Brahms: Symphony No. 2; Hungarian Dances.

Brahms: Symphony No. 2; Hungarian Dances. Marin Alsop, London Philharmonic Orchestra. Naxos 8.557429.

You know it must be an important disc when a budget label like Naxos provides the jewel box with its own slipcover. You also know something's up when you get a half a dozen press releases on the subject. Thus, it was with raised expectations that I sat down to listen to conductor Marin Alsop's rendering of Brahms's Symphony No. 2.

I'm not sure I should have gotten my hopes up quite so high because the performance turns out to be nice but not spectacular. I have never been an avid Brahmsian, but I have always rather enjoyed his Second Symphony, with its pastoral moods and generally cheerful outlook. It provides a pleasant contrast to the darker, grander tones of the First Symphony. Not that the Symphony No. 2 is all sweetness and light, it does have its momentary elements of gloom, but it mostly begins and ends on a light, lyrical note, which Alsop conveys nicely in her interpretation.

Indeed, Alsop's is a very tight, cozy, safe-sounding performance that should play well over the years. If I still think that past masters like Klemperer (EMI), Boult (EMI), Abbado (DG), Szell (Sony), and Walter (Sony) offer more in the way of idiosyncratic voice and expression, it doesn't mean I wouldn't want Alsop around for comfort, especially at so low a price. Coupled with eight of Brahms's Hungarian Dances, the disc is downright irresistible.

The sound is quite as comfortable as the performances, too, being warm and plush and cushy. However, the sonics don't match the Klemperer or Boult discs in overall transparency, and those recordings are some thirty and forty years older than the 2005 Alsop disc. Oh, well, the new Naxos record has a breadth of sound and a depth of image that make up for any minor lack of detail.