We are very proud to announce the signing of the conductor Daniel Raiskin and Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie with the release of the Complete Symphonies by Brahms - LIVE RECORDING.
A journey with Brahms in the words of Raiskin:
Anyone opening the pages of symphonies by Brahms is embarking on a special journey full of amazing discoveries! These pages breathe passion and love, romance and deep humanity, wisdom and philosophy, beauty of nature and spirituality! Yet you can not fail also to recognize: not only does Brahms express his individuality but engages in a dialogue with the masters of the past - from Beethoven to Bach!
It is hard to find another example of search for maturity and sense of readiness to write the
1st Symphony as it is the case with Brahms - I have been always amazed by the fact that this symphony is his opus 68! What was the journey Brahms had to make himself to finally find the courage, age 44(!), for starting his C-minor symphony with a kind of culmination? Brahms has himself declared that it took him 21 year to complete the symphony.
Is this beginning not indeed an outbreak of emotions conceived for a long time, like a string of a bow that has been finally released with such power and passion?
My own journey with Brahms has started long before I was blessed to discover the magic of his symphonies. As Violist I have not only often played both of his late Viola Sonatas, but have performed all of his chamber music with Viola and that is a lot! Both String Quintets and two String Sextets, all the 3 Piano Quartets and 3 String Quartets, Clarinet Quintet and of course wonderful songs op. 91! What stroke me the most is the orchestral character of chamber music by Brahms. With all the delicacy and intimacy he has treated the musical textures, I have always experienced the truly symphonic breadth of his gesture.
On the contrary, when working on his symphonies, I have come to strongly value my experience with chamber music by Brahms and tried to bring out this quality in our reading.
In fact my earliest encounter with “Brahms the symphonist” came through the arrangement of his g-Minor Piano Quartet by Arnold Schönberg!
You may say that my relationship with Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie has been cemented from the very beginning with music by Brahms. Not a season goes by without special attention being paid to his scores. Be it instrumental concertos, monumental choral works, witty Hungarian Dances, Serenades, Overtures or arrangements of his chamber music by such masters as Arnold Schönberg or Luciano Berio.
With this same orchestra Brahms himself has performed his Second Piano Concerto, his Alto-Rhapsody, Hungarian Dances, not to mention Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy! This thought has served me a special kind of inspiration, a sense of responsibility.
You may say that our journey with Brahms is completed now, or has it just begun?
For me this became a kind of “endless love affair”, something that has never turned into a routine. Slowly this wonderful journey has developed into a strong need for a dialogue with Brahms, a dialogue through which I keep finding answers to the universal questions of life.
