Victor de Sabata is nearly forgotten. A conductor-composer like Furtwangler, in his day de Sabata was recognized as a fiery genius, an individual who demanded technical perfection from players but was nonetheless able to coax warmth and beautiful sounds from the orchestras that he conducted. One player was to have remrked that de Sabata was like a cross between Jesus Christ and Satan! I wonder what that means!
Here is a fine performance of the Brahms 4th symphony played by a glorious Berlin Philharmonic. Sense of line in impeccable, technical precision is without question and that Brahms "lushness" radiates. Nothing is flabby and the music just falls into place as it should. It's interesting to compare this to Bruno Walter's London recording from around the same period. Walter is leaner and the British musicians lack that burnished tone that is characteristic of the finest Central European ensembles.
I almost wish that de Sabata had recorded the complete cycle of Brahms. He made few records, as he detested the process and his guest appearances were often limited to those ensembles who could accommodate his rehearsal demands. In addition, de Sabata was somewhat tainted by his willingness to work in fascist Italy and Germany when others, Toscanini first and foremost, had thumbed their noses at those brutal regimes.
This historical document is sourced from a Heliodor LP.
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