BRAHMS Piano Pieces. Waltzes
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johannes Brahms
Genre:
Instrumental
Label: BIS
Magazine Review Date: 02/2016
Media Format: Super Audio CD
Media Runtime: 81
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: BIS2127
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Variations on a Hungarian song |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Johannes Brahms, Composer Jonathan Plowright, Piano |
(8) Pieces |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Johannes Brahms, Composer Jonathan Plowright, Piano |
(16) Waltzes |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Johannes Brahms, Composer Jonathan Plowright, Piano |
(6) Pieces |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
Johannes Brahms, Composer Jonathan Plowright, Piano |
Author: Patrick Rucker
One thing that makes Plowright’s interpretations so compelling is that they sound totally fresh, as though a fully formed, cultured musician, unencumbered by conventional approaches or received wisdom, took up these scores for the first time in maturity. The results are often unexpected, yet always apt and never less than convincing.
The B minor Capriccio (Op 76 No 2) is unrushed, diffident, as though confiding its drolleries in a whisper. The robust C sharp minor Capriccio (No 5), with its swaggering cross-rhythms and passionate assertions, creates a miniature epic. It’s difficult to think of another performance that delineates the mercurial mood-swings of the C major Capriccio (No 8) with greater finesse and insight.
Delicacy and heartfelt sentiment characterise the gracious A major Intermezzo (Op 118 No 2), illustrating Plowright’s gift for evoking sentiment without sentimentality. The story told in the G minor Ballade (No 3) is filled with lean, mean, no-nonsense resolve, while the much-belaboured E flat minor Intermezzo (No 6) emerges here unequivocally powerful, its eloquence partly due to secco staccatos and crystalline textures.
The Waltzes, Op 39, for all their unfettered ebullience, present the same wealth of detail that characterises Opp 76 and 118. The Variations on a Hungarian Melody provide a charming overture to the programme. I have a feeling this is going to be the benchmark Brahms survey for some time to come.
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
SubscribeGramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.