Brahms - Late Piano Works, opp. 116-119
£16.10
Currently out of stock at the UK suppliers. Available to order, but is likely to take longer than usual to despatch
Despatch Information
This despatch estimate is based on information from both our own stock and the UK supplier's stock.
If ordering multiple items, we will aim to send everything together so the longest despatch estimate will apply to the complete order.
If you would rather receive certain items more quickly, please place them on a separate order.
If any unexpected delays occur, we will keep you informed of progress via email and not allow other items on the order to be held up.
If you would prefer to receive everything together regardless of any delay, please let us know via email.
Pre-orders will be despatched as close as possible to the release date.
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Cat No: HMM902365
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Instrumental
Release Date: 21st January 2022
Contents
Works
Fantasias (7), op.116Intermezzi (3), op.117
Klavierstucke (4), op.119
Klavierstucke (6), op.118
Artists
Paul Lewis (piano)Works
Fantasias (7), op.116Intermezzi (3), op.117
Klavierstucke (4), op.119
Klavierstucke (6), op.118
Artists
Paul Lewis (piano)About
By turns tender and dazzling, intimate and tempestuous, these pieces appear to us as their composer’s final confidences, entrusted to a crepuscular diary.
Sound/Video
Paused
-
17 Fantasien, op.116: 1. Capriccio in D minor (Presto energico)
-
27 Fantasien, op.116: 2. Intermezzo in A minor (Andante)
-
37 Fantasien, op.116: 3. Capriccio in G minor (Allegro passionato)
-
47 Fantasien, op.116: 4. Intermezzo in E major (Adagio)
-
57 Fantasien, op.116: 5. Intermezzo in E minor (Andante con grazia ed intimissimo sentimento)
-
67 Fantasien, op.116: 6. Intermezzo in E major (Andantino teneramente)
-
77 Fantasien, op.116: 7. Capriccio in D minor (Allegro agitato)
-
83 Intermezzi, op.117: 1. Intermezzo in E flat major (Andante moderato)
-
93 Intermezzi, op.117: 2. Intermezzo in B flat minor (Andante non troppo e con molta espressione)
-
103 Intermezzi, op.117: 3. Intermezzo in C sharp minor (Andante con moto)
-
116 Klavierstücke, op.118: 1. Intermezzo in A minor (Allegro non assai, ma molto appassionato)
-
126 Klavierstücke, op.118: 2. Intermezzo in A major (Andante teneramente)
-
136 Klavierstücke, op.118: 3. Ballade in G minor (Allegro energico)
-
146 Klavierstücke, op.118: 4. Intermezzo in F minor (Allegretto un poco agitato)
-
156 Klavierstücke, op.118: 5. Romanze in F major (Andante)
-
166 Klavierstücke, op.118: 6. Intermezzo in E flat minor (Andante, largo e mesto)
-
174 Klavierstücke, op.119: 1. Intermezzo in B minor (Adagio)
-
184 Klavierstücke, op.119: 2. Intermezzo in E minor (Andantino un poco agitato)
-
194 Klavierstücke, op.119: 3. Intermezzo in C major (Grazioso e giocoso)
-
204 Klavierstücke, op.119: 4. Rhapsodie in E flat major (Allegro risoluto)
Europadisc Review
In the case of the late piano music – the genre in which he felt most at home – Brahms used the piano miniature as inherited from his late friend and mentor Robert Schumann to create an utterly distinct soundworld, at once paying tribute to the great miniaturists of the past and in some cases displaying a pre-expressionist musical language that was to have a profound effect on the generation of Zemlinsky and Schoenberg. As one contemporary English reviewer put it, ‘Not one of these new pieces is in length greater than a drawing-room sketch, but one and all display concentration of thought and a wealth of poetic feeling’.
For the performer, one of the most important issues is where and how to ‘pitch’ these works, so that they are neither skated over in a superficial manner nor distastefully self-indulgent. And it is the great strength of Paul Lewis’s constantly absorbing performances that he judges the balance so well. Compared with Stephen Hough’s widely-praised recent recording of the same works (Hyperion), Lewis is consistently slower, yet there’s nothing self-regarding about his playing. Rather, it feels all of a piece with Brahms’s music: fabulously rich in detail (helped by a warm but well-focussed recording by Harmonia Mundi in Berlin’s Teldex studio), often passionate (in the three Capriccios of op.116, for example) and even imposing, but never too big-boned or grandstanding.
In fact, Lewis seems to take the virtues of Hough’s refreshingly straightforward, natural approach, while allowing the music more space to breathe and bloom. Sometimes he is just a shade slower than Hough, while at others (like the glorious three Intermezzi, op.117, or the indescribably desolate E flat minor Intermezzo that concludes op.118) the difference is marked. Yet not once does he feel too slow or lethargic in the bad old manner. Moments like the transition to the grandiose central section of the passionate G minor Capriccio of op.116 are perfectly judged. And Lewis is more successful at drawing the melancholy out of ‘every bar and every note’ (as Brahms is believed to have wanted) in the B minor Intermezzo that opens op.119 than Hough, whose accents sound rather too contrived by comparison. In the same set, he captures perfectly the dry, jerky humour of the penultimate number, making it the perfect foil for the passionate virtuosity of the closing E flat Rhapsody which serves as Brahms’s swansong to the solo piano genre.
There is an abundance of nuance and colour, shade and touch in Lewis’s playing that brings all of these pieces – even the most introspective – vividly to life. Try the second E major Intermezzo of op.116 (no.6 of the set), where his way of savouring the thirds in the harmony endows it with a trombone-like solemnity and richness. It makes for a thrilling contrast with the brilliance of the opening bars to the following D minor Capriccio. The G minor Ballade of op.118, though not pressed as hard as some performances, wants nothing for energy. In fact, sample this set at virtually any point and you will find warm-hearted, generous yet insightful playing of rare distinction and taste, all at the service of some of late Romanticism’s greatest music.
By coincidence, Stephen Hough appears on another recent Brahms recording on the BIS label, partnering Michael Collins in the two late Clarinet Sonatas, op.120, as well as Collins’s own astonishingly successful adaptation of the Violin Sonata no.2, op.100. These are wonderfully poised yet exceptionally vivid accounts, the fast movements invigorating in that unique late Brahmsian manner, while the slower ones seem to take flower from Collins’s deliciously woody tone, enhanced by the finely-etched, ‘toppy’ tone of Hough’s Bechstein instrument. As with Lewis in the late piano music, Collins and Hough are masters of nuance and inflection here, bringing out a brightness that feels entirely apt for these marvellous late creations. All in all, these two discs serve up a veritable feast for fans of late Brahms!
Error on this page? Let us know here
Need more information on this product? Click here