Johannes Brahms: Klavierquartette Nr.1-3 auf 2 CDs

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Hyperion is proud to present as its Record of the Month for November electrifying new performances of the three Brahms Piano Quartets: the celebrated Leopold String Trio is joined by Marc-Andé Hamelin. The G minor quartet (1861—actually Brahms's second foray into the genre) offers a heady mix of unbridled gypsy vigour cast within a musical architecture of symphonic mastery, characteristics not lost on Arnold Schoenberg who later made an orchestral arrangement. The following year saw the premiere of the A major quartet, Brahms himself at the piano in offering to the world a work which would be hugely popular during his lifetime before falling inexplicably to the periphery of the repertoire in recent times. It was over a decade later, in 1873 / 4, that Brahms returned to his aborted C minor quartet: »Imagine a man who is just going to shoot himself, for there is nothing else to do«, wrote composer to publisher of this profoundly moving score. Much of the 1850s material is recast, and the resulting quartet is a tense masterpiece terminated by a cadence of perfunctory abruptness. Unsatisfied fatalism triumphs. This generously filled set is concluded with the Op 117 Intermezzos for solo piano. One of four late groups of piano pieces Brahms composed with his beloved Clara Schumann very much in mind, these exquisite miniatures find an eloquent interpreter in Marc-André Hamelin. The recorded sound here is astonishing, both in its immediacy and raw energy: every passionate nuance of Brahms's Romantic vision is perfectly captured. Awards can be expected.

Rezensionen

»The Scherzo of the C minor Piano Quartet (No 3) is dispatched with dazzling brilliance yet never sacrifices the music's underlying sense of stress and anxiety. Even more stunning is Hamelin's fingerwork in the Ronda alla Zingarese of No 1 in G minor, the playing outstripping all rivals in terms of its blistering pace and unbridled aggression« (BBC Music Magazine)

»This is bracing, high-voltage stuff, with phrasing and razor-sharp articulation that positively command attention ... These are richly integrated, profoundly organic performances of epic scope ... This is a magnificent release by any standards« (Piano Magazine)

»Das Klavier ist die Stütze des Fort-gangs, das tragende Element; und mit Hamelin am Klavier gelangt diese Einspielung zu einer Intensität, die Brahms als Neuerer mit Blick auf sinfonische Größe in der Kammermusik und als großartigen Klangkünstler darstellt – so sollte Brahms klingen, nicht anders« (Ensemble Magazine, Germany)

»It's a pleasure to say that these new recordings are just as fine, if not better, than any I've heard … Pianist Marc-André Hamelin (so distinguished in his numerous Concerto and solo recordings for Hyperion) knows just when to stretch a phrase or lighten a chord … while always sensitively rendering his part in relation to the strings … The Leopold String Trio's intelligent use of vibrato and portamento gives a perfect finish to its already attractive tone. Together with Hamelin, the results are magic … If you think you know these works, think again: these are performances to challenge you afresh« (Limelight magazine, Australia)