Octo_Russ

Brahms - Piano Concerto 1 [Zimerman/ Rattle-Berliner Philharmoniker] 

I bought this a short while back, and today i got the chance to give it its first spin, it's an intense performance, boisterous and angry in fortes, lyrical yet mysterious in the quieter passages, Rattle likes extremes, likes to play the music hard driven, loves the hard use of timpani here, Zimerman is a staccato Pianist on the whole, and this is a fine dark reading, surprisingly this is the first time this work appears in my Blog!, and long overdue too, i must admit that i just haven't got round to playing this work recently, so it was all the more joyous to renew my acquaintance today.

Krystian Zimerman is from Poland, now 54 years old, he made this recording in 2003-2004, the booklet cover shows Rattle and Zimerman together, a very soft focus shot, not sharp at all, but i still like it, gone are the days when DG had those huge yellow banners at the top of the booklet, now they print a nice small discreet logo instead.

The first movement is roughly 45% of the Concerto, it really is mammoth [over 23 minutes long], and is full of D Minor drama, this was the first Piano Concerto i ever heard, and in my Classical naivete i found it dark and dissonant, and it's still true today, yet this is now a very upbeat Concerto for me, there's a mournful section right at the beginning, with mainly low strings, shrouded in the mists of mystery [1:04-1:56], listen to how Rattle caresses a quiet passage so lovingly [1:30-1:37], bringing out much tenderness, later in the first movement, while the piano is winding down, the horn gets a nice little solo [10:19-10:44], there's a slightly happier respite, the piano sings out gaily in little piano rolls [13:41-13:58], one thing i don't like about Zimerman, is his penchant for slightly slowing things down in a moment of forte drama, plus there's a staccato-ness, it certainly impedes the flow of those 'glory' moments, when power needs to surge without any restrictions, a lovely glowing autumnal surge from the lower strings [19:26+], somewhat announcing that the movement is moving towards a close, and more piano and horn duets [20:16+ & 21:03+], the second time winding down into a blissful quiet, with distant timpani heartbeats in the background [21:20-21:43], as a closer Brahms gives us the power and the glory, frantic hammering piano [22:20-22:46], and then right after these scaling runs up and down the piano [22:46+], really thrilling, a superb example of an intense Piano Concerto from the 25 year old Brahms.

Here's Zimerman and Rattle playing the first movement on YouTube.