Brahms - 4 Ballades [Dalberto]
This is a wonderful disc, i played this last month [2nd September 2010], and it's a disc i haven't had all that long, and already it's a treasured disc, and Brahms's piano music is becoming even more of an endearment, the early 4 Ballades are probably not his most popular piano pieces, but for me they're some of the very best Brahms, including his non solo piano works, there's a youthfulness about them, but also a yearning for something more mature, it beats the socks off his 3 Piano Sonatas.
Michel Dalberto is French, but records much more in the German repertoire, certainly Brahms and Schubert, and Mozart and Liszt too, the French repertoire is not so big, maybe some Debussy, he mainly has recorded for the Denon label.
I very much enjoyed Dalberto's take on Brahms's second Ballade, Dalberto has a fair sort of tempo to start off with, and it's the very opening [0:00-0:06] which seems a tad too fast / literal, there's poetry in those notes Michel!, he misses the very sublime 'shock / wonder' these notes can have as they first sing out of the keyboard, a little slower and weighted would have done wonders, however not too much should be made out of these six seconds, as the piece is excellent thereon [0:00-1:38], i love the notes at [0:24+], they're so touching, it's amazing what an effect a little phrase can have, also the little hesitations at [0:56 & 1:04] Dalberto does so well, the angry middle section is well done indeed [1:38-4:02], lots of nice tension, the return of the gentle opening is heavenly [4:02+], and the left hand closes the piece down with the main tune [5:43-6:59], with some really nice notes, that descend down into the nostalgic night, a truly beautiful creation, it's a pity that Brahms didn't write some Nocturnes.
Here's Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli playing the second Ballade on YouTube.
