★★★★☆ A surprisingly sunny view of Brahms from Fischer, executed compellingly

Brahms: Symphony No. 1 / Variations on a Theme By Haydn

Can a conductor be intelligent, even compelling, and still be wrong? I view Brahms as a composer of inherent depth, but here Ivan Fischer focuses on cloudless skies and joyful simplicity. It represents a school of thought that I usually denounce unmercifully, but here Fischer is dedicated and fully involved, and I found myself listening with a catch in my throat. Starting out with the Hungarian Dance No. 14 and the Haydn Variations, everything is so joyful it could be Mendelssohn. The warmth is infectious and wins the heart, even if it flies in the face of the image of Brahms as a stern bachelor. In this vision of Brahms, we trade his coffee for hot chocolate, and neatly trim his whiskers. Go ahead and boo, and I'm sure many will, but again, the conviction and sensitivity hidden in Fischer's baton kept me glued to my seat.

I still think Karajan is probably the yardstick by which all successors should be judged in the symphonies, and his view of the First Symphony was intense and passionate. In recent years, Sir Simon Rattle produced a reading that is fully on the same level, if you ask me, aided by an extra melancholic tug and freedom of expression. Fischer dares to start out the 1st movement with sunny phrasing, his Budapest Festival Orchestra gaily sliding into notes. Is this what Brahms sounds like when played by gypsies? Fischer moves forward with nice energy, although there's a complete absence of fate or struggle. Throughout the entire symphony, Fischer continues to phrase with genuine involvement, just with a complete lack of desperation or tension. It's hard for me to know how to rate it, since it must be given to Fischer that he accomplishes his goal of delightful, positive Brahms with spectacular success. But I'm unsure of its musical worth, especially since there are layers of meaning that Fischer doesn't even attempt to discover. To his credit, every bar sounds fresh and quite unlike anything I've heard before.

Four stars, then, because I found myself enjoying every minute of this reading, even though I disagree with Fischer's fundamental temperament. At least he's interesting, and I'll be sure to hear his upcoming Second Symphony.