Brahms - Piano Concerto 1 [Brendel/ Abbado-Berliner Philharmoniker] 

Here's the first time that this disc appears in my Blog, and yet i've had this disc for nearly 15 years, it's the Brahms Piano Concerto 1 that i grew up with, and the performance where i really got to know the work, i wish Philips would re-issue this as a double with the Piano Concerto 2. 

Alfred Brendel hails from Austria, but has lived in London for ages, he is now 80 years old, sadly retired from professional playing now, he recorded this work in 1986, the front cover isn't great, and this is one of the reasons why it would be great to re-issue this with the Second Concerto as a double, with a really inspiring front cover. 

Here's Alfred Brendel playing the first movement on YouTube.

Faure - Piano Quartet 2 [Roge/Quatuor Ysaye] 

Faure is not greatly represented in my Blog, just 4 entries, and only two of them represent Faure discs, but his contribution to the piano repertoire is immeasurable, yes he lacks Symphonies and Concertos, and his big thing seems to be the Requiem, but his Chamber Music makes quiet strides, and breaks the Ravel / Debussy dominance of the French repertoire, plus he's so unique, there's nothing quite like him. 

Pascal Roge is French, now 60 years old, he recorded this work in 1996, i love these Decca Doubles [buy one get one free in essence!], they're so useful, and especially with Faure's Piano Quartets / Quintets they work out a treat, the photograph looks like some lavender fields in France, lovely and appropriate. 

Here's Gloria Chien and friends playing the second movement on YouTube.

Brahms - Piano Quartet 2 [Domus] 

Another one of Brahms's Piano Quartets from this excellent set by Domus, a month ago i wrote about his First Quartet [15th July 2011], now it's time to turn towards the Second, the Second Quartet is the only one of the three that is written in a major key [in A Major], it's also the longest of the three [nearly 50 minutes on this recording], all of the movements last more than ten minutes, the First Quartet was almost orchestral in nature [Schoenberg made an orchestral version of it], the Second Quartet is more low key and personal. 

The Domus Piano Quartet are a group from England, they get their name from a curious portable dome that they used in their concerts, they were established in 1979 and then disbanded in 1995, the booklet artwork is a painting by Henri Le Sidaner called 'Le Dimanche' [The Sunday], usually i shy away from paintings as CD covers, but this is actually a lovely painting, wonderful light coming in from the back of the girls, a really nice disc set to own. 

The huge first movement Allegro Non Troppo is the best, the opening tune is delightful, something Dvorak would have done, a lovely singing melody for solo piano [0:00-0:12], but taken up by the strings [0:20-0:30], and eventually hammered out by the piano [0:58+], a lovely triptych of presentations, there's something really Slavic about the whole thing, and this whole section explodes in again four minutes in [4:04-4:58+], i'm sure it's actually an exposition repeat, and it's a lovely restatement, there's another restatement two thirds of the way through [10:40+], and again as a sort of coda near the end [15:02+], this time played delicately in the treble, with tinkling piano, everything revolves around this theme, a lovely idea from Brahms.

Here's Ralf Gothoni and friends playing the first movement on YouTube.

Chopin - 21 Nocturnes [Stott] 

Here's a new set of the Chopin Nocturnes by Stott, well ok new to my collection, and i enjoyed these so much, i listened to disc one on the way to Church, and disc two on the way back, it's still August, it's meant to be a summer month, but already there's leaves on the ground, Autumn seems to be coming early this month, and in a real sense these Nocturnes fit in perfectly with the mood while walking through the park. 

Kathryn Stott is an English Pianist, now 52 years old, she recorded a celebrated four disc set of Faure's complete Piano Music, these discs were recorded in 1992, and the Unicorn Kanchana label folded not much later, which is a shame, as this recording and interpretation is a treasure, these discs come in one of those 1 inch 'fatbox' cases, i really do love these, the front cover picture [by Sandra Lousada] is fantastic, a black and white photo, but i guess sepia toned, a dark recording, nice shadows, especially on the keys, very creatively lit, superb dark areas, which highlight all the more the light areas. 

The Nocturnes that truly impressed me were 3-5, 7-8, 10-11, 13, & 16-20, with Nocturne 8 as a sublime experience, over the years i've had different favourites, certainly Nocturne 4 in the early days, but then it developed into Nocturne 7 & 10-11, but i think i've settled on Nocturne 8 as the quintessential piece that says the ideal, it has a beautiful melody, written in D Flat Major, it has a certain sadness to it, a constant tolling / beating left hand, 

Here's Maurizio Pollini playing the Eighth Nocturne on YouTube.