Ansermet/OSR: Brahms Symphony No. 2 + Tragic Overture - French Decca SXL 6.060

Jacket VG / LP EX / French pressing This lovely LP from Decca (SXL 6.060, French pressing, black/silver WBg label, stereo) features Ernest Ansermet and L'Orchestra de la Suisse Romande's resplendent accounts of Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major Op. 73 and the Tragic Overture Op. 81, part of their complete cycle, taped in the warm, rich acoustics of Geneva's Victoria Hall in February 1963, remarkable performances that boast demonstration-quality Decca engineering. Somewhat disparaged by producer John Culshaw in his autobiography Putting the Record Straight, Ansermet’s readings of the Austro-German repertoire remain grossly underrated. In fact, they prove consistenly inspired and inspiring, with countless moments of special insight. Brahms was a part of Ansermet's core repertoire from his earliest concerts and he brings a lifetime's wisdom and experience to music that was as close to his heart as the French and Russian repertoire he is more generally associated with. Indeed, Ansermet on