Brahms Solo Piano Works

[Mandryka]

The best sounding version I have heard (I've only compared the recent remaster and the one you posted) is the one pictured above. Great performances, for sure. 

Just listen to the way he separates the voices in the final third of Op 117/3.


http://www.youtube.com/v/2LCXVXslcEw



I think this is a very late recording. Whatever -- it suggests to me that Gould was on the verge of some real artistic breakthroughs towards the end of his life.

Op 117/3 has done incredibly well on record. It must be that magic C sharp minor again 

I wonder what Brahms would say if he could hear this one  from Pogorelich.

http://www.youtube.com/v/0RI-yp9QfcU

[snyprrr]

Just listen to the way he separates the voices in the final third of Op 117/3.


http://www.youtube.com/v/2LCXVXslcEw



I think this is a very late recording. Whatever -- it suggests to me that Gould was on the verge of some real artistic breakthroughs towards the end of his life.

Op 117/3 has done incredibly well on record. It must be that magic C sharp minor again 

I wonder what Brahms would say if he could hear this one  from Pogorelich.

http://www.youtube.com/v/0RI-yp9QfcU

Perhaps the acolytes would all be telling him to stop, but then Brahms, interested, would nod to continue. Surely he never heard it like that? That's such a great comparison.



CONFESSION:

Other than the CQ and CS, I've never, never even payed any mind to Brahms. He was always right there in the middle of the 1800s like so much Romantic Watermark that I just ASSUMED!!!,... buuuuuuuut,

this Thread, which I went through last night, led me to YouTube the Gould Intermezzi, and, I gotta say, this is the stuff right here. Chime me in for liking the Late Brahms Piano Music! oh course, what's not to like?

Gould never makes a hard sound, which is why I don't understand the Kempff thing. I listened to the same piece by both, and Kempff sounded hard by comparison, 'hectoring' the notes,... stentorian? Gould???,...like butta! Did Pogo do the late stuff? Who IS the Dr. McDreamy of Brahms?



oh, and how bout it? I just learned another "famous" tune: the Intermezzo in b-flat minor! What movie was that? I love it when I find I've heard one of the 'chestnuts' my whole life, haha.



So, thanks to the Thread for roping in another one. And the scales fell.

[snyprrr]

Just kidding!

[Brahmsian]

I'll take Brahms piano pieces any day over Chopin.

I'll take Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert on the piano.  I wish Brahms would have written some middle and later period piano sonatas.

[Brahmsian]

I know people often talk more about Brahms' later piano works, and rightfully so.

Let us not forget the early piano gems, such as the Op.5 Piano Sonata, the Paganini, Schumann and Handel variations, and the Op.10 Ballades.

And any of his works (several) that were transcribed for Four-hands piano.

[springrite]

Just kidding!

You have to be. Everyone knows the next batch worthy of discussion are the latist but not too late yet not really early-middle-ish...

[Scarpia]

I wonder what Brahms would say if he could hear this one  from Pogorelich.

http://www.youtube.com/v/0RI-yp9QfcU

He's say, "awesome!"

[karlhenning]

I'll take Brahms piano pieces any day over Chopin.

Ouch! (Unhelpfully, I do like both, a very great deal.)

[Brahmsian]

Any of the pink discs in the Brahms' Box! 

[Josquin des Prez]

"Late" Brahms begins with the Opus 5.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I'll take Brahms piano pieces any day over Chopin.

I couldn't live without either!

I'll take Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert on the piano.

Who are some of your favorites in Schubert's piano works? 

I wish Brahms would have written some middle and later period piano sonatas.

You can sorta have your cake and eat it too with Brahms's chamber works with piano. That's because these works are often so piano-centered it's almost like listening to a solo piano piece with great string playing thrown in for good measure.

[Philoctetes]

I'll take Brahms piano pieces any day over Chopin.

I'll take Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert on the piano.  I wish Brahms would have written some middle and later period piano sonatas.

I'm with you.

[Mandryka]

Listen to this  Prelude

http://www.youtube.com/v/cNxYr-qU2w4

Or this Nouvelle Etude (sorry it's an antique but I can't see one I know with better sound)


http://www.youtube.com/v/ZItBrjyy0PY

Now, I don't know about music really, but don't those Chopin pieces sound like they could have been written by Brahms to you?

[Mandryka]

I don't play piano, so I'm constantly surprised by the extent to which the score underdetermines the performance. Contrast

Ignaz Tiegerman in Op 118/5 (which I only discovered yesterday )

http://www.youtube.com/v/ywuTgwaRjN0

with Gieseking (which I have known for a long long time)

http://www.youtube.com/v/YRoa_Y6QElc

[greg]

Nice videos.
I've always thought that Brahms was more about creating this certain type of heavy atmosphere that is uniquely his own. This is probably why some people might find him boring- or, in the case of Tchaikovsky, (so I heard) being annoyed that he isn't more directly melodic.

I'm with you.

Me 3.
Although it's interesting that he's one of the few composers that has his own sound from op.1 up until the end. You can tell his first piano sonata could have only been written by him- it has that Brahms atmosphere to it.

If you compare it with something like Prokofiev's op.1 1st Piano Sonata, that could probably have been written by Rachmaninoff, more or less.

[Octo_Russ]

Out later in the month, for me this is the most anticipated recording of the year, i love the Handel Variations, and Murray Perahia is quite a genius, ever since i heard that he was going to do a Brahms recital, i've been looking out for this, hope it doesn't disappoint.

And i hope he follows it up by recording the Ballades, the Op117 Intermezzi, and the Paganini Variations.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

For the Schumann, Handel, and Paganini variations this remarkable disc by the fiery Dutch pianist - Ivo Janssen - sets the bar high:

[Leo K.]

Bill - I went through this process a few years ago - had a couple of CDs of Brahms solo piano works (mentioned already here), but wanted a more 'complete' package, so I bought the Katchen set, and was generally pleased - the recordings date mainly from the 1960s; the reviews were mostly favorable (including comments from this forum at the time) - still have a Goode disc, but would be willing to hear others - thus, will be quite interested in this thread - Dave 

I am very happy so far with the Katchen set, of which I just received. Also, I've been very impressed with Valery Afanassiev's amazing disk of Brahms late solo piano works...

[Josquin des Prez]

Well, i've been exploring some of the recordings mentioned here. Here's some of my impressions.

Arrau. Don't like him much. I have the same issue with his Beethoven set, i find his style plodding and suffocating. He was great in his younger years but his abilities didn't age all that well. IMHO at any rate.

Katchen. His heart is in the right place, but i think the music is much too complicated for him. He gets into the right spirit of things and has an accurate sense of rhythm (which is probably why he does so well in the chamber pieces). Alas, he handles difficult passages with the delicacy and sophistication of a charging bull. Way too much detail is lost by this approach.

Gilels. The man seemed to have struggled for years to find a style that was technically articulated to the extreme without being any less artistic for it. And what does he do once he finds it? He dies! The nerve. That said, i don't think his approach here works as well as it did in his late Beethoven, but he still manages to pull off a good compromise between technical perfection and artistic expression. Wish he had lived long enough to record more.

Zimerman. He's kinda like Gilels. Supreme technical perfection without necessarily sacrificing artistry. Works very well in some places, but i find his Brahms to be just out of proportions. Its like he's trying to compensate for some perceived deficiency in the early style of Brahms (which admittedly is a bit dry) by going overboard with technical refinement. Still, i find his take on those early sonatas to be superior to Katchen, at the very least. I just wish he didn't play so much with dynamics, for one.

Lupu. Pretty much unmatched in the late pieces, and being that those late piano miniatures can be counted among the greatest music ever written by Brahms, it makes his set a definite keeper. He lacks a bit in dynamism but he makes up entirely in charm. Don't care for his recording of the opus 5 though. His style doesn't seem to work as well there.

Kovacevich. Like him in the Handel Variations. He has too much competition else where (like the late pieces).

Perahia. Never liked him, and probably never will. Bland bland bland. I do not understand what so many people seem to find in him.

Gould. Is there anything he has ever done besides those few Bach recordings that isn't utterly and completely cringe worthy? Don't answer that, there isn't. The man had the artistic sensibility of a transistor capacitor. I get that what he does is extremely impressive from a technical point of view but there's no excuse for being a smartass about it. He should have been beaten more as a child. That's the impression i get from the man.

Pogorelich (on the opus 79, haven't heard the rest). No. Just, no. His entire career in a nutshell. Some of his early recordings are amazing, but that's pretty it.

That's about it for now, will continue to explore since i'm not entirely happy about the recordings i have, one way or another. Except for Lupu maybe.

[Sammy]

Perahia. Never liked him, and probably never will. Bland bland bland. I do not understand what so many people seem to find in him.

Must be his good looks.