Readings of outdoor Brahms from September 1981 ingratiatingly remastered from Philips’ quad tapes for a glorious, summer day and summer evening, respectively. The spirit of the Mozart cassations and divertimenti had fallen on Brahms, a tendency to Vienna, as one might have it. Several commentators have noted that the D Major Serenade (1859) quotes from Haydn’s “London” Symphony No. 104. Occasionally, we can hear an allusion to Beethoven’s C Major Symphony. Masur keeps a sterling, light hand on the proceedings, which wax alternately muscular and effervescent. String and woodwind tone enjoys a warm, richly textured color – the flute and French horn vividly present. Lower strings and winds predominate in the Scherzo of the D Major, Masur having established a rocking rhythm that becomes texturally voluptuous. The huge Adagio non troppo evokes the Black Forest and Wagner without the heavy thuds. The Menuetto I-II likely owe a debt to Mendelssohn’s works for bassett horns as well as to Mozart. The second Scherzo Masur takes pesant, moderato, to a grandly pompous effect, a fine contrast to the unbuttoned Rondo that hints at the Hungarian (gypsy) influences Brahms liked for his piano quartets and Violin Concerto.
The A Major Serenade (1859) casts a much darker hue, the violins absent and the violas prominent. In five movements, the first gains an especial energy of ground-swell from Masur, and the art writing for woodwinds enjoys muscular detail. Once again, echoes of the Black Forest waft their sultry way forward, and the surround sound medium enhances the pantheistic aura, the lack of a center channel not being missed. The Scherzo virtually bounces and bubbles off the walls. The central Adagio non troppo hints at the valedictory elegies that mark the D Minor Piano Concerto, the German Requiem, and the E Minor Symphony. The ensuing Menuetto appears mannered, its lighter syncopations interrupted by dark thoughts. The Rondo is pure Haydn, enhanced by a generous complement of romantic ardor, Masur having wound his Gewandhaus players to a gorgeous boil.
— Gary Lemco
