Brahms Concertos - 2 Cd's
By Martin Buzacott/Limelight
You’ll read reviews of this CD where itinerant and half-hearted Brahmsians will tell you that the tempi taken by conductor Andris Nelsons and soloist Helene Grimaud in this utterly remarkable, inspired and inspiring recording of the two Brahms piano concertos are too slow and leaden. You must not believe them. Just as true Brahmsians appreciate the glacial tempi of the symphonies in Celibidache’s legendary complete set, so here Nelson’s slower pace is all about unfolding the Brahms universe with its profound richness of detail and astonishing warmth of tone. There are so many recordings of Brahms First Piano Concerto, but few could be classified as Desert Island Discs and in fact many are downright disappointing. Well this performance of it recorded live in Munich changes all of that, and if by the end your legs are still able to support the weight of your body, assume that Brahms just isn’t really your thing. From that first opening orchestral chord, surely the most arresting ever captured on disc, Nelsons announces the epic scope of the enterprise ahead. Just three seconds in and your breath’s been taken away, and from there, he and remarkable Frenchwoman Grimaud are like two Alices in the Brahmsian Wonderland, each glorious new entry, whether in the piano itself, on the horn, or especially in the lower strings, unfolding at a tempo beyond human agency, like the clear dawn emerging after a storm, dazzling the senses in the process. Grimaud’s drama-charged, percussive style, eschews sentimentality but remains passionate nonetheless, filled with an emotion generated from within the music itself, the performers simply a part of a much larger whole. This is Brahms in 3D, everything standing up and being counted, almost as if it has some sort of moral presence all its own, gorgeously captured by the DG engineers in this textbook example of live recording. And then, after two movements of vastly intelligent, intense colour and drama, the finale of the First enters, now transformed into breakneck pace, but never losing its shape or focus as Grimaud, noted for her technical prowess, simply rips the thing apart. The Second Concerto doesn’t have quite the same inherent drama, but here it gets treatment as the First, with a different orchestra but the same injection of momentum with each new musical incident. Some people may mark this recording down a star because of Grimaud’s noticeably heavy breathing throughout, but many more, and definitely males, will give the allure-advantaged soloist bonus points for the very same reason. My God, what a disc.
Hélène Grimaud & Sol Gabetta
Duo
By RBSProds
An inspiring, enjoyable, powerhouse meeting between two award-winning highly-individualistic classical music superstars who consider their initial meeting as fateful, not coincidence. Hélène Grimaud (who is called "the earth" in their interview), one of the greatest interpretative classical pianists who experiences sound as colors, and star cello virtuoso Sol Gabetta ("the air"), famed for the nuanced, singing quality of her instrumental interpretations and her highly emotional playing, meld their 'earth and air' talents and personae into a marvelous musical duo. It began in 2011 in a joyful, fateful musical encounter that 'clicked' immediately. In a wide spectrum of musical tastes, they cover the duo compositions of Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, and Dmitri Shostakovich, and this diverse program works wonderfully and has toured to great success. All performances are excellent and the 'best of the best' begins with the 'storm to calm' of the 'Finale' of Debussy's Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in D Minor; the awesome beauty and virtuosity of the spellbinding 12 minute Shostakovich Allegro non troppo from the Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in D minor, Opus 40; the fiery third movement of Schumann's 'Drei Fantasiestücke' (Three Fantasies), Opus 73 and the overpowering beauty of the familiar 14 minute Allegro non troppo and the 6 minute Allegro-Più presto movements of Brahms Sonata for Piano and Violoncello No 1 in E minor, Opus 38. Awesome Grammy-nominated performances by two great artists who form a dynamic duo of singular musical purpose. My Highest Recommendation! Five BRILLIANT Stars! (13 tracks; Time 73 minutes, 45 seconds. Booklet notes in English, German, and French.
- This recording won the 2013 ECHO Klassic award as the Chamber Music Recording of the Year in the 19th Century Music (Mixed Ensemble category).
