BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTOS, TWO RHAPSODIES, OP. 79, INTERMEZZOS, OP. 117 & OP. 119
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Music CD Cover
Performer: Jules EskinComposer: Johannes Brahms
Conductor: Bernard Haitink
Conductor: James Levine
Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Emanuel Ax
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-01-09
Music Label: Sony Classics
Free Music Notes for BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTOS, TWO RHAPSODIES, OP. 79, INTERMEZZOS, OP. 117 & OP. 119
Free Music Review: An Intimate Conversation Between Brahms and Ax
Hit: 5 Stars
The two CD album recently released by Sony is a gathering of some of the finest moments Emanuel Ax has recorded of the music of his beloved Johannes Brahms. Long respected for his intelligence, self-effacing performances where it is clear that the genius of the moment is the composer not the pianist, and his close partnership with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and others in chamber recitals, Emanuel Ax is in many ways a musician's musician. Not only is he technically brilliant as a pianist, he is also a poet at the keyboard. For this special release Ax offers the program notes, words that reflect his sincerity and vision of the music Brahms.
The first CD opens with a grand Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor recorded with the Chicago Symphony under the direction of James Levine in 1983. It is approached in the grand Romantic style with Levine providing muscular support form the orchestra and yet allowing the mysticism of the Adagio to be the magic of Ax's controlled passion. The second CD features a 1997 recording of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major with Bernard Haitink collaborating with the Boston Symphony Orchestra: the majesty and elegance of Ax's approach reminds this listener of the treasured performance by Rudolf Serkin of many years ago. It is an exquisitely understated yet richly robust recording.
The 'fillers' for these discs are works for solo piano written by Brahms out of his devotion to pianist Clara Schumann and the works reflect that thwarted romance. Especially successful are the Three Intermezzos Op.117, but the Rhapsodies Op. 79 and the Four Pieces for Piano Op. 119 are as sensitively performed as any other artist's on recording. This is a superb collection of Brahms' piano works, with performances of the concerti as fine as any available. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, June 07
BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTOS, TWO RHAPSODIES, OP. 79, INTERMEZZOS, OP. 117 & OP. 119 Poster
Emanuel Ax begins his program notes by describing his lifelong love affair with the Brahms Concertos and the never-ending challenges and rewards of performing them. On this 2-CD re-issue of recordings originally made between 1983 and 1997, this love speaks through every note. Playing from deep inside the music, he creates a sense of unhurried expansiveness, caressing the magical melodic and harmonic turns, making transitions and changes of mood and character seem natural and inevitable; his rhythm is unshakable yet flexible enough for perfectly balanced liberties. Making light of what he calls the concertos' terrifying difficulties, he puts his virtuosity entirely at the service of the music, projecting its stormy impetuousness, majestic grandeur, feathery lightness, radiant ecstasy, and inward expressiveness. The orchestras engage in a true partnership with the pianist, each matching the other's intensity of sound and emotion in constant give-and-take; the horn and cello solos in the second concerto are meltingly beautiful. Both concertos open with an extraordinary juxtaposition. In the first, the ominous timpani rumbles and tutti trills are answered by the piano's fervent pleading. In the second, the peaceful orchestral introduction is followed by the piano's outburst of passion and exuberance. The discs include three sets of Piano Pieces, grouped by genre. Written for Clara Schumann, Ax feels they are among Brahms' most intimate, personal works. In deeply felt performances, he brings out their pervasive melancholy resignation without losing their contrasting individual character. --Edith EislerClassical Music CDs
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