While it would be wonderful to praise these performances of
Brahms' orchestral works by
Jirí Belohlávek and the Czech Philharmonic unreservedly for their rich colors and warm lyricism, it is unfortunately also necessary to reprove them for their at times uneven balances and ungainly tempos. One cannot help but admire the lush beauty of the string tone in the Second Symphony's Adagio non troppo, the dappled shades of their wind tone in the Third Symphony's Poco allegretto, and the heroic strength of their brass tone in the First Symphony's Finale, but at the same time, one cannot help but regret their too weighty tempos of the First Serenade's opening Allegro molto and their too heavy textures in the Fourth Symphony's opening Allegro non troppo. Nevertheless, for the depth of their dedication and the power of their conviction,
Belohlávek and the Czech's
Brahms cycle is still well worth hearing by aficionados of the music. Although not altogether successful, they nevertheless do have something to say about the music. When these recordings were initially released as single discs in the late '80s and early '90s, too many other
Brahms cycles were being released whose only merits seemed to be the names on the covers --
Eschenbach,
Haitink,
Muti, and
Sawallisch come to mind as a prime examples -- and whatever their faults,
Belohlávek and the Czech have much more going for them than simply their names: they have character, integrity, and humanity. Plus, Supraphon's early digital sound is fuller and rounder than most other labels' early digital sound.