Brahms - 6 Klavierstucke Op118 [Angelich]In the last two months there's been 9 entries in my Blog about Brahms's solo piano music, two of those entries have been about this disc set [22nd October 2010] & [2nd November 2010], again i have to admit that the piano music of Brahms is truly becoming quite a passion, the Op118 Klavierstucke are the first pieces i got to know out of the Op116-119 small pieces of Brahms, and No2 made an especially great impression on me at the time.
Nicholas Angelich is an American Pianist, he is now 40, he recorded this 2 disc set in 2006, the photography for this set [by Stephane De Bourgies] is excellent, the clichéd 'chair turned around the other way' actually works a treat, i never tire of this device!, the lettering is well laid out, and to use blue for the name of Brahms is a nice touch which really adds something, the actual front cover photograph is lovely, a full body shot, with some very nice lighting, nice shadows on the face, and a pleasing background, great colours too.
On this listening, it was again the two beautiful Andantes, which almost bookend the set as the second and fifth pieces, that i was moved by the very most, but again the second piece is so tranquil and beautiful, i feel i need to explain why it really seeps into my soul, right from the opening, i can hear a lovely ring from the piano, which has been well caught by the engineers, a well recorded piano goes a long way towards truly enjoying a performance at the hands of someone as masterful as Angelich, at the start the right hand is the dominant in playing the tune, and the left hand accompaniment nicely supportive [0:00-1:38], it's the middle section that gives a nice contrast [2:25-4:20], and even this middle section has three parts to it, and has a middle section itself [3:10-3:44], which sounds tremendously like a Chopin Nocturne, maybe Brahms was influenced by Chopin here, it's certainly an oasis of calm and beauty, this for me is probably the best part of this Intermezzo, the gentle opening returns [4:21+], and completes the piece.
Here's Eduardo Fernandez playing Op118/2 on YouTube.
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