music comes over with good effect, as do its mellow textures. The big first and third movements, together taking nearly 26 minutes, hold together well and the shorter ones (the second scherzo lasts a mere 2'41'') have a clear interpretative focus. The well-balanced recording adds to the success of this performance. Wagner's charming aubade for his beloved Cosima, first performed at their house on the first birthday of their son Siegfried, also comes across attractively if a trace solemnly in places (say from 4'51'').
Rather than examine points of difference between the Boustead and Rotter nonet versions of the First Serenade, I will merely say that the latter, as played by the Scharoun Ensemble of Berlin (founded in 1983 by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra members), also sounds very agreeable. The movement timings are so close to those of the ASMF Chamber Ensemble as to confirm one's feeling that both performances are lively as regards choice of tempo: indeed, the biggest difference is the 20 seconds or so separating the two accounts of the Minuet fourth movement. The horn player Stefan Jezierski, too, sounds nicely bucolic. But however stylish the playing, it is not superior to that on the Philips issue, nor is the recording so immediate and well balanced, and the extra work on the latter CD makes it a clear first choice. Incidentally, neither booklet mentions that the first scherzo in the serenade thematically foreshadows that of the Second Piano Concerto so precisely that coincidence may be ruled out.'