Customer Reviews

Brahms: Sonatas for Viola and Piano / Kashkashian, Levin

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this recording, Kim Kashkashian is at her finest. One of the most glorious things ever recorded (in my humble opinion) is track two of this CD. She pays due homage to the composers score, but isn't so strict that she couldn't call the piece her own. If you are just getting into the viola, and want to hear some fantastic music (or if you're going to be playing either of the Brahmses any time soon) buy this recording. Oh... the thing that makes it "almost a perfect recording" is that the piano seems a little too loud throughout. I could do with a little more viola.

Ms. Kashkashian's recordings of these two great sonatas are in a word, gorgeous. If you are familiar with the viola, or are even just wondering what in the world a viola is, (perhaps a mis-spelled violin??) then these peices will be a valuable addition to your recording collection. This beautiful music can be enjoyed again and again, each listening revealing new colors that were un-noticed before. Very highly recomended.

With all due respect, I have to voice my disagreement with reviewer John Grabowski's criticism of Robert Levin's performances on this recording. I find his playing quite spirited and assertive. In fact, I think he and Kashkashian work beautifully together. These are sensitive performances all around.

Late Brahms is full of pitfalls for the interpreters. It is sublimely reticent music, which can collapse if the approach is less than inward and plays too obviously to the audience. Kashkashian and Levin have a very winning take on these pieces. Kashkashian's playing is rarely lush, but it is technically very secure and always preserves the big line of these works. Levin is perhaps best known on CD as a fortepianist, although he made a set of Bach's English Suites on the modern piano. Here I find his playing rich and sensitive, with an attention to nuances that late Brahms piano music of all kinds ideally requires. As a partnership, Levin and Kashkashian are superb. Their attention to each of the subtle tempo marking of these pieces gives their performances a great deal of character, without being overly fussy or pompous. They are captured in excellent sound engineering, with a fine balance between the two instruments. I should note that the booklet features quite a few pictures of the artists, proving that Kashkashian is rather a pretty woman, in a not very ostentatious way. I suppose she will join Cynthia Phelps of the N.Y. Philharmonic in a club for glamorous violists.

Lovely recording. Purchased this recording for study with one of my advanced viola students who is preparing for conservatory auditions in 2012. I would recommend this CD to others.

This work is utterly beautiful. Ms. Kashkashian does not simply "play" her viola, it is as though it is her voice, with beautiful phrasing, inflection and clarity of tone. Equally delightful is Mr. Levin's piano--showing a great sensitivity to both the music and the presence of the viola. Having listened to a version by Zukerman and Barenboim, I can assure you that in THIS recording the two musicians are equal partners in the performance! I am recommending this to anyone who has even a small interest in Brahms, classical, or viola music. You won't be sorry to have it in your collection. :)

Although as an old clarinetist I prefer to hear these sonatas on the woodwind instrument for which Brahms originally wrote them, I will readily concede that there is something to be said for the dark-hued tones of the viola. When the viola is played by Kim Kashkashian, accompanied by Robert Levin on piano, and recorded in the finest ECM manner, the results are lovely indeed.

This repertoire marked the first mainstream Romantic recording on the ECM New Series label, and it is an auspicious debut. How about the clarinet versions one of these days, ECM?

These pieces are major works in the clarinet repertoire, and (as a clarinetist) I bought this CD to compare how the pieces are handled by both instruments.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear how well Kashkashian plays these Sonatas. Her playing is clear and passionate. I agree with another poster that the piano player sounds a little bland at times. It isn't really enough of a distraction to be a problem though.

This CD is a must for anyone who knows and loves these pieces.

As in her recording for ECM of the Bartok Viola Concerto, Kim Kashkashian works wonders here. She plays with exquisite technique and expression. She is extremely well-recorded. Unfortunately she has an albatross around her neck in the form of Robert Levin. He is as dull and colorless as accompanists come, and his uninspired, perfunctory playing mars this entire release. One wonders what a more sensitive pianist might have brough to these works, but as it is, Levin is always in the background, playing each phrase dutifully and blandly. Worth owning if you love good viola playing (and if you're disappointed with the dearth of Viola recordings out there) but not if you love good *chamber music.*

Kashkashian isn't the problem here; the heavy-handed, thoroughly wrong headed and unsubtle Levin is. He pounds away on the piano, the proverbial bull in a china shop.

So unless you prefer the sledge hammer approach to late Brahms, Bashmet/Muntian on RCA is far, far superior. Imai/Vignolles on Chandos is a worthy alternative, as well.