Johannes Brahms - Piano Works (Murray Perahia)

Information

Composer: Johannes Brahms

1. Variations & Fugue on a theme by Handel, Op. 24
2. 2 Rhapsodies, Op. 79: No. 1 in B minor (Agitato)
3. 2 Rhapsodies, Op. 79: No. 2 in G minor (Molto passionato, ma non troppo allegro)
4. 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: 1. Intermezzo in A minor (Allegro non assai, ma molto appassionato)
5. 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: 2. Intermezzo in A major (Andante teneramente)
6. 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: 3. Ballade in G minor (Allegro energico)
7. 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: 4. Intermezzo in F minor (Allegretto un poco agitato)
8. 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: 5. Romance in F major (Andante)
9. 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: 6. Intermezzo in E flat minor (Andante, largo e mesto)
10. 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119: 1. Intermezzo in B minor (Adagio)
11. 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119: 2. Intermezzo in E minor (Andantino un poco agitato)
12. 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119: 3. Intermezzo in C major (Grazioso e giocoso)
13. 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119: 4. Rhapsody in E flat major (Allegro risoluto)

Murray Perahia, piano
Date: 2010
Label: Sony Classical
https://www.sonyclassical.com/releases/88697727252

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Review

A belated return to Brahms has been well worth the wait

It may be 20 years since Murray Perahia’s last Brahms release but the wait has been gloriously worthwhile. For here, once more, is a pianist who achieves the highest musical quality with the most economical means. Time and again Brahms’s potential for strenuousness and opacity is clarified with a superfine musical intelligence and technique. The opening Aria from the Handel Variations is unusually thoughtful and considered, and in the sciolto of Var 14 he conveys all of Brahms’s riotous brilliance while characteristically remaining in superb control. Hear his hushed withdrawal at the start of Var 22, as if the music’s magical chime was heard from a great distance; and, per contra, I doubt whether the concluding and exultant fugue has often been given with a more formidably yet lightly worn articulacy in its entire history. This is a performance for those poor souls who, amazingly, take a dim view of Brahms’s keyboard variations.

Translucent voicing and texture characterise Perahia’s way with the Op 79 Rhapsodies and most of all the Opp 118 and 119 Intermezzos. Perahia achieves a burning clarity (even when the music is marked piano and sotto voce) at the start of Op 118’s concluding Intermezzo, bringing a wealth of concentrated detail and an impeccable line and impetus to this heart-stopping epic in miniature (if the paradox be allowed), a mirror of the inner desolation that afflicted Brahms both early and late in his life. Try Op 119 No 1 for a poetic intensity and subtlety uniquely Perahia’s and you may well wonder when you last heard a pianist with a more patrician disregard for all forms of bloated excess or exaggeration.

There are, of course, other approaches to these works – Katchen’s stunning opulence and theatricality in the Handel Variations (Decca, 2/91), Lupu’s crepuscular magic in the late Intermezzos (Decca, 8/87) or Argerich’s early and inflammatory genius in the Rhapsodies (DG, 2/93, 6/95) – yet I doubt whether a pianist more finely attuned to every harmonic and rhythmic subtlety has existed since Lipatti. This disc, finely recorded, forms a vital part of Perahia’s crowning return after several years of debilitating illness.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: ****
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/s/sny79469a.php
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/nov/28/brahms-handel-variations-perahia-review
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalcdreviews/8260427/Brahms-Handel-Variations-Op24-Rhapsodies-Op-79-Piano-Pieces-Opp-118-and-119-CD-review.html
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/cd-perahia-brahms-0111.shtml
http://www.amazon.com/Brahms-Handel-Variations-Rhapsodies-Pieces/dp/B00454U1NI

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Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable. Brahms composed for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, organ, and voice and chorus. Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. An uncompromising perfectionist, Brahms destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished. Brahms is often considered both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters, with a highly romantic nature embedded within.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Brahms

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Murray Perahia (born April 19, 1947 in New York) is an American concert pianist and conductor. Perahia studied with Mieczysław Horszowski at Mannes College, and also attended Marlboro Music School, where he studied with musicians Rudolf Serkin, Alexander Schneider, and Pablo Casals, among others.. Besides his solo career, he is active in chamber music and appeared regularly with the Guarneri and Budapest String Quartets. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, with which he records and performs. He is loved for his warm, gentle, smooth and lyrical qualities of playing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Perahia

http://murrayperahia.com/

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