Composer: Johannes Brahms
Performer: Barry Douglas
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN10757
Release: 2013
Size: 0.98 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
4 Ballades, Op. 10
01. No. 2 in D Major
6 Klavierstücke, Op. 118
02. No. 3, Ballade in G Minor
3 intermezzi, Op. 117
03. No. 2 in B-Flat Minor
4 Klavierstücke, Op. 119
04. No. 4, Rhapsody in E-Flat Major
7 Fantasies, Op. 116
05. No. 2, Intermezzo in A Minor
06. No. 6, Intermezzo in E Major
07. 4 Ballades, Op. 10: No. 3 in B Minor, “Intermezzo”
Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5
08. I. Allegro maestoso – Più animato
09. II. Andante
10. III. Scherzo. Allegro energico
11. IV. Intermezzo (Rückblick). Andante molto
12. V. Finale. Allegro moderato ma rubato
This is Volume 2 in our series devoted to the works for solo piano by Johannes Brahms, with the acclaimed pianist Barry Douglas. Since winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow, Douglas has established a major international career, and his reputation as a pianist and conductor continues to grow.
Brahms wrote his set of four Ballades, Op. 10 (of which Nos 2 and 3 are included on this disc) at the age of twenty-one, and at a time of much personal upheaval. His friend and patron Schumann had attempted suicide and been confined to a sanatorium near Bonn, and Brahms had been thrust into the role of protector and comforter of Schumann’s wife, Clara, while coming to terms with his own strong feelings for her. Reflective of the difficult situation, these Ballades display a deep-felt blend of the dramatic and the lyrical.
A few months before he composed the Ballades, during his stay with the Schumanns in October 1853, Brahms completed a new piano sonata with which he had been struggling throughout the spring and summer of that year. Published as his Sonata No. 3, it would remain his single largest keyboard composition. It unites aspects of his two previous sonatas – the classical features of No. 1 with the romantic, fantasia-like character of No. 2 – and surpasses both of them in virtuosity and structural command.
Brahms’s collections of short piano pieces, issued as Op. 116 – 19, were among his final compositions for piano, and albeit a few of them provide brief glimpses of the old energy and fire, most are reflective, and deeply introspective in character. This was music that Brahms wrote to play for himself, or at the most to a few close friends. In fact, Clara Schumann was the first to see these in their manuscript form.
Following the varied programming of Johannes Brahms: Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 1, Barry Douglas presents a mix of early and late pieces to give the second volume emotional balance, and sets a series of short pieces against a monumental masterpiece. Douglas is a thoughtful and eloquent performer, and his Brahms has the hallmarks of serious consideration and introspection; nothing here is superfluous or simply offered for show. The sensitive selection of three Ballades and three Intermezzi to frame the muscular Rhapsody Op. 119/4, gives the first part of the program an internal unity and feeling of logical organization, even though the shifting moods feel as effortless and unplanned as clouds passing on a sunny afternoon. The Sonata No. 3 is placed at the end of the recital, as befits its stature, and Douglas’ interpretation gives it the feeling of gravitas and inevitability. Yet it also partakes of the fleeting moods that were carefully prepared in the early part of the program, so Douglas’ shaping of this album shows great care in preparation. Chandos provides a pleasant recorded sound that makes the piano sound close enough for intimate passages but big and spacious enough for the grand statements.