Customer Reviews

Achucarro: Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 [Blu-ray]

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Here is a pianist that makes Brahms' compositions look and sound effortless. Make no mistake, Achucarro's musicianship is dazzling: his technique is smooth and melodic; his pedaling superb; the orchestra passionate and responsive to Colin Davis' direction. Then there is the Blu-ray photography which is brilliantly choreographed in a beautiful setting, the cameras intimately focusing on the instruments shaping the orchestration. The picture is as clear as I have ever seen, and the audio is crisp and present. None of that recording buried somewhere in the audience. This is state of the art! The bonus features provide a biographical background of Achucarro, who has impressive credentials and then the surprise--a recital including Brahms', Chopin, Scriabin, and others--in a pianistic tour de force. The day I received this Opus Art's performance I watched it once and then turned around and watched it all over again. Absolutely amazing!

I had not heard of the pianist Achucarro before, and I thought, "Who is this guy with the tongue-twister name interpreting my Brahms second concerto?" But since it was the only Brahms second concerto I could find on Blu-ray I decided to get it.
Well, it turns out, that Achucarro is well-known and, I could tell right away, there is something unique and ingenious about how he interprets and plays piano works. He even made some Scriabin piano pieces sound scintillating and fascinating to me, which for me is an accomplishment considering that I usually find Scriabin boring. Some of the piano pieces he played on this recording revealed the pieces in ways I have not heard them before.

The Brahms Second concerto was excellently played, and the orchestration was excellent as well. All of the basic emotive nuances of he pieces were brought out, as well as the overall sense of "pleading" that Brahms' frustrated, perhaps somewhat psychotic, personality brings to his music.

One criticism is the overall visual settings in which the pieces were played. The Brahms was recorded in a colorful studio with a modern brick/steel/glass architecture that seemed a bit too light and airy a visual environment for a "heavy" Brahms piece replete with exasperation and suffering, which seems better recorded in an ornate concert hall. Achucarro also played some solo piano pieces in other parts of the disc while the piano was seated next to, of all things, the violent Goya painting "The Third of May," so you could see blood-spattered Spaniards being executed by Napoleon's soldiers in the background. This also contrasted in a somewhat tacky way with the quiet, contemplative music being played next to it. In general, these visual settings were a bit of a distraction.

Let me start off by saying this is now my reference blu-ray. Every "bit" generated aurally and visually from this disc is stunning. The performances are without an audience. It feels as if the concert is personally performed for you, the viewer. The "rough" hall space, casual dress of the orchestra, and importantly, the consistent and focussed camera work (many of today's music discs are filmed in an "ADD" manner) give the film a relaxed feel.
Archucarro's playing? Well, Magnificent!

Included on the disc are a whole host of extras, including additional solo performances in the Prado Museum (Madrid)and a 40min film about Achucarro and his career.

This disc is what all live music performances should strive for.

You won't go wrong buying this DVD: The production values are first rate, Colin Davis and the LSO are superb and Achucarro is truly magnificent. There are a variety of fine performances and varying interpretations of Brahms' second piano concerto available on CD -- from Gilels and Fleisher to Barenboim, Pollini, Zimerman and more, but this is, hands-down, the finest performance available on video. Furthermore, the DVD includes a set of extras that, themselves, are worth the price of admission. In particular, I found Achucarro's rendition of the Brahms' Op 117 Intermezzi deeply moving. In fact, everything Achucarro touches on this DVD turns to gold.

This is music from the heart and soul. No showmanship here. Instead, Achucarro offers cultivated, disciplined devotion and a technique so brilliant that it's almost self-effacing. Some may find this less muscular playing than they are looking for. Certainly one should not expect Richter or Gilels! And the opening may, in fact, be too polite for its own good. But the third movement-- with its impassioned cello solo-- reaches surprising depths and is the crux of the experience.

Colin Davis takes his cue from the pianist and keeps the LSO sound so mellow the big band almost feels like a chamber orchestra. There may be performances with more fire, but few with such civilized craft.

Don't miss Achucarro's performance of the Brahms Op 117 in the extras.

The first classical recording I heard in my life is the Brahms Second Piano Concerto with Sviatoslav Richter, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Liensdorf. It has been my favorite recording all these years until now.

All that I can say about this Achucarro recording is WOW!

The only Brahms # 2 on DVD or blu-ray. But it is very good to watch & listen to.