Y. Nézet-Séguin: Brahms-Cycle V

With Symphonies Three and Four, Yannick Nézet-Séguin continues the Brahms cycle he began with us last year. The first two symphonies were as acclaimed at the time as his now legendary Beethoven cycle, which has long since been released on CDs by Deutsche Grammophon. Admittedly, there is no shortage of Beethoven and Brahms cycles. It is therefore all the more remarkable how unanimously positive Nézet-Séguin's conducting has been, even among professional critics. The Canadian conductor dispenses with supposedly original mannerisms and relies on his musicality, the immediacy of which makes one think of Leonard Bernstein.