Customer Reviews

Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are so many recordings of these two giants of piano concertos. Both works of epic stature need both an excellent soloist and orchestra. These works of symphonic strength need an orchestra that is not just an accompanying partner for the soloist who needs for his part intelligence, power, balance, sensitivity and poetry(!)in order to tackle the ongoing massive orchestral flow.

Among the great recordings of these piano concertos rank certainly Leon Fleisher and George Szell on Sony (a violent and passionate orchestra - need one say more with a monument as Szell and his beloved Cleveland Orchestra? - and a poetic pianist as Fleisher who marvelled and sculpted these works from his childhood on), Emil Gilels and Eugen Jochum on Deutsche Grammophon (a true classic interpretation, balanced, mature, but for me just a little not passionate enough, anyway Jochum recalls this recording a year before his death as one of the special moments of his entire career), and last but not least Hélène Grimaud and Kurt Sanderling on Erato, as for the piano orchestra no.1 (a volatile and passionate brahmsian fury, a reading of genuine romance, sturm und drang, power and insight). The latter version became recently my personal beloved one for the ongoing pulse and heartbeat of miss Grimaud, not just a pianist, but a musician.

But now Decca surprises us with an ardent live version of these works with the legendary Brasilian Nelson Freire and the even more legendary 250 year old central european Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig (Mendelsohn was one of its first Kapellmeisters!) under the baton of its new conductor Riccardo Chailly: an invaluable coupling.

Chailly has proven himself as one of the utmost exciting conductors of the last fifteen years in the entire world, (e.g. his fenomenal integral Mahler recordings with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra of which he was principal conductor until last year).

Nelson Freire's legend speaks for itself and was for some years probably only becoming more intriguing and glooming due to his absence in the studio during so many years. But don't misunderstand he is one of the true great pianists of the past and ongoing century! Not only a musician, an artist, a sculptor !!! (Listen also to his marvellous Schumann piano recital on Decca, and his recent tackling of the second sonata of Chopin, the last part is blowing you away comletely, a dazzling account).

It's amazing -as to me- how little exposure this new legendary coupling of Nelson Freire and Riccardo Chailly has gained yet in international reviews and critics (there is a review written in superlative terms on classictoday.com).

In any event, these new live recordings, recorded in November 2005 (no. 2) and February 2006 (no.1) reach nearly the ideal: a volatile orchestra, a magister at piano !!!

There is plenty of structural coherence, the rythms of both orchestra and pianist are perfectly chosen, there is an organic, massive and ongoing orchestral flow, there are both so many fiery, volatile attacks and poetic, even carressing passages by both orchestra and Freire, there is a pulse of true romantic power and wisdom, maturity, never getting sticky (e.g. the honest felt andante in the second piano concerto with a marvellous cello solo).

This is a thrilling account that sets the new standard against which any available recording will be placed for evaluation.

The DECCA sound quality of this disc is quite impeccable, revealing every detail!

Buy this gems. You'll never regret!

I did not buy these recordings; they were given to me by Professor Andreas Schulz, Gewandhausdirektor. I had expressed to him my longstanding enthusiasm for the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra as well as my thoughts that the new conductor, Riccardo Chailly, along with Martha Argerich, had interpreted Schumann extremely well. The two CDs of these recordings, along with a few others, were sent by him to the Leipzig Marriott, where I was staying.

What a gift! I had not known Nelson Freire previously. I quickly became acquainted with him through a google search and acquiring CDs of performances of him playing Schumann and Chopin. He is an extremely sensitive and intuitive performer with as good a technique as any living pianist. Riccardo Chailly came to Leipzig after being the conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, an orchestra that he had honed into the clearly world-class orchestra that it is. (I consider the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to be the three best orchestras in the world.) The end result of this combination of the pianist and the conductor are these two superlative recordings by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

The First Piano Concerto is played with all of the struggle, the masculine sinewy sound of conflict that you hear other pianists portray. However, Nelson Freire also finds the poetry that resides in this music. The first piano concerto was written by Brahms shortly after his enthusiastic reception by Robert Schumann. A short time later, in a fit of depression, Schumann jumped off the bridge spanning the Rhine near his home in Dusseldorf. After he was taken from the water by fishermen, he was sent to an asylum in Endenich bei Bonn, where he died two years later. Brahms had to wrestle with his lack of understanding of these events as well as his growing affection for Clara, Robert Schumann's wife. You can hear all of this in Nelson Friere's interpretation of the First Piano Concerto.

The Second Piano Concerto is the product of Brahms' more mature years. It is pure vintage Brahms, especially in the hands of Freire and Chailly. The transparency of Freire's performance along with Chailly evoking the response from the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, especially with the dark, earthy sound of the strings, makes this performance so superlative that it seems that one is hearing it for the first time.

The overall assessment is that these are the best performances of both Brahms Piano Concertos available. Admittedly, there are other truly superlative performances. For example, Edwin Fischer performs in a most excellent manner in the Second Piano Concerto with Furtwangler. I have not heard a performance of him playing the First Piano Concerto.

Top performances deserve top rating. These performances are most highly recommended.

The Brahms piano concertos are my favorite pieces of music and therefore I
have several renditions of these beautiful works. What was said above about
the orchestra on these discs is quite true. It is beautiful,
powerful and clear. However, in my opinion in all the fast movements
the piano feels rushed, as though Freire is pushing ahead of the
orchestra. For me, this sometimes detracts from the lyricism of the lines.
Even though this offering is quite good I prefer the Emanuel Ax
performances of these concertos.

*I was told a number of times in the comments section below that I was
wrong about this music being made in the studio. That's fine, I've removed
that part of my review. However, if it was recorded live, the
engineers did a fantastic job of removing all crowd noise from the
recording.

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.

If you've ever heard - really heard - Nelson Freire play, then you'll need no further encouragement to acquire this 2-cd set. These performances are breathtaking in their intelligence, subtlety and emotional depth. Here is a towering artist, at the peak of his form. Don't miss out!

The playing on both these concerti, with respect to both pianist and orchestra, as has already been noted is impeccable. I have many recording of these concerti and the pianism and orchestral performance here is superior to all. The only quibble is indeed the fact that this is a LIVE recording. When listening on high quality equipment with high quality headphones, the audience (and orchestral!) noise is not insignificant. In fact, there are times when it is incredibly distracting. The other aspect of this is that it is obvious at times that the engineers "edited" out some background noise by changing recording frequencies which is at times extremely annoying and, to a perfectionist, will interfere with the enjoyment of the superb performances.

This double CD, with both of the Brahms piano concertos,is truly excellent,with the Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire (a friend and frequent collaborator of Martha Argerich) an excellent soloist and very good support from Riccardo Chailly conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig.-
These interpretations are in the same league as those of Emil Gilels and somewhat better than those of Artur Rubinstein.- Outstanding sound.-
Very recommendable.-

It is said that the two piano concertos written by Johannes Brahms at two different biographical moments - as their opus numbers (15 and 83, respectively) also point to- require on the soloist part not only exquisite pianistic mastery and musical refinement but also great stamina. Dubbed in their age as "symphonies with piano obligato", the two concertos share the same marked symphonic treatment, the same refuse of the ostentatious virtuosity, the same large scale discourse, even the same lengthy duration of proceedings. Notwithstanding, their moods are utterly opposed.

Number 1 in D minor, born after a long self-critical gestation (with episodes of hesitation and dramatic turning points), is finally placed as a work for piano and orchestra under an overwhelming grief at losing a dear friend ( Robert Schumann) and seeks for solace, eternal peace and soul soothing. Its majestic opening (Maestoso) predisposing to a grave solemnity imbued with an insolvable tristesse (bordering on despair which is translated into haunting chords running upward and downward the keyboard), is followed by a second movement of ethereal grace, a kind of serene recollection. This floating Adagio could be read as a requiem for Schumann, as its motto suggests: "Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini". Though, at the same time some regard it as a delicate portrait of Clara Schumann, whose precise kind of relation to Brahms remained to this day something of a mystery.
On the other hand, Number 2 in B flat major displays a quite different atmosphere: playful, vivid, gathering lovely moments (like the other-worldly conversation piano - cello in the Adagio) with bold and dramatic outbursts (the breathtaking final movement Allegretto grazioso).

An accomplished master of the keyboard, Nelson Freire is fully gifted for such a huge endeavour. His manner of treating even the most difficult passages - lightly, rather patting the massive sonorities - is amazingly natural and effective. Freire gets to the very core of the music he performs, removing all the superfluous and offering, without bombast or glamour, the genuine aroma of such a mighty music as Brahms's. His seductive account - literally, hair-rising in the first movement of D minor concerto - stems from his attitude to music. Without pretending a single moment the glory of a winner in this fierce battle with the keyboard, Freire demonstrates a respectful commitment to composer's intentions and an irresistible joy of serving them by all his means. Everything rolls inevitably, with a flavour of grand pianistic style and an infallible sense of conveying deep emotions. Music manly means communion on emotional ground, and that's easy readable in Freire-s interpretation. His partners from the Gewandhaus Leipzig Orchestra under maestro Riccardo Chailly are truly inspired in supplying those magnificent Brahmsian orchestral textures: warm and fearsome, graceful and academic at the same time.

Don't hesitate to get this CD twofer, for it - containing Nelson Freire's magnificent account - dialogues on the same footing with famous renditions by Pollini, Leonskaja, Richter, Brendel, Lupu (no.1), Douglas (no.1) or the celebrated canonical version of Gilels!

I agree with the acclaim received by this set - it is the digital update to past classic performances such as Gilels/Jochum, Serkin/Szell, and Stephen Kovacevich.

Chailly is a brilliant conductor as usual, and Nelson Friere possesses a thickish tonality somewhat reminiscent of that other great South American pianist Claudio Arrau, (as opposed to a somewhat 'lighter' sound from Serkin, for example) which is perfectly suited for Brahms. What also distinguishes Friere is his independence - this is not a pianist looking to be note-perfect, but rather one whose style reminds one of older individualists like Horowitz. Sviatoslav Richter's peerless performance of the Second Concerto (under Leinsdorf) will never be surpassed with its electrifying playing, but other than that, Friere's recording is as great as anyone else's.

Highly recommended.

It should be of notice that this CD - The piano concertos of Brahms - with Nelson Freire and Chailly - won the top award for 2007 from Gramophone, as the best CD of the year.