This CD is a co-production between BMG Classics and Bavarian Radio. The Bavarian engineers know all there is to know about the acoustics of Munich's Herkulessaal and they have produced a beautifully warm and refined sound which does full justice to their excellent Radio Symphony Orchestra. Sir Colin has recorded very little Brahms over the years and the present performance suggests that he does not really enjoy a close rapport with this composer. The first movement, taken quite slowly, has plenty of warmth and spaciousness, but somehow there is little real feeling in the music, no sense of urgent communication. The phrasing shows Davis's usual sensitivity and acute musicianship, but doesn't appear to spring from within. As a result the movement fails to hang together and seems rather a sequence of episodes. In the second movement a clear sense of line is again missing, and the conducting gives the impression of being care-laden and uncomfortable. There are some delicate moments in the third movement, but also phrasing which tends to make the music congeal. Even the finale lacks real excitement at a slightly sedate tempo. The overture fares no better, and sounds rather ponderous and four-square. All in all this issue does not show Sir Colin in anything like his usual form, and choice in the symphony must lie elsewhere.
The two Karajan versions listed above were recorded over 30 years apart but have dose similarities in their lyrical, warm-heartedly relaxed approach. EMI's version with the Philharmonia Orchestra is on a mid-price Studio disc which also contains no less than a fine performance of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. These performances date from 1955, but no allowance has to be made for the recording quality, which is remarkably fine. Karajan's recent DG version with the BPO has a good account of the Haydn Variations as fill-up, and also enjoys good sound. With the deletion of Gunter Wand's excellent EMI performance, Bruno Walter's CBS version comes back into the reckoning. This disc, which also contains the Academic Festival Overture, was made in 1960 but sounds well still. If the octagenarian conductor was not quite in his best form he directs a performance which is rich in experience and understanding.'