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Moyzes: Symphonies No 3 & 4 / Slovak, Slovak Radio So

Marco Polo

$19.99 Feb 01, 2001

This second volume in Marco Polo's crucial survey of the symphonic cycle by the most prominent Slovak symphonist of the first half of the past century—Alexander Moyzes (1906-84)—comprises two consecutive though quite contrasted works.

The Third or "Little" Symphony of 1942 is one of the composer's shortest and least problematical, and thus an excellent point of entry into his musical world. It is adapted from an earlier wind quintet, and its atypical five-movement format projects an easygoing and celebratory character. Though it opens with a near-Beethovenian motto-motif, which recurs in the finale and thus helps the piece from lapsing into a species of symphonic suite, the symphony quickly springs into an essentially joyous and eventful kind of momentum. With its relatively compact movements—a Larghetto Variazioni, Presto Scherzo, and Largamente Intermezzo framed by two highly charged Allegros— the work is suffused with Moyzes's very personal but also universalized distillation of the Slovak folk spirit.

The Fourth Symphony, however—initially written during the dark days of World War II and extensively revised in 1952—is a very different kind of piece. Scored for a large orchestra and running 40 minutes, it is among the longest and most elevated of Moyzes's 12. Utilizing once again an integrative motto-theme, it is usually interpreted as both a protest against war and a healing evocation of the Slovak past and countryside. The 16-minute opening Andante con moto sets the tone for the whole work: one of expansive breadth and slowly unfolding narrative where the heroic and epic strains generate a high level of majesty and grandiloquence. These moods carry over through the quasi-Impressionist textures of the Adagio (in which a brief scherzo flare-up is embedded) and reach fulfillment in the guardedly affirmative Allegro moderato finale. Although the annotator speaks of stylistic parallels with Sibelius and Mahler, to these ears the idiom remains tenaciously Slovak in sonority and personality.

The veteran conductor Ladislav Slovak has been identified with the Fourth Symphony over many years, having recorded an analog version in the early 1960s. That earlier performance was perhaps somewhat tighter and more forceful than this more relaxed approach of three decades later. Nonetheless, this is a most sympathetic reading that succeeds in melding Moyzes's tendencies toward the rhetorical and the episodic into a satisfyingly coherent whole.

Another illuminating installment in the reconstruction of the mosaic of 20th-century Czech music, and an essential purchase for those whose interest focuses on the modern symphony.

-- Paul A. Snook, FANFARE [7/2001]

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Moyzes: Symphonies No 3 & 4 / Slovak, Slovak Radio So
Marco Polo Feb 2001
CD
$19.99

WARTIME MUSIC 4 - G. POPOV - SYMPHONY
NORTHERN FLOWERS Oct 2016
CD
$16.36

Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 / Jarvi, Bremen Deutsche Chamber Philharmonic

Sony Masterworks

$11.98 Apr 12, 2019

With the same dedication they brought to Beethoven and Schumann, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Järvi now turn their attention to the symphonies and overtures of Johannes Brahms. Once again, only after intensive rehearsals and closed sessions did they accept invitations to appear in New York, Amsterdam and Istanbul, for example, and at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Bonn International Beethoven Festival. And their success with Brahms exceeded all expectations. »A Brahms revelation« was the headline in the New York Times to a review that went on to declare »With risk came reward in this dark and ultimately triumphant reading of Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 from Paavo Järvi and his virtuosic orchestra.« Complete Brahms cycles were given to great acclaim in Tokyo, Vienna, St. Petersburg, at the Rheingau Music Festival and at the festival in Lanaudière (Canada). Only with the experience gained in these many concerts and the resulting certainty that they had something important to say about the Brahms symphonies, and that they could make this music sound as if it were improvised, as if it had only just been written – only then did the musicians venture into the recording studio. Once again, Philip Traugott brought his perfectionism to bear on the role of producer, while Paavo Järvi and the orchestra plunged headlong into an adventure whose aim was to avoid safe and down-to-earth interpretations in favour of the same freshness and spontaneity that singled out their live performances.

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Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 / Jarvi, Bremen Deutsche Chamber Philharmonic
Sony Masterworks Apr 2019
CD
$11.98

Brahms: Symphonies No 1-4 / Zinman, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich

RCA

$21.98 Mar 20, 2012

After his highly variable Mahler cycle, it's very good to be able to report that David Zinman is back in top form for Brahms. For the most part, these are splendid performances, beautifully played and recorded. The very opening of the First symphony sets the tone: rich, emphatic, but not exaggerated. Textures are clear, bass lines unusually audible. Zinman handles some of Brahms' most intransigent bits of orchestration, such as the opening of the Third symphony, with its perpetually syncopated accompaniment, with effortless mastery. The inner movements of all four symphonies are without exception perfectly paced, including the slow movements of the Second and Fourth symphonies.

Are there a few quibbles? Naturally. The introduction to the First symphony's finale lacks mystery, while the coda of the Second symphony's finale would have benefited from slightly more prominent brass and a surge of additional energy from the podium. On the other hand, the finale of the Third never has sounded better, the coda tremendously fulfilling, while the Fourth's passacaglia is really imposing, but also energetic. Here the trombones truly make their presence felt. In short, this set stands with the best, and I suspect its stature will only grow over time.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

-----

Brahms had a special connection with Zurich. He attended the opening of the Tonhalle, the city’s famous concert hall, in 1895 and was the only living composer to be featured on the ceiling painting; it’s reproduced in the booklet for this set, part of the altogether splendid packaging. The latter-day descendants of the orchestra for that opening concert have here given us a cycle of symphonies with which I am sure the composer would have been very pleased.

The first thing that strikes you is the beauty and colour of the playing. Both times I’ve heard them live, it’s the Tonhalle strings that have impressed me most, rich and rounded, oozing with character. This makes them ideal for Brahms. The mellow beauty of the Second’s first movement suits them perfectly, but they also develop a distinctive sheen, even a slight hard edge, for the more high energy moments, such as the opening movement of the First or the invigorating downward sweep that opens the Third. There is also some sensational wind playing and some first rate solos, such as the oboe in the First and the clarinet in the slow movements of the Third and Fourth. The playing alone would be worth the asking price, but it’s Zinman’s dynamic conducting that holds the set together. His reading of each symphony carries a clear sense of a transformational journey which, for me, went beyond the ordinary. The transition from darkness to light in the First is obvious, but Zinman breaks it down still further so that there is ebb and flow in each movement: in the first movement’s Allegro, for example, there is an almost tangible feeling of the drama and tension of the first subject being tamed by the gentler lyricism of the second. The Second carries a steady trajectory towards the celebration of the finale, but Zinman takes this movement just a touch slower than many so that the ebullience is contained within a certain set of rules. The Third also seems to go on a steady path from the exhilaration of the opening to an increasing sense of melancholy which is almost - but not quite - solved by the finale. Only in the first two movements of the Fourth was that sense of direction a little lacking. The tension and energy ups dramatically with the Scherzo and the final Passacaglia becomes so intense as to be almost unbearable.

It helps that these live recordings were all taped within two days, so we have here an unusually coherent reading of Brahms’ symphonic oeuvre. Sections of the press have damned this set with faint praise, calling it a safe middle-of-the-road Brahms cycle, but for me it’s much more than that: it’s an intelligent, well argued reading of this great cycle which stands comparison with any Brahms set that has come my way in recent years. Zinman is very much in the traditional mould of Brahms interpreters, eschewing the approaches of Harnoncourt or Gardiner, but he argues convincingly that there is still a place for this in our 21st century and he certainly carried me along with him. The sound, by the way, is excellent, rich and bloomy with plenty of clarity for the inner voices.

Incidentally, for those who are interested in such things, Zinman observes all the exposition repeats. Live as these recordings are, the audience is exceptionally well behaved and there is not a hint of a cough throughout. Applause, and there must have been much, is also absent. My only quibble is that the CDs give us barely any time to digest one movement before the next begins, surely an unnecessary compression of space when there is so much spare time on each disc.

-- Simon Thompson, MusicWeb International

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Brahms: Symphonies No 1-4 / Zinman, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich
RCA Mar 2012
CD
$21.98

Johannes Brahms: Symphonies 1-4

Accentus Music

$33.99 ~~$39.99~~ Save 15% Sep 04, 2026

Gianandrea Noseda is clearly one of those conductors who 'are equally at home in both genres', as the 'Neue Zurcher Zeitung' put it in 2021 on the occasion of his debut as General Music Director at Zurich Opera House. 'In hindsight, one cannot even judge whether he is the better opera or symphony conductor.' In his concert performances in Zurich, Noseda focused on the works of Johannes Brahms. Following a highly acclaimed performance of the 'German Requiem', he also conducted the Zurich Opera Orchestra in performances of Brahms's symphonies. The four symphonies by Johannes Brahms were completed between 1876 and 1885 and are regarded as milestones in the Romantic orchestral repertoire. Under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda, they were recorded live at the Zurich Opera House during various concerts and can now be heard together on this album.

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Johannes Brahms: Symphonies 1-4
Accentus Music Sep 2026
CD
~~$39.99~~ $33.99

BRUCKNER: SYM NO. 4

RCO LIVE HOLLAND

Vinyl

$34.99 Dec 27, 2024

Recorded live at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, 17-19 and 21 September 2008. Ever since the tenure of it's chief conductor Eduard van Beinum (1945-59), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra has cherished one of the greatest Bruckner traditions in the world. During his years at the helm of the Concertgebouw Orchestra (2004-2015) the late Mariss Jansons added a another glorious chapter to the orchestra's impressive performance and recording history of Bruckner's works. In Jansons's view, the refinement of Bruckner's music - however grandiose it may be - will always win out over grandiloquence. He continued the orchestra's performance traditions, focusing particularly on the detail of the sound. Under Jansons's baton, Bruckner had a warm, beating heart: his rhythms were not simply played, they were, above all, experienced, as this this recording of the Fourth Symphony demonstrates. This 2008 audiophile recording is released for the first time on 180 gram vinyl.

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BRUCKNER: SYM NO. 4
RCO LIVE HOLLAND Dec 2024
Vinyl
$34.99

Brahms, J.: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4
Coviello May 2007
SACD
$21.99

Sibelius: Symphonies 1 & 4 / Gibson, Royal Scottish No
Chandos Feb 2008
CD
$6.99

Weinberg: Trumpet Concerto - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 / Nelsons, Hardenberger, Gewandhausorchester [Blu-ray]

Accentus Music

Blu-Ray

$53.99 Jul 31, 2020

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Mieczyslaw Weinberg's Trumpet Concerto op. 94 was composed in his most productive creative phase and premiered in Moscow on 6 January 1968. Shostakovich once described it as a "symphony for trumpet and orchestra" - no wonder, since it showcases the whole variety of Weinberg's compositions: from the bitingly humorous first and sumptuously colorfully orchestrated second movement to the wonderfully collage-like finale, fabulously interpreted by Hakan Hardenberger to celebrate the composer’s 100th anniversary. After the Sixth and Fifth Symphonies, Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig add Tchaikovsky’s Fourth to their cycle featuring the symphonic works of this outstanding composer.

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Weinberg: Trumpet Concerto - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 / Nelsons, Hardenberger, Gewandhausorchester [Blu-ray]
Accentus Music Jul 2020
Blu-Ray
$53.99

MAHLER: SYMPHONY 9 (+INTERVIEW) SYMPHONY 4

ALTO

$12.77 Dec 14, 2018

(in the year before Dr. Walter's own death.. his friend Mahler's own 9th symphony) "he unerringly builds up consistent structure, controlling tempo closely... middle movements are sharply focussed, and the finale tough and stoically strong" (3 stars) (4th) "sound has attractively vivid detail, naturally glowing... everything Reiner does sounds spontaneous... Viennese influence strong... slow movement striking intensity... Lisa della Casa in ravishing voice" (both Penguin Guide)

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MAHLER: SYMPHONY 9 (+INTERVIEW) SYMPHONY 4
ALTO Dec 2018
CD
$12.77

Lundquist: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 / Ehrling, Gothenburg Symphony

Sterling Records

$20.99 Oct 05, 2018

In his symphonic works Torbjorn Iwan Lundquist is using a special technique, in which large form is made from large musical blocks. The third symphony is written in one movement, but you can distinguish three blocks and a concluding part, ‘the reminiscence’- in which the accumulated power reverts to the original nothingness in the end. The third symphony was begun in 1971 in Jamtland and was completed in 1975 at Salto in Bohuslan. As in most of Lundquist’s symphonies, this symphony begins with a primal cell, his association theme, a gust of wind, which unfolds into a grandiose sunrise. Nature means a lot for Lundquist. The idea for the Symphony No. 3- which also had the title Sinfonia dolorosa and is dedicated to the composer’s deceased wife Maud- he got during a mountain hike, shortly after his wife’s death. The symphony was first performed in September 1976 in Malmo, by Malmo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Janos Furst. Lundquist was working on the fourth symphony for several years, mainly in 1984-85. Also this is in a single long, mighty, movement. It is almost twice as long as the third symphony, and it is also written for large orchestra with extensive percussion. After the premiere in Gothenburg in October 1985, with the Gothenburg Symphony under the direction of Sixten Ehrling, who also got the dedication, the composer withdrew the score and revised it slightly a year later. “Performance, yes- because the composition does not feel completely finished until I heard it,” says Lundquist.

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Lundquist: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 / Ehrling, Gothenburg Symphony
Sterling Records Oct 2018
CD
$20.99

Leshnoff: Symphony No. 4; Guitar Concerto / Guerrero, Nashville S.O. ft. Violins of Hope

Naxos

$19.99 May 02, 2019

Distinguished by The New York Times as “a leader of contemporary American lyricism,” composer Jonathan Leshnoff is renowned for his music’s striking harmonies, structural complexity and powerful themes. Leshnoff’s works have been performed by more than 60 orchestras worldwide, including commissions from Carnegie Hall, the Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City, and Nashville Symphony orchestras, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the IRIS and Philadelphia orchestras. Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 4 is a powerful new work written for the Violins of Hope, a collection of restored instruments that survived the Holocaust. The composer draws inspiration from an ancient Jewish mystical text, Heichalos, to explore spiritual and ethical questions at the heart of the Jewish experience. This world premiere recording also features his energetic Starburst and his Guitar Concerto, a stunning virtuoso showcase for soloist Jason Vieaux.

REVIEW:

There is much to like about this music, but it is not perhaps as much a look ahead as a glance, effectively, at the past, a summing up and reaction to where we have been in music that nonetheless finds original ways to revisit forms by now long established. This however is by no means institutional music, but rather a living, breathing thing. Each work stands alone as an offering for our appreciation and pleasure. Nicely done!

– Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review

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Leshnoff: Symphony No. 4; Guitar Concerto / Guerrero, Nashville S.O. ft. Violins of Hope
Naxos May 2019
CD
$19.99

SIBELIUS: TONE POEMS, SYMPHONIES 4 & 5

WARNER CLASSICS

SACD

$20.39 ~~$23.99~~ Save 15% Sep 25, 2026

Fourth release in the Warner Classics series of Herbert von Karajan Hybrid SACDs with a new HD 192/24 remastering from the original tapes. "Karajan is a great master," wrote Jean Sibelius in 1955, while the conductor said that Sibelius "is a composer who cannot really be compared to anyone else". Gramophone added in 1981: "No living conductor has done more for the music of Sibelius than Herbert von Karajan." In the tone poems and the two symphonies in this collection, Karajan explores with the magnificent Berlin Philharmonic the music's mysteries, unfolds it's structures and releases it's exhilarating power.

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SIBELIUS: TONE POEMS, SYMPHONIES 4 & 5
WARNER CLASSICS Sep 2026
SACD
~~$23.99~~ $20.39

Mendelssohn: Complete String Symphonies (The), Vol. 4
BIS Mar 1997
CD
$21.99

Ives: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4; Circus Band March; Set For Thea
Vanguard Records Apr 2010
CD
$15.99

Arnold: Symphony No 3 & 4 / Handley, Royal Liverpool Po

Conifer Records

$17.99 Mar 26, 2007

"[T]he woodwind solos [in Symphony no 3] all have an especially touching intimacy. Handley also catches the restless mood of the elegiac Lento, and sustains it with great eloquence; then helped by superb playing from the Principal Clarinet, he immediately establishes the jocular high spirits of the finale, so that when that string theme returns transformed (00'42'') it has a lighter, almost whimsical flavour. . . . The wit and delicacy of the [Fourth Symphony's] brief scherzo are winningly caught, by superbly etched wind playing, but most strikingly of all, Handley catches the light, lyrical feeling at the opening of the beautiful Mahlerian slow movement and later conveys the underlying unease which disturbs its serenity. The finale is an outrageously boisterous fugato . . . and the Liverpool orchestra present it with a combination of great vigour and enthusiastic bravado . . . . The recording is quite splendid: expansive, brilliant and with plenty of ambient colouring and atmosphere. . . . I have greatly enjoyed the virtuosity and panache of the Liverpool players." -- Ivan March, Gramophone

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Arnold: Symphony No 3 & 4 / Handley, Royal Liverpool Po
Conifer Records Mar 2007
CD
$17.99

Red Seal - Günter Wand Edition - Brahms: Symphonies No 1-4
RCA May 2010
CD
$29.99

Mendelssohn, Felix: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4
Nimbus Oct 1996
CD
$16.99

Silvestrov: Symphonies No 4 & 5 / Saraste

BIS

$21.99 Oct 01, 2009

Internationally, Lahti Symphony Orchestra is closely associated with the numerous Sibelius recordings released on BIS, conducted by their long-time chief conductor Osmo Vänskä. These recordings have received an overwhelming international welcome among reviewers, but also among record-buyers: as of August 2009 more than one million Lahti discs released by BIS have been sold! As many already know, the orchestra does not only play works by Sibelius - its recordings of music by contemporary Finnish composers such as Rautavaara, Kalevi Aho and Joonas Kokkonen have all met with critical acclaim. Led by Jukka-Pekka Saraste, its present chief conductor, the orchestra now takes a step eastwards, and performs two symphonies by the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. Having as a student absorbed the music of Webern, Scriabin and the new Polish school, in the 1970s Silvestrov moved away from avant-garde techniques and became increasingly involved with the idiom of 19th-century song: 'It seems to me that music is song in spite of everything, even when it is unable to sing in a literal sense. Not a philosophy, not a system of beliefs, but the song of the world about itself, and at the same time a musical testament to existence.' To date, Silvestrov has composed seven symphonies, of which the Fourth (1976) and the Fifth (1980-82) are both dominated by a longing for a beauty that used to be, but is no longer within reach. Considered by some to be his masterpiece, Symphony No. 5 has for instance been described as 'an epilogue or coda inspired by the music of late Romantic composers such as Gustav Mahler.'

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Silvestrov: Symphonies No 4 & 5 / Saraste
BIS Oct 2009
CD
$21.99

Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 4 / Violin Partita / Chain II / Fu
Naxos Jun 1996
CD
$19.99

Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1-4 / Jordan, Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Wiener Symphoniker

$53.99 Aug 07, 2020

After the critically acclaimed recording of Beethoven's nine symphonies, the Wiener Symphoniker present now under the direction of their outgoing Music Director Philippe Jordan another cyclical recording: The Symphonies by Johannes Brahms. It had taken 14 years of preparatory work before Brahms ventured to complete his First Symphony in 1876. The four symphonies that emerged in the following decade are not only touching measurements of the human soul's landscape but also the central creative legacy of the great romantic composer. All four symphonies were recorded live in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein in autumn 2019 – a hall that arguably meets the tonal requirements of the works like no other. After all two of the four symphonies had been premiered here while the other two had been performed here for the first time in Austria. This latest production by the Wiener Symphoniker marks the end of Philippe Jordan's tenure as Music Director of the traditional Viennese orchestra but also represents the culmination of their internationally celebrated artistic collaboration. With the new publication, the Wiener Symphoniker are presenting the twenty-first release on their eponymous label founded in 2012.

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Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1-4 / Jordan, Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Wiener Symphoniker Aug 2020
CD
$53.99

BRUCKNER SYM NO.4 ROMANTIC

ALTO

$11.01 Apr 13, 2018

Great hushes, mighty crescendos, time for every duplet and triplet to be grounded and yet to resonate with momentum. This was Bruckner's maximal minimalism at it's most majestic (The Times) "the LSO's principal horn (David Pyatt) here sets down a wonderful opening benchmark for what follows... Haitink's conducting is a master-class in the art of control while appearing to stand back and let everyone play their best... This version easily holds it's own with the best." (Classic FM magazine)

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BRUCKNER SYM NO.4 ROMANTIC
ALTO Apr 2018
CD
$11.01

VAUGHAN WILLIAM: SYMPHONIES NOS. 4 & 5

ALTO

$11.01 Oct 14, 2022

The [4th Symphony] is especially interesting: not previously issued; furthermore, it may well be new to the Davis discography. Vaughan Williams' Fourth Symphony receives a terrific reading... first movement full of teeming energy and the recorded sound adds to the impact... an expertly judged slow movement offers refined playing but they and Davis make the climaxes ardent. The Scherzo is really incisive... The finale explodes into life and the LSO brass is on trenchant form... Davis keeps the performance rock-steady and they achieve great clarity... hard to understand why it was never issued separately - greatly to be welcomed" (MusicWeb). [5th symphony]: "I found these performances far more communicative... Marriner conveys a greater sense of radiance and warmth and a greater awareness of the underlying forces beneath the surface (the final movement is particularly well done)" (Gramophone)

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VAUGHAN WILLIAM: SYMPHONIES NOS. 4 & 5
ALTO Oct 2022
CD
$11.01

BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONIES NOS. 3 EROICA 4 & 5

WARNER CLASSICS

Vinyl

$57.49 May 23, 2025

I waited a very long time to record the Beethoven symphonies, said Daniel Barenboim when this cycle was first released in 2000. "I waited for the music to mature in me - or me in it - and to find an orchestra that not only did what I asked it to do, but which really felt every detail in the music exactly as I did at the moment we were playing it. This is the greatest joy that a conductor can have." Beethoven's 9 Symphonies recorded by Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin for Teldec in 1999 will be released for the first time on vinyl, in 3 separate albums.

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BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONIES NOS. 3 EROICA 4 & 5
WARNER CLASSICS May 2025
Vinyl
$57.49

Szymanowski: Symphonies No 3 & 4 / Antoni Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]

Naxos AudioVisual

Blu-Ray

$16.99 Sep 27, 2011

This is an audio-only (i.e., with no video content) Blu-ray disc playable only on Blu-ray players.

Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 3 ‘Song of the Night’ creates a potent atmosphere of Persian mysticism in its rich blend of voices and exotic orchestration. His Symphony No. 4 is largely extrovert in character and has a prominent rôle for piano. Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 can be found on NBD0021. The CD release of Symphony No. 3 was Gramophone Editor’s Choice and given 5 STARS by ClassicFM (8.570721), and Symphony No. 4 an ‘unbeatable’ 10/10 from ClassicsToday.com ( 8.570722); the complete cycle acclaimed as ‘revelatory’ (ClassicalCDReview.com).

Reviews of the CD versions of these recordings

"Antoni Wit almost always can be relied on to deliver very thoughtful, beautifully musical, even inspired results, and there's no question that he conducts these works extremely well. The performances of both symphonies have a confidence and warmth about them that bespeaks a thorough understanding of Szymanowski's richly textured idiom. The Song of the Night (a.k.a. Symphony No. 3) has many of the same qualities that made Wit's Mahler Eighth so special: terrific choral singing, a bigness of conception that never precludes physical excitement, and very natural balances between vocal and instrumental forces."
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

"As previous issues in this series have shown, when Antoni Wit and his forces are in top form in the music of Szymanowski, they're pretty much unbeatable...The performance of the Symphonie Concertante, one of Szymanowski's greatest works, is superb. Pianist Jan Krzysztof Broja plays the solo part beautifully. He's got the chops for the big moments in the outer movements, but it's his delicacy at the start of the central andante that's most memorable. Wit, typically, directs the orchestra with remarkable clarity as well as power. The finale in particular never has sounded less "clogged" texturally, while the very natural engineering always leaves plenty of room for the sound to expand and fill the hall at those ecstatic climaxes that are such a hallmark of this composer. A splendid release!"
-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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Szymanowski: Symphonies No 3 & 4 / Antoni Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]
Naxos AudioVisual Sep 2011
Blu-Ray
$16.99