Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3 (Essential Classics)
Few orchestras ever achieve the sort of chamber-music transparency of sound that George Szell drilled into his Cleveland players, and it's simply perfect for Brahms. No thick textured instrumental muck here! Szell leads his band through magnificently taut performances of both symphonies, full of illuminating detail in the wind section and attentive to the music's every nuance. In short, a great conductor at work in great music.--David Hurwitz