JOHANNES BRAHMS

Symphony No 4

1 Beethoven: Overture, Coriolan op. 62

2 Gabrieli: Sanctus et Benedictus a 12

3 Schütz: Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? SWV415

JS Bach: From Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich BWV150

4 Meine Augen sehen stets zu dem Herrn

5 Meine Tage in den Leinden

6 Brahms: Geistliches Lied op. 30 (for choir and organ)

Brahms: Fest-und Gedenksprüche op. 109 (for double choir a capella)

7 Unsere Väter hofften auf dich

8 Wenn ein starker Gewappneter

9 Wo ist ein so herrlich Volk

Brahms: Symphony no 4 in E minor op.98

10 Allegro non troppo

11 Andante moderato

12 Allegro giocoso

13 Allegro energico e passionato

The Monteverdi Choir

Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique / John Eliot Gardiner

Recorded live at Royal Festival Hall,London, 5-8 October 2008

This album is a celebration of the Fourth Symphony and the various pieces that contributed to its making.

From baroque to romantic, and from great orchestral pieces to intimate choral works, the listener gains a wonderful insight into Brahms’s mind and music making, through pieces that he loved and inspired him.

The Fourth Symphony was described by Richard Strauss as “a giant work, great in concept an invention, masterful in its form, and yet from A to Z genuine Brahms, in a word, an enrichment to our art”. Drawing from many sources of the musical past, it is nevertheless absolutely unique.

It is impregnated with baroque influence – the Finale was directly inspired by Bach’s cantata Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich. Brahms enjoyed conducting less known old repertoire such as Gabrieli’s Sanctus Benedictus and Schütz’s Saul, Saul. They influenced his choral writing as we can hear in the Geistliches Lied. Brahms was also famously inspired by Beethoven, and the Finale to the Fourth clearly owes to his Coriolan overture

Soli Deo Gloria SDG705