Composer: Johannes Brahms
Performer: Barry Douglas
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN10878
Release: 2015
Size: 958 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Intermezzo, Op. 118
01. No. 1
Sarabande, WoO 5 posth.
02. No. 1
Variations on a Theme by Niccolò Paganini, Book II, Op. 35
03. Thema. Non troppo presto
04. Variation 1
05. Variation 2. Poco animato
06. Variation 3
07. Variation 4. Poco Allegretto
08. Variation 5
09. Variation 6. Poco più vivace
10. Variation 7
11. Variation 8. Allegro
12. Variation 9
13. Variation 10. Feroce
14. Variation 11. Vivace
15. Variation 12. Un poco Andante
16. Variation 13. Un poco più Andante
17. Variation 14. Presto
Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21 No. 1
18. Thema. Poco larghetto
19. Variation 1
20. Variation 2. Più moto
21. Variation 3
22. Variation 4
23. Variation 5. Tempo di tema
24. Variation 6. Più moto
25. Variation 7. Andante con moto
26. Variation 8. Allegro non troppo
27. Variation 9
28. Variation 10
29. Variation 11. Tempo di tema, poco più lento
Sarabande, WoO 5 posth.
30. No. 2
31. Scherzo, Op. 4
Intermezzo, Op. 76
32. No. 3
Intermezzo, Op. 118
33. No. 4
Hungarian Dance, WoO 1
34. No. 3
Intermezzo, Op. 76
35. No. 4
Variations on a Hungarian Song, Op. 21 No. 2
36. Allegro
37. Variation 1
38. Variation 2
39. Variation 3
40. Variation 4
41. Variation 5
42. Variation 6
43. Variation 7. Poco più lento
44. Variation 8
45. Variation 9
46. Variation 10
47. Variation 11
48. Variation 12
49. Variation 13
50. Allegro. Tempo I più animato
Hungarian Dance, WoO 1
51. No. 1
52. No. 5
if you like your Brahms super-rugged, this CD will not disappoint. Douglas’s powerful tone and serious demeanour captures the composer’s uncompromising side; yet there’s a sense of flow that makes the intermezzos generous and warm without veering towards the emotionally indulgent
Douglas continues to create provocative playlists by liberating short pieces from opus-number groups and strategically programming them alongside larger-scale compositions…a mixed bag laced with genuine pearls
It’s a well thought-out and stylistically comprehensive survey, which throws an interesting, and conspicuously non-French perspective on a genre that came into its own in the 20th century.