Brahms Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2. Andras Schiff/OAE. ECM New Series CD//24/96.
Oddly enough, despite being so moved, so in awe of it, I found it quite difficult to find the words, to try to describe this recording.
Why? Because it seems so fresh and new, yet so quintessentially Brahmsian, that to pick out detail or idiosyncrasy (very few of the latter, though they are there…) felt inappropriate or even impossible.
Rarely does one come across recordings of familiar masterpieces that seem to express the music so completely as this one does, neither understated nor overstated, yet never remotely dull or polite. Which is why one possible word for it is: Archetypal.
That Brahmsian passion is there: the storm, the lament, the elegy, the final release of No.1 is there; the exultant levity, the gracious dance, the (subversively) impassioned scherzo, the regret recollected in tranquillity, and the wit of No.2 is there; those Brahmsian sonorities of blended yet colourful winds against or with, the strings; the brass rounding out at climactic moments, emotionally and texturally fulfilling; the wonderfully musical, meaningful audibility of the piano itself, especially in moments of accompaniment as the finale of the B Flat.
So what else is it that makes this release a distinctive achievement worth celebrating?
Partly the sonorities of the period instruments, so effortlessly agile and expressive, their textural and rhythmical clarity so clear and colourful; partly the Blüthner piano itself, with its singing, ringing tone and such wide-ranging address under Schiff’s fingers. So grandeur and power, yes, but an utter lack of rhetorical exaggeration or textural heaviness.
But beyond all of this - an authority; a great and lasting statement of what these works mean to so many of us; to so many listeners through the decades, the centuries since they were written. Their emotional gamut from tragedy to triumph, from elegy to lightheartedness, on loud or gentle waves of melody, rhythm and texture.
So I come back to that idea: an Archetype of all that Brahms means and has meant, for so long, to me, and so many others. As if these performances had always been there, timelessly, hidden in the raw block of marble before the sculptor begins…
***
Recorded sound is impeccable, very naturally balanced - as good as I’ve heard off CD or a 24/96 stream.
All comments welcome as ever - perhaps even more interesting from anyone who had reservations….
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