A Rarely Heard Delight

It is great to be able to have this recording available in such a good transfer. Information from another transfer to CD is that the recording was made in February of 1960 in EMI’s Abbey Road No. 1 Studio. The producer was Ronald Kinloch Anderson, who went on to make several other excellently recorded HMV discs issued in the ASD catalogue series. The engineer was Neville Boyling who also worked on a number of outstanding recordings. This transfer has a weightier bass than many other EMI recordings from the time. The only drawback is that the timpani are rather backwardly recorded, which seems to have been part of the EMI house sound during Walter Legge’s era. As for the perfomance, Brahms was a favourite with Rudolf Kempe, and this is the second of three commercial recordings that I know of that he made of it. In 1960, the Royal Philharmonic was still Sir Thomas Beecham’s orchestra, and the quality of orchestral playing reflects that. There is some particularly expressive playing from the wind soloists, known as the “Royal Family”. Kempe was a relatively modest conductor, and there are no fireworks to be found here, but the performance does present the score clearly and with love and dedication.