MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW
Plain text for smartphones & printers


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

Support us financially by purchasing this disc from

Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Works for Solo Piano - Volume Two
Ballade, Op. 10, No 2 [6:48]
Ballade, Op. 118, No 3 [3:10]
Intermezzo, Op. 117, No 2 [3:45]
Rhapsody, Op 119, No 4 [5:08]
Intermezzo, Op. 116, No 2 [3:48]
Intermezzo, Op. 116, No 6 [3:39]
Ballade, Op. 10, No 3 ‘Intermezzo’ [3:57]
Sonata No 3, Op. 5 (1853) [37:20]
Barry Douglas (piano)
rec. 12-13 September 2012, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge. DDD
CHANDOS CHAN10757 [68:35]

Last year I greatly enjoyed the first volume of Barry Douglas’s projected cycle of the solo piano music of Brahms (review) and I’m glad that it has been followed fairly closely by Volume Two. As before Douglas includes a substantial work - last time it was the Handel Variations - and a selection of shorter pieces. I still regret that he’s breaking up Brahms’s collections of short pieces, Op. 10 and Opp. 116-119. That means that collectors can’t conveniently access Douglas’s performances of, say, Op. 10 on the same disc but there we are; that particular die is obviously cast.
 
The present programme is dominated by the mighty Third Piano Sonata. In his excellent notes Calum MacDonald speculates that this work may have been written as a response and antithesis to the Liszt B minor Sonata, which Brahms had heard Liszt play not long before he composed this sonata. The scale and ambition of the Third Sonata is such that I think this is a very plausible suggestion. The huge first movement is highly Romantic and ranges through several moods. Following in the score I noted several occasions when Barry Douglas eased back the tempo though such changes were not marked, at least not in my edition. However, I make that point not as a criticism because it seems to me that these are entirely justifiable and convincing interpretative decisions and they all seem to work very well. The development section is played with no little passion, whether the music is loud or soft, and this seems highly appropriate to the music. Douglas combines strength and expressiveness in what I think is a commanding reading of this movement.
 
He’s poised and expressive in the songful Andante which, to be honest, comes as refreshment for the listener after the turbulent and big first movement. Near the close Barry Douglas offers much serene playing in the Andante molto. The Scherzo is exciting and propulsive in his hands though there’s grace in the trio. The second slow movement in this five-movement work is entitled ‘Intermezzo’. That title often suggests music that is light and easeful but this movement doesn’t fall into this category. In fact Brahms added the word ‘Rückblick’ to the title, which is translated in the notes as ‘a backward glance’. It’s a strange, probing composition and the bass demi-semiquavers suggest a funeral march. Barry Douglas is very fine indeed in this movement. The finale begins dramatically and thereafter describes a variety of moods, including an important chorale-like episode. This movement is an ingenious piece of no little compositional virtuosity. It calls also for pianistic virtuosity and Barry Douglas seems to me to meet all these demands. His is a compelling and highly impressive account of the whole sonata.
 
Having written three piano sonatas between 1851 and 1853 Brahms never returned to the form, preferring instead either variation form or small-scale individual pieces, albeit grouped into sets, when writing for the solo piano. Perhaps, as Calum MacDonald suggests, he had said all he wanted to say in sonata form when it came to solo piano music.
 
Most of the rest of Barry Douglas’s programme comes from those late sets of pieces that comprise Opp. 116-119. He does, however, include another two of the four Ballades, Op. 10 - Op. 10/4 was included in Volume 1. Like the fourth movement of the Sonata, Op. 10/3 carries the title ‘Intermezzo’ and once again it may be felt to be something of a misnomer for the piece opens with music that is restlessly energetic. The piece has a tripartite form with a lighter trio which achieves an almost ghostly end in this performance. That’s ideal because the following reprise of the opening material is much more subdued in volume. Like the sonata movement it’s a strange piece - Schumann told Brahms that he found it ‘demonic’ - and Barry Douglas plays it with fine imagination.
 
His selection also includes the lyrical Op. 116/6, which he plays with excellent feeling. I also liked his way with Op. 117/2. This contains a good deal of liquid, graceful music though the pianist also has to bring out the inner strength that’s in the music at times. There’s both delicacy and depth in Barry Douglas’s playing. By contrast Op. 118/3 is, for much of the time, bolder and stronger in tone and Douglas gives it excellent rhythmical energy. The central section moves into calmer waters - via a slightly surprising key change - and this is another place in this recital where the pianist’s lyrical strengths show through.
 
This is another very fine Brahms recital from Barry Douglas. He seems to me to have the measure of the music, whether Brahms is in robust or autumnal mood, and it goes without saying that he has the full technical range to enable him to master the pianistic challenges as well as the interpretative ones. The recording was made in the same venue as Volume 1 and, I suspect, using the same Steinway. The recorded sound - and the instrument - seem ideally suited to this music. As I said earlier, the notes are excellent.
 
With two volumes now under his belt I think it can safely be said that this is shaping up to be an excellent survey of the Brahms solo piano music and I hope the next instalment will be with us soon.
 
John Quinn