Word: allegros
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...results are glorious. With the first lilting phrases of the Allegro of the Spring movement, all present were filled with langorous longing for the delights of May. The high-pitched flute authentically evoked the ebullient song of the birds and the rushing whistle of a brook, despite the initial overpowering of the second violins. During the more "violinistic" spots where the warmth of the intended solo violin would have more richly depicted the sleepy scenes of shepherds napping and dogs baying, Ms. Robison courageously puffed away and made the leap of faith that her modern flute could pull...
...Andante is near perfectly-paced, with none of the Bernsteinian leanings that plague most recordings of the Fifth, while the subsequent Allegro provides an appropriately misterioso segue into the finale. Here, as Beethoven intended, the brass are brought out in full force, and regardless of pedantic issues of whether they are reinforced or not, the ultimate effect is still spine-tingling. The remastering and refurbished sound are even better than the original transfer, as promised...
...Allegro con brio is a brilliantly played, no-holds-barred affair, and a real lollipop occurs around 7:18 of the last track, when the separated violin sections compete for prominence on individual speakers -- absolutely sublime stuff. One only wishes that Deutsche Grammophon's tonmeisters would take a lesson from Mercury's recording team and dispense with the "forest of mikes" method, which often seems to obscure more than elucidate...
...finale, marked Allegro fuocoso--Calmato, recalled some of Bernstein and Gould's jazzy forays in `classical' music as it travelled along in an odd meter. This movement produced a new but equally otherwordly sound bolstered by the BSO's surprisingly powerful (in this instance) brass section. The net effect of the symphony, as full of fresh ideas today as it must have seemed in 1959, was not bemusement but rather awe and fascination...
Buswell contributed his whole body to the effort of the movement, pumping up and down during frequent string changes. The prickliness of Levinson's accompaniment extended even into softest of the movement's intricate modulations. In the Allegro's more surreal moments, he appeared as an icy rain falling down on Buswell's striving persona...