Do you know who Marcus Bosch is? I didn’t until very recently, and I am glad to make his acquaintance. This 38-year old has inherited the mantle of the great conductors who have traveled through the town of Aachen, including such greats as Fritz Busch, Herbert von Karajan, and Wolfgang Sawallisch, all of whom made their careers after leaving this town. The orchestra, whose size is in the moderate realm of around 78 (if one includes all the players listed, probably around 68-70 in this recording) plays as well as you could ask for. The sound Coviello affords them is wonderful, though I must admit to a little claustrophobia when listening in stereo mode. The surround SA really opens it up.
Some may balk at the idea of listening to these time-honored favorites with a smaller band, and I certainly understand. The competition is almost bewilderingly severe; only Charles Mackerras comes to mind recently as one who has imposed authenticity upon these works by using an orchestra of 50+. But here the choice is not relegated to the realm of what-once-was, but to necessity, for this is simply the size of this orchestra, take it or leave it. Nonetheless, one may take at least a little solace in knowing that Brahms may have been listening to this size band execute his formidable works.
Tonal opulence is not lacking, if that is an issue. The strings in movement two of the First Symphony are wonderful, maybe not Ormandy’s Philly; thinner, but certainly as good as Walter’s Columbia Symphony (aka LA Phil.). Tempos are mainstream, though that is a broad term in Brahms, and there is excitement aplenty had by all.
As the Fourth Symphony is the more difficult to pull off, that to me was the touchstone here. After all, Walter, Bernstein, Kleiber, and Stokowski have put their magic touches to these pages, and that is tough going for anyone to live up to. But from the opening bars Bosch treats the strings with silken caresses while managing just the right tempo and lilting exhale on the opening notes. Movement Three is crisp and martial, while the final variations are quite exhilarating. This then, is a recording to be reckoned with, and I will return to it often. One nasty caveat: there are 40 seconds of applause at the end of each symphony – something no one wants to hear – and Coviello should omit such nonsense from future live recordings.
— Steven Ritter
