Pianists who embark on complete Brahms cycles usually present the groups of small pieces as integral units by opus number: the two Op 79 Rhapsodies, the three Op 117 Intermezzos, the four Op 119 Klavierstücke and so forth. Barry Douglas chooses to mix and match selections drawn from various groups, devising a running order that guarantees a long, well-sustained set that culminates with the large-scale Handel Variations.

One might consider Douglas’s opening salvo, a rather rhetorical reading of the tempestuous B minor First Rhapsody from Op 79 (as opposed to sterner, more classically contained yet impassioned performances by Perahia, Gould and Rubinstein) as an overture to set up the tender E major Intermezzo, Op 116 No 4, that follows. Here Douglas achieves a fluid calm absent from his slower, less shapely 1987 traversal (RCA 12/87). The E major easily slips into the A major Intermezzo, Op 118 No 2, which Douglas presents in a gentle, yielding manner that differs from Rubinstein’s faster, more robust version. On the other hand, Douglas’s RCA G minor Capriccio, Op 116 No 3, proves more direct and incisive than his curvier remake but it’s a toss-up between the earlier expansive, improvisational fluency of the B major Ballade, Op 10 No 4, and the more unified new version’s simpler phrasing.

Douglas’s beautiful, rounded tone and assiduously effected tempo relationships will satisfy listeners who like a less classically conceived, more pianistically oriented Handel Variations. This approach is evident vis-à-vis Douglas’s slight tapering of the theme’s phrase endings, his change of voicings on repeats and a general emphasis of colour over line. Notice, for example, Douglas’s melody-focused rubatos in Var 3 and his disinclination to bring out the cross-rhythmic effect of Brahms’s staccato/legato contrasts. His legato octaves in Var 6 shimmer gorgeously, at the expense of giving shape to their canonic interplay. He softens Var 8’s motoric left-hand pedal-points and underplays Var 9’s grandeur by softening the sforzandos and imposing small, arbitrary accelerandos. Similarly, Douglas’s rubatos pull focus from other-wordly ‘music box’ effects that straighter readings of Var 22 achieve, although his scrupulous articulation and attention to dynamics give energy and drama to the final variations’ cumulative momentum. However one ultimately responds to Barry Douglas’s Brahms, his cycle will surely be fascinating to follow as it unfolds.