RECORDS Symphonic Brahms

Press, Volume C, Issue 29497, 26 April 1961, Page 10

RECORDS Symphonic Brahms

BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15. Julius Katehen (piano) with Pierre Monteux conductinc the London Symphony Orchestra. Decca stereo

SXLMZI72 (121 n Brahms’ first piano concerto began life as a symphony started in 1854, when the composer was 21. The symphony was never completed but was cast into the form of a sonata for two pianos. Brahms’s friend, Grimm insisted that the twopiano form was inadequate to contain the work’s great ideas, but Brahms insisted equally that he was not yet ready to write a symphony. Grimm then suggested that the music might be arranged as a piano- concerto. The first two movements of the sonata were accordingly rewritten for the concerto—the third movement appears in the "German Requiem”—and a new finale was composed. The work was first performed in 1859 to an audience which found its intensity unbearably angular and its beauty too original to make any effect. Brahms continued to alter the work until the full

score was published in !873. It is doubtful whether Brahms really intended to create a new form, a symphonic work with piano qbbligato ,as some commentators have claimed; the piano's closely-integrated relationship with the orchestra i* probably Just a by-product of tho work’s symphonic origins. Anyway, this partiallarly close piano-orchestra, relationablp makes it imperative that recordings of tko’ work shall be balance! naturally, and this is just what the Decca engineerr have done. Tliere is no suggestion at spotlighting thS piano in this full-bodied stere*, though -ttor* seems to bo some restriction of dynamic rangein the last movement and the mitttce note on the copy reviewed exceeds even the considerable amount vrbieh one baa oom* to accept u batt* inseparable from stereo discs. Those using tte dual-purpose

,7-mil. sitylus may have less trouble. Monteux, the doyen of conductors, is not usually associated with Brahms, but he shapes the orchestral part with great power and depth, aided by fine playing by the L.S.O. Katehen is at his best in the turbulence and drama of the outer movements. The serene inwardness of the adagio seems to elude him, or at least to be applied from without rather than growing from within. BRAHMS: Plano Concerto No. 2 in B-llat major, Op. S 3. Hans Rlchter-Haaser (piano) with Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Columbia 33MCX.1680 (12ln). Brahms’ monumental Second Concerto, inspired by a visit to Italy Brahms made in 1878 ,is a work of different character. There is still grandeur, but it is more mellow, and the introspection of the slow movement of the D minor Concerto has become suffused by tenderness. Even more than in the First Concerto, the piano part is an integral part of the whole symphonic structure and in consequence it is a work in whsch conductors rather than pianists tend to dominate—when they are of a single mind, as in the famous old Horowitz - Toscanini set, miracles can happen. RichterHaaser, who is a strong and commanding pianist, here seems happy to let Karajan take the leading role in their collaboration, for it has all the earmarks of a Karajan performance. The emphasis is on lyrical sweetness and high romantic warmth wherever possible. This approach is particularly successful in the Andante, but elsewhere the schmalz sometimes seems to be spread too thickly, especially where the onward march of Brahms’ symphonic thought is halted by Karajan’s slackening of

the pace. Those who favour • romantic view of Brahms are unlikely to be disappointed, however. The Berlin Philharmonic's sound has a wonderful mellow brilliance, the solo playing—both piano and orchestral—is exoeltent and tte balance problems have been solved by the engineers.

s&assr Kletzki'g view of Brahma is similar to Karajan’s in the recording above—a search tor beauty of detail at the ex-, pense of structural cohesion and strength. Ulis approach has many virtues but when it results in stodgy rhythm in the first and last mCßWhents it is inclined to obecure the essential grandeur of Brahms’ symphonic style Nevertheless, when reeoedtogg of Brahms symphonies are few and. far between, if Is an acceptable account of . a greet work, for the orchestra plays well and the reproduction is good.