BRAHMS. Serenade No. 1 in D major, Op. 11. Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink. Philips 9500 322 (£3.95). Comparative version :

LSO, Kertesz (5/68) SXL6340

The history of this First Serenade makes it clear that Brahms himself could not quite make up his mind whether it was a chamber work in the tradition of the eighteenth-century divertimento or a first foray into the foothills of the mountains of the symphony, a territory which he frankly feared, only finally completing his first ascent some 20 years later. The music itself points both ways at different times, in the direction of a symphony in the first and third movements and only unequivocally towards a divertimento in the fourth. Bernard Haitink inclines, if anything, to giving the whole work symphonic stature, in the Schubertian rather than the Beethovenian sense. In the first place his rather deliberate tempi and broad phrasing favour a more serious view than that taken, for instance, by Kertesz and the LSO in the Decca recording. Occasionally this can lead to a hint of portentousness (the basses in the trio section

Bernard Haitink with the insignia of his Honorary Knight of the British Empire of the second movement). But the Adagio (third movement) wholly benefits by this sustained style, since the quality of the music here will bear all the unobtrusive tension imposed upon it. In the second Scherzo, too, Haitink's slower tempo and more deliberate pacing allow clearer definition in the strings. In the final Rondo I think the choice between Haitink's earthier, more solid reading and Kertesz's brilliance and excitability is a personal one, though I incline myself to believe Haitink the more instinctive Brahmsian of the two.

The quality of the recording is quite outstandingly good, especially in the third movement (Adagio), where the string pizzicato is perfectly in focus and the Concertgebouw horns combine mellowness and perfect clarity; and the final flute passage both here and in the first movement is a model of sensitivity and control. Comparing the new recording with Kertesz's, I have the impression that Haitink employs a considerably larger number of players, and that this plays a large part in giving the work a more symphonic sound quality as against Kertesz's chamber-music conception. MARTIN COOPER.