Claudio Abbado recorded Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 several times — the same applies to the Vienna Philharmonic. However, their first joint recording of the work from 1972 plays a special role in the discography of both the conductor and the orchestra, as it stands out in terms of interpretation and sound.
For its 125th birthday, Deutsche Grammophon started releasing legendary recordings with highest sound standards: The audiophile vinyl series The Original Source presents outstanding recordings from the 1970s in a whole new sound quality. For this, the renowned Emil Berliner Studios have remastered and edited the original 4-track tapes in 100% analog quality (AAA) using technologies developed specifically to produce the series. The sonic differences to the original releases are considerable: greater clarity, more subtleties and improvements in frequency response, while at the same time less background noise, distortion and compression allow for an audiophile listening experience like never before.
On 180-gram vinyl records and in a deluxe gatefold edition with original covers and lyrics, the copies of this series are released limited and numbered, accompanied by additional photos and facsimiles of the recording logs and band boxes, and an article explains the exact technical background.
| Side A |
| 1. I. Un poco sostenuto – Allegro – Meno allegro |
| 2. II. Andante sostenuto |
| Side B |
| 1. III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso |
| 2. IV. Adagio – Piu andante – Allegro non troppo, ma con brio – Piu allegro |