Classical Music for Aficionados

  I haven't hear Nelsons in Brahms.  The reviews have been somewhat mixed.  For the record my favorite cycles are

1) Kurt Sanderling/Dresden Staatkapele  mine are on Japanese Blue Spec discs but they always seem to be in print somewhere. 

2) Walter/Columbia SO (stereo-there are several Walter mono cycles which are even better performances) only a low energy Fourth keeps this from top rank 

3) Klemperer/Philharmonia  O.K., Klemperer could be granitic, but Brahms was definitely in his wheelhouse

4) Jurowski/Pittsburgh  on Pentatone-the best Multichannel set

5) Karajan/Berlin P   I give my nod to the seventies cycle, but there is a more exciting live Brahms cycle from the early seventies recorded in Paris in good FM stereo available from Norbeck,Peters, and Ford (norpete.com) that blows away the studio cycles.  The more live Karajan I hear, the more I realize that he could have tremendous spontaneity)

I'd like to hear the Steinberg/Pittsburgh set that was just released by DG, I think it is mentioned a bit upthread

I have Marik Janowski Brahms 2+3 sitting in my Amazon cart at the moment.  The thing is, I can't remember now why I added that recording.

  The Janowski is a solid cycle.  Pittsburgh is a great, and under rated orchestra, the interpretations are well shaped, and Pentatone is truly  an audiophile label.  If you are a Multichannel enthusiast, there really is no other MC Brahms cycle that comes close (I have 3 others-maser/Gewandhaus, Manze/Helsingborg, and Paavo Jarvi with the Bremen Chamber Orchestra on Blu Ray.  The Jarvi is excellent but it's small band Brahms, much like Berglund/COE.  You do miss some oomph in the bigger moments).  If you don't care about multichannel, the Janowski is still a worthy set that sounds great in two channel.

Just thought I'd bring this thread back around 

A lot of great music ideas from some of the best classical guys I've certainty ever read.

Good idea!