Though several recordings of Brahms's piano music have come my way recently, none until this has done the sensible thing of grouping the 20 shorter pieces of Opp. 116-9 into a single disc, lasting a generous 74 minutes. Admittedly, one might not wish to hear all of them as a single programme, but playing one or two groups makes for satisfying listening, and the composer was careful to ensure that each of the four sets makes a natural sequence of moods, tempos and keys. Indeed, considering the fact that they were all written between 1891 and 1893, they are notably varied as well as beautifully written for the instrument which was, after all, the composer's own. (These dates are the ones in Heinz Becker's Grove article, but his worklist gives 1892 for all the pieces.)
Cristina Ortiz brings to this music much understanding of the style and a fine technique. She is not nearly as passionate as some pianists in the first, third and last pieces of Op. 116, and some people will think these underpowered, at least until their big final pages. However, the refinement of the playing is pleasing and there is a gravitas about these performances which I like, though in listening to them I have felt increasingly that others will wish for more fiery attack and that the mellow piano sound of Andrew Keener's recording also has something to do with it.
Equally, this sound is entirely appropriate to the quieter and more autumnally glowing pieces, of which there are several, beginning with the E major Intermezzo, Op. 116 No. 4. But I do have serious reservations concerning the most inward-looking pieces. Ortiz gives too daylit a performance of the next piece in this set, with its markings of intimissimo sentimento, dolce (four times in two pages!) and dolcissimo, and she is tiresomely fast and positive in the beautiful one in E major (marked Andantino teneramente) which follows. The A major Intermezzo in the next set (also marked teneramente) is better, but still too extrovert for my liking.
Space forbids more detailed discussion: suffice it to say that the playing in this useful collection remains consistent and assured, but that to my mind it misses some of the deeper aspects of this rewarding yet emotionally subtle music.'