Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1

Johannes Brahms (Composer), Claudio Abbado (Conductor), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Maurizio Pollini (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Maurizio Pollini
• Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Claudio Abbado
• Composer: Johannes Brahms
• Audio CD (February 9, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B00000I0L7
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,832 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

POLLINI / ABBADO / BERLIN P. O. BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO N. 1

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warm seemless playing with timbral sensitivities, June 12, 1999

By 

Rachel Abbinanti ([e-mail]) (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Audio CD)

Brahms was in a state of non-confidence when this concerto was conceived. His mentor Robert Schumann urged him to mount the problematics of large scale structural dimensions.So Brahms began wrting a work for two pianos,many of which recognize materials from this D-Minor Concerto after being cast as a first movement to a symphony. The D-Minor Concerto received its premiere in Hanover on January 22,1859 with Brahms himself as soloist. It was not warmly received and to add further animosity to the young composer's depressed state, it fell on bad ears five days later in Leipzig. With Pollini here you have a sculptor in sound and Abbado is a close accomplice. The "first movement" the overwhelming moments of the trills,Pollini elicits a blinding brightness that you sense Abbado must create a veil behind this when the winds mimick the piano. Pollini makes excitement,he ignites the orchestra to Brahms's demands. The "first movement" is a virtual self-contained piece of symphonic proportions itself. 21 minutes of violence mixed with reflections on the state of the day gazing out the window. What you get with this combination Pollini,Abbado and Berlin is a seamless constitution of warm sound,except where Pollini plunges with his bright ignitions. The"Adagio" as well with Abbado who brings an intellectualized approach to anything he touches as well as drama, envisions the sonic timbres,like here with the opening bassoons who are like balanced mists of sound against the high violins. The ending "Rondo" is also memorable, with again this forcefullness at play,with an assertive main idea,that gets tossed into the proceedings. With this playing I don't know if I prefer this to Brahms's "Piano Concerto #2".

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Brahms...recording disappointing, March 31, 2000

By 

Greg Hales (Vacaville, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Audio CD)

I would agree with most everything the reviewer from Chicago said. Abbado and the BPO are on great form and Pollin sounds wondeful.

I have one major beef and that is the recording. I can not understand why DG balanced the piano so far forward in the sound picture. It does not sounds natural and masks some of the orchestral detail. When you have such playing as the BPO gives you and it gets lost there is something wrong. Also the orchestra is not mere back ground. Brahms wrote such detail to be heard and some of the details in this recording are not heard.

My giving it 4 out of 5 stars is based on the recording not the performance of Pollini/BPO/Abbado. I almost would go so far as to say DG should remix it and give us something like we would hear in the concert and that those people did hear at the performances at which this recording was made.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warm, passionate, breathtaking Brahms, May 26, 2007

By 

HB "HB" (Fort Mill, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Audio CD)

Just like Beethoven, the orchestrals works of Brahms can tolerate many different interpretations. At first I thought the tempos here were a little on the slow side. But the music is played with so much passion and warmth, the slow tempos did not bother me at all. More importantly, this is a live performance and therefore has real spontanaiety. This version, while almost totally different in approach, rivals my other favorite recording, Serkin and Szell from 1968. An outstanding recording.

Since I bought this at the flea market for only 2 bucks, I had no quibble with the brevity of this CD. However, DG could have easily added a Mozart concerto and still had room to spare. At 17 bucks, this CD is clearly not worth the money. However, there is another version on a double set with lots of other music at about the same price. Or you can use the valuable Marketplace service.

Since I am on the subject of price, I wonder if the classical record companies are going to ever realise the competition from download services. The 17 dollar CD needs to become history.