Johannes Brahms - Piano Concertos; Fantasias (Emil Gilels; Eugen Jochum)

Information

Composer: Johannes Brahms

CD1

• Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15

CD2

• Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83
• Fantasias (7 Piano Pieces), Op. 116

Emil Gilels, piano

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Eugen Jochum, conductor

Date: 1972; 1975 / 1996

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

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Review

This is a set that comes so showered with critical acclaim that comment from me hardly seems necessary. RO’s apposite booklet-notes make reference to Jerrold Northrop Moore’s original Gramophone review, in which Gilels and Jochum were praised for “a rapt songfulness that in no way detracts from Brahms’s heroism, and so comes closer to that unique and complex combination of attitudes that for me is Brahms more than any other performances of these concertos I have ever heard, on records or otherwise”. One might add that Jochum and the Berlin Philharmonic make plain sailing where others struggle with choppy cross-currents (sometimes to Brahms’s advantage, admittedly) and that the recordings don’t sound their age. And what of the situation since 1972? Abbado and Brendel have perhaps probed a little deeper here and there, Kovacevich and Sawallisch won a Gramophone Award for their recording of No. 1 and sundry reissues have reminded us of such contrasted partnerships as Rubinstein with Reiner in the First Concerto and, in the Second, Adrian Aeschbacher raging wild with Furtwangler and, also in the Second, Serkin with Szell.

Neither concerto rests content with a single interpretation, the Second especially – and there one can additionally turn to Gilels’s fiery first recording under Fritz Reiner, so much swifter than this Berlin remake (15'54'', 8'03'', 11'57'' and 8'44'' as compared with 18'22'', 9'31'', 14'04'' and 9'47''). Some will prefer it, although RCA’s 1958 recording is nowhere near as refined as on this DG set. As for the Seven Piano Pieces, I can only echo RO who, again in the context of the booklet, concludes that Gilels viewed the opus as “a single piece, a musical novella in several chapters”. For me it is the highlight of the set.

— Gramophone

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Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable. Brahms composed for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, organ, and voice and chorus. Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. An uncompromising perfectionist, Brahms destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished. Brahms is often considered both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters, with a highly romantic nature embedded within.

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Emil Gilels (19 October 1916 – 14 October 1985) was one of the leading Soviet classical pianists of the 20th century. He graduated from the Odessa and Moscow Conservatories, where he studied with Heinrich Neuhaus. In 1938 he won first prize at the Ysaÿe international competition in Brussels. After World War II, Gilels toured outside the Soviet Union. His debuts in New York City (1955) and London (1959) met with high praise. Although the works of Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven were the core of his repertoire, his performances of the works of J.S. Bach, Bartók and Prokofiev also were highly regarded.

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