Brahms: Music for Two Pianos
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Music CD Cover
Edition: Music CDCD Release Date: 2005-03-01
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Variations of a Theme by Haydn
- Sonata in F Minor, Op. 34b
Free Music Notes for Brahms: Music for Two Pianos
Free Music Review: A faultless program, but Argerich is even more brilliant
Hit: 5 Stars
It seems strange, after going for decades when Brahms's two-piano arrangements were on the far edge of the repertoire, to find not one but two sets of star pianists recording them. The other, besides ax and Bronfman, is Martha Argerich and Nelson Freire, who recently released a stunningly poised and unanimous reading of the Haydn Variations. Argerich, who abandoned the recital stage long ago, has become a fanatic for piano duos and four-hand music, so she can be found partnered on EMI's "Argerich and Friends" with any number of second chairs. She's duplicated this Ax-Bronfman program with Alexandre Rabinovitch (Teldec) and the Sonata in F minor with Lilya Zilberstein (EMI). You'd hardly know that these two arrangements still appear very rarely in the concert hall.
Argerich's specialty is a free-spirited spontaneity that gives hints of a banked fire ready to turn into a wildfire. Brahms can certainly use the spark of excitement, and with her there are moments of danger and risk. For those reasons, it's hard to imagine better readings. Yet in their own right, Ax and Bronfman come through handsomely. Their F minor Sonata is so powerful and vital that it's almost as good as hearing the F minor Piano Quintet into which the music finally morphed. Two pianos have the advantage of perfect balance where it's a problem to balance a single piano with a string quartet. In the past I've complained about Ax and Bronfman being too polished and civilized, as in their recording of the two Rachmaninov Suites, where one is supposed to swoon, not sip tea. but this reading lacks nothing in alertness and energy.
As for the Haydn Variations, Argerich and Freire are miraculous in their live performance from Salzburg (DG), so it's hard to forget them in favor of Ax and Bronfman playing with solid technique, assured musicianship, but not quite that last spark of inspiration. The theme chosen by Brahms is so symmetrical and balanced that it needs to be thrown off kilter to sustain our interest through every variation. Ax and Bronfman are a bit hit and miss in that department, but mostly they cannot be faulted.
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