Brahms: Piano Concertos 1 & 2/Haydn Variations/Handel Variations [Import]

There are many versions of Brahms Piano concertos available, and most of them are pretty good. This particular 2 CD set is released on Decca's legacy label. Both Brahms piano concertos are included, and are right up there with the finest in terms of performance and sound. The audio quality is a powerful sonic experience, and is crystal clear with full range dynamics. It's this aspect that edges it over most of the competition. Much of Decca's large output of classical recordings possess superb sound quality, so it's well worth keeping your eyes open for past works released on this label.

As for the music, what can one say? The combination of the great Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink and Russian pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy is a 'dream team' as far as these recordings go. What I particularly liked is that Ashkenazy, unlike certain other renown pianists, doesn't try to over-emphasise slow or fast passages within the movements. Nor does Haitink lead any of the concertos' movements at too slow or quick a pace. It's sounds like it's performed at just the natural tempo intended. But that doesn't mean the performances are too consistent or sound too smooth; quite the contrary. The Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra may not be on the tip of every classical music fan's tongue, but here, with Haitink conducting they sound as good as any of the top world class orchestras.

There are two bonus compositions on each of the CDs - Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, and Variations by Haydn, both very listenable. On these tracks Ashkenazy takes up the baton, and the Cleveland Orchestra play the music.

If you are a Brahms fan and familiar with these works, once you've heard these recordings you will not need any further convincing from me. If you are new to Brahms, what better introduction is there to start you off listening to his work?

* At current exchange rates ($1.44 = £1) the price of this CD is noticeably cheaper to import new from the UK (including overseas shipping fees) than it is to buy in the US, thanks to the sharp decline in the £ against the $ over the past year. So Amazon.co.uk is probably the best way to go price-wise at the moment.

Highly recommended.

There seem to be two classes of people in the world of music: those who praise Ashkenazy uncritically simply because he is the great Ashkenazy, and those who pan him critically for the very same reason.

I own quite a few recordings of Ashkenazy the pianist and Ashkenazy the conductor. He is never bad, always reliable, but can be sometimes rather matter-of-fact. Sometimes that sharp edge of high inspiration is somehow missing, even when the performances are quite satisfying technically and artistically.

The attraction of this recording for me was the 1st Piano Concerto. Having quite a few already of the 2nd, I wished to expand my collection of the 1st, while adding yet another 2nd (one cannot have too many!). There are in my judgment not many adequate recordings of Brahm's 1st Piano Concerto. Most pianists and conductors cannot seem to paint well with the dark, even drab colors that Brahms provides in this work; nor do they really capture its deep passion and angst. Ashkenazy and Haitink succeed brilliantly where most others fail. Here we have a dark but clear, emotional portrait. Ashkenazy beautifully voices those thick, dark chords and sustains the big line of the music. This is far and away the finest recording of the 1st that I know. Ah, just listen to the magic he works in the 2nd movement! The only thing that mars this performance in the least is one moment in the 1st movement where an out-of-tune horn clashes with the piano. I wonder why they didn't fix that.

With recordings of the 2nd, the competition is stiffer; there are numerous worthy efforts. This is my very favorite piece of music, so the performance has to be pretty bad for me to hate it. I have many I enjoy and a few I love, notably, Richter's "romantic" version and the straightforward, "classical" rendition of Backhaus. I expected to be satisfied with Ashkenazy's always-reliable playing, his solid musicianship, his beautiful sonorities. Instead I was blown away! This is one of those times when the pianist is really one with the music, when he drinks deeply of it and lets it have its way. He lets forth with all the pathos, humor, drama, and tenderness that this work means to offer the listener.

In both concertos, everything is enhanced mightily by the uncanny rapport between Ashkenazy and Haitink. The conductor appreciates both these works for what they really are: symphonies with piano obligato. He does not merely accompany the soloist, but interacts with him. Whether the orchestral force is the Concertgegouw (in the 1st) or the Vienna Philharmonic (in the 2nd), pianist and orchestra seem to be one unit working together, rather than opposing forces fighting each other. Such is required in this music.

If these superb performances of the concertos weren't enough, we also have Ashkenazy conducting the Cleveland Orchestra in the "Handel" and "Haydn" Variations--also fine renditions. It's more music than you sometimes get in a two-disc set of the Brahms Concertos. (I have one by Barenboim which has in addition only the Haydn Variations.)

The whole effort is greatly aided by the excellent sonics. The concertos were recorded in the early '80s, the orchestral works some ten years later, all in digital sound. You won't find much better sound quality today, and a whole lot worse.

Add to fabulous performances and generous poritions a bargain price ...

I came across the combo of Bernard Haitink and Vladimir Ashkenazy quite honestly. Someone gave me their set of Rachmaninoff pcs as a gift. Gosh. They were teriffic! I got more interested. I am, and have been, a big fan of the Brahms concertos for 50 years and have heard them performed by a lot of people during those years. Recently on Youtube video I caught a performance of the Brahms 1st by Carlo Maria Giulini, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Vladimir Ashkenazy. I tore up the earth trying to find the cd of that and couldn't. It was great. When I spied the Haitink-Ashkenazy coupling, I grabbed it as quickly as I could. I have not been disappointed. These two have great chemistry. And their orchestras catch it!

Ashkenazy has had a great relationship over the years with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. He has recorded a lot of things with Haitink and conducted a lot of others with the orchestra. Well, the chemistry is there, and performance of the Brahms 1 is nothing short of sensational. It's the best one I know. It's inspiring, poetic, powerful, and rhapsodic. (Yeah! I do know because I got most of the others.) It is just great.

Now, are you ready for the other surprise? Number 2. It's done with the Vienna Philharmonic and our two principals, Haitink directing and Ashkenazy playing. It is a piece of sheer poetry, inspired all the way, and played and directed by some of the world's best. I just cannot describe this concerto because it is so uniquely poetic and rhapsodic, an example of Brham's more mature work. Great sound. Great playing. Great directing. Very mature and yet powerful and sophisticated performance.

If you're a Brahms lover, then you know the difference between the way you approach each of these concertos. I think their approach to the 2nd is about as mature, powerful, poetic, and beautiful as I have ever heard. I love the maturity of all these principals. Yes, proof is in the pudding. You won't stall out like Gilels and Jochum do. Get it and marvel like me.

These are performances that ought to be getting more play than they are because they are nothing short of sensational. Get them before they get away. Great sound on them too.