Columbia SAX 2420: Giulini's First Stereo Brahms Cycle

Columbia SAX 2420
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C Minor
Philharmonia Orchestra
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor

Pressing: UK, ED1, blue/silver

Date first published: 1961

Stampers: YAX 747-4, YAX 748-3

Performance: 8/10

Sound: 8/10

Price range: $28-171 (mean $88) on popsike.com

Comments: Carlo Maria Giulini recorded the Brahms symphonies at multiple points in his career with the Philharmonia (EMI), Vienna Philharmonic (DG), and Los Angeles Philharmonic (DG).  This recording, part of his first stereo cycle for Columbia/EMI, is quite excellent.  It is also somewhat rare, as are the same label recordings of the other three symphonies, and prices on the market reflect this.  I'm not sure to what that rarity is attributed, whether it is related to contemporary competition from fellow label-mate Otto Klemperer, who may have had the better-known Brahms cycle, or perhaps just limited distribution.

In any case, I happen to like Giulini's Brahms, having recently listened to all four symphonies, recently remastered by EMI/Warner and released as part of its Giulini London recordings 18 CD box set.  Tempos are well selected, and there is a certain honesty and passion to the musical performances that make them believable.  The sound here is full and vibrant with good soundstage width and sounds at least as good as Klemperer's and is certainly better recorded than George Szell's.  Worth the search.

Update 7/7/2024:

The Stereo Record Guide, Volume 3 (The Long Playing Record Library Ltd, 1963) gives this record two out of three stars and considers it a demonstration disc ("D"):

"The Giulini is gloriously recorded and gloriously played. It is rather hard to analyse just why the performance does not make quite the impact one expects. The slow introduction is very slow indeed (slower even than in Klemperer's version with the same orchestra) but the allegro is fiery and exciting. The slow movement is warmly romantic and the third movement elegant and pointed. The speed of the great C Major them of the Finale is very slow, but the rest of the movement is most exciting. But somehow unlike most Giulini performances with this orchestra the reading does not add up to the sum of its parts. There is something calculated and unspontaneous which spoils the overall effect."