Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
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CD Details

Brand: CON
Composer: Johannes Brahms
Conductor: Riccardo Chailly
Orchestra: Gewandhaus Orchestra
Performer: Nelson Freire
Edition: Music CD
Published: 2006-05-17
CD Release Date: 2006-05-09
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. I. Maestoso
  2. II. Adagio
  3. III. Rondo: Allegro Non Troppo
Music CD 2
  1. I. Allegro Non Troppo
  2. II. Allegro Appassionato
  3. III. Andante
  4. IV. Allegretto Grazioso

Music reviews of Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Music Review: Good, but New Benchmark? I Don't Get It!
Rating: 3 Stars

These are strong performances, but I'm at a loss to understand the lavish praise. *Everyone* seems to not just like them, but love them. I don't get it! Perhaps some fellow Amazon denizens can set me straight.

These monumental works are exciting and beautiful and hold a special place in my heart. This recording has exciting and beautiful moments (mostly in the third movement of 1), but, given the extensive competition, not enough to justify its seemingly universal acclaim as the new benchmark. I don't hear what's so revelatory here. I've tried. Several times. Each time, I just want to listen to a different recording, whereupon I'm able to lose myself once again in these dramatic and heartbreaking pieces of music.

Some of my dissatisfaction is due to the recording, which most seem to regard as impeccable. Though I'm not a crazy audiophile, I have pretty good equipment -- stuff you can't get at Best Buy -- and, to my ear, the recording is boomy and muddled -- not crisp and clear -- with the orchestra often sounding muffled compared to the piano, especially in 2. Pop in remastered recordings from distant history (Fleischer/Szell, Richter/Leinsdorf for 2), and, wow, you can actually make out the strings and the timpani and everything else without it all sinking into bass-heavy and/or ringy noise. With those ancient recordings, it actually sounds like you're there. Ironically, with these live modern recordings, it sounds like I'm listening over the concert hall's P.A. system in the lobby because I got there late.

Another complaint is Mr. Freire's playing, which, to my ear, falls a bit short along many dimensions. I'm a stickler for technical mastery and precision. These performances are technically accomplished certainly, but they lack the perfectly controlled precision, or indeed the impressive virtuosity, of others on disc.

More importantly -- much more, actually -- the performances lack the romantic expressiveness and sensitivity that I believe is called for by this music. It's fashionable among critics to decry "sentimentality." (I almost choked when I recently read one review of a recording of La Boheme, of all things, that said it was "too beautiful"! Sorry, for Puccini, there's no such thing!) Such criticism certainly has its place, but Brahms is romantic. If you don't like romance -- if you're unsentimental -- I'm not sure why you like Brahms! Freire is often just too straight and dull with it. I'm not saying that you have to do it like Zimerman in his recent, and somewhat controversial, DG recording of 1 with Berlin and Rattle, which is full of rubato, tempo changes, little hesitations, and so on. I dig it and think it makes sense -- and, unlike this recording, it actually does represent something new and different -- but I understand that for some it's too much affect. I'll settle for Fleischer. Compare his second movement of 1 with Cleveland/Szell, for example, with this one. I don't think it compares.

If muscle-tensing excitement, as opposed to having your breath taken away, is more your thing, compare the first movement of 2 on this disc with Richter's with Chicago/Leinsdorf from way back in 1960. This sounds very tame by comparison and lacks the drive and energy and thrilling orchestral climaxes of the Richter RCA recording.

So, I don't hear a new benchmark here, and would recommend that you at least check out the competition mentioned in this review. The Fleischer/Szell set of both concertos is a key recording anyway -- can't go wrong -- and in its most recent re-release, it sounds really terrific. Plus, it includes some nice mono recordings of Brahms solo piano works. The recordings I return to most often, however, are the recent Zimerman/Rattle recording of 1 and the Richter/Leinsdorf recording of 2. I heard the Gilels recording with Berlin years ago, but I don't own it and haven't heard it in a while. I have fond memories of it, though, so that's another set of these concertos to check out.
More Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 free music reviews:
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Description of Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: BRAHMS,J.
Title: CON PNO 1/2
Street Release Date: 05/09/2006
Domestic
Genre: CLASSICAL COMPOSERS

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