Brahms - Handel Variations [Ashkenazy]
Another Brahms disc, he's racked up more entries than any other Composer, 86 now to Beethoven's 79, i'm sure he'll hit the 100 mark first, it's good to have Ashkenazy playing some solo Brahms, i don't think he's a great piano soloist, he works better in Chamber music, or of course in Concertos, where his real strength lies, and even though he's very good here, i notice the 'cracks' in his playing when he doesn't have others to back him up, there's a certain sense of fumbling and becoming confused in the more taxing passages, but on the other hand he has some clever ideas in some of these variations, and it's good to hear the possibilities that this music can produce.
Vladimir Ashkenazy is Russian , now 74, he recorded this work here in 1990 or 1991, the photo is by G Neri, it shows Ashkenazy in a flowery shirt, leaning up against his piano, the background is darkened enough to give the subject prominence, i actually like the pose, even though he isn't smiling, the red lettering is strangely appealing.
Lots to enjoy here, the individual variations are not cued separately on this disc, rather they're clumped together in bunches, in 2-6 variations at a time, trying to give each clump it's own family of links, and when the work comes to a sort of rest, or goes off in another direction, then another cued link starts, my favourite variations were 1, 6-7, 18 & 21-22, like i said, Ashkenazy seems to give a new twist to certain variations, he can certainly be interesting, and it's good to hear individual variations that are not my very best favourites, some treatment which makes me sit up and reconsider their greatness, the two variations that i found most compelling were 21 & 22, nicely juxtaposed against each other,
Variation 21 - [starts at 2:13 on the YouTube video],
Variation 22 -
Variation 21 - [starts at 2:13 on the YouTube video],
Variation 22 -
