Brahms: Symphonies Nos 4 & 2

"Brisk tempos, wicked string and woodwind attacks keep this affectionate version on its toes. Without preliminaries, the Finale erupts out of the opening motifs, a series of punctuated lightning bolts interrupted by woodwinds' pipings and strings' nostalgia. The development section has us plummeting through space again, only to find brief respite before a voluptuous rush to judgment, the stretti having mounted to a thick paste. And at long last, the coda tumbles its wayward course to a brilliantly graduated conclusion, which had me, too, conducting to the final beat." (AudAud on Brahms Symphony No 2)