Brahms: The Four Symphonies

In their first Warner Classics release of symphonic repertoire, the players of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and their Chief Conductor Michael Sanderling perform the four Brahms Symphonies and Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet in G minor. Founded in 1805, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra (Luzerner Sinfonieorchester) is Switzerland’s oldest orchestra. As Sanderling points out, Brahms made two visits to Lucerne. “The location of Switzerland’s central city, creates a link with Brahms,” says Sanderling. “Its proximity to the mountains, its position on beautiful Lake Lucerne … I can hear that in Brahms’ symphonic music. I can hear his love for nature … the purity of the air. And in his Symphony No 1, I think we can all hear the sound of the alphorn, which Brahms heard for the first time in Switzerland and which inspired the gorgeous theme [of the symphony’s fourth movement].” Sanderling feels that, more than 200 years into its existence, new vistas –especially in the symphonic repertoire of late Romanticism – are opening up for the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra. He and the players are looking forward to further voyages of discovery.