Brahms - Piano Concerto 2 [Ashkenazy /Mehta-London Symphony Orchestra]Now this was a tremendous treat, the weather is now certainly Spring, so wanting to enjoy the outdoors, i went out for a long walk, and took this disc with me, and it really hit home, it's a genius of a creation, maybe it was the fresh air which just added to it all, i now see how alike Brahms's two Piano Concertos are, they both have these dark undercurrents, maybe the Second is a tad lighter, and the piano gets up into the treble more, but they both have that stamp about them, how i wish Brahms had composed a Third Concerto!, i raved about this disc nearly a year ago [27th April 2011].
Vladimir Ashkenazy is Russian, now 74 years old, i slightly feel he's a better Conductor than a Pianist, but still, what a Pianist, he recorded this work in 1967, not that far off 50 years ago, but it still sounds very good today, the front booklet photo [by Richard Holt] is really excellent, showing Ashkenazy in action at the piano, the background has purposely been whitened out, the lettering is perfectly done, with nice lines to separate the Composer / work, with the Soloist, and the Conductor / Orchestra, makes it very aesthetic on the eye.
As i played this Concerto, i really couldn't make up my mind which movement i loved the best, it's either the first or the third, there is a moment in each movement which is pure heaven, maybe i can speak about both, in the first movement there's a passage roughly a third of the way through, where Ashkenazy starts playing some truly delicious treble notes [6:13-7:21], and halfway through the third movement, it becomes very gentle and rapt [6:46+], and there's some truly endearing notes that just melt the heart [7:38-8:39].
Here's Ashkenazy playing the first movement and the third movement on YouTube.
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