This coupling strikes me as altogether more successful than the pairing of Brahms's Fourth Symphony and Schoenberg's Five Orchestral Pieces, which I reviewed in June 1992. There the later atonal work was played in a somewhat literal fashion. The Chamber Symphony dates from a slightly earlier stage in Schoenberg's development, and shows tonality under severe pressure and in fact cracking apart under the composer's assault. This feeling of pressure, of music somehow fighting to get out, is something which needs to be brought out strongly in performance, and Chailly succeeds brilliantly in conveying the score's wild intensity. He drives the music very hard, chooses fast, almost hectic tempos, and gets superbly committed playing from his 15 orchestral soloists. The influence of the older composer is apparent not only in the work's few quieter passages, which are shaped very beautifully by Chailly, but in certain rhythmic characteristics, which sound rather like Brahms caught up in a nightmare. The ensemble must be a brute to balance successfully, but the engineers have succeeded brilliantly.
The recording of the Brahms is outstanding too, as is the playing of the full orchestra. Chailly's account of the first movement, though well-conceived, lacks a certain natural flow. The basic tempo is ideal, there is plenty of spirit and expression, but the music seems slightly ill at ease with itself. Matters improve greatly in the second movement, which does move forward calmly and easily, with plenty of natural warmth. Only an occasional awkwardness in the phrasing disturbs an otherwise almost ideal account of the third movement, and the finale is very impressively managed throughout.
All in all it's a very likeable, impressive reading which just seems to lose confidence in itself from time to time. Abbado on DG at full-price, and above all Walter on CBS/Sony mid-price remain the recommended versions.'