Suggestion for Brahms

Piano is a featured instrument in two of my favorite Brahms chamber recordings: Harmonia Mundi HMC 901981 and BIS SACD 1353. The HM has the Horn Trio, Violin Sonata op. 78, and Fantasien op. 116, while the BIS has the two clarinet sonatas and the Trio in A minor for clarinet, piano, cello. Very fine performers -- Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov, Martin Froest -- and superb recorded sound. (Re the piano concertos, lots of good performances out there but not necessarily phenomenal recordings IMHO.)

Reiner/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the Symphony No. 4 on Chesky. Recorded by Ken Wilkinson in Kingsway Hall. This was originally on Readers Digest.

I'm still very fond of the classic Ricther/Leinsdorf in the Piano Concerto No. 2.

Good suggestions from Larsmusik.

IMHO, you can't go wrong with Brahms' solo piano music. The late piano pieces, Op. 116-119, the sonatas and rhapsodies are excellent. My favorite Brahms pianist is Stephen Bishop Kovacevich. Check out the mid-priced Phillips Duo release of late Brahms piano music, which is mostly a re-release of performances by Kovacevich. Performances are excellent and sonics are good. The original releases sound better to me, but not by much.

For that matter, the Phillips Duo sets of trios and piano quartets are quite a good value, but I'm no authority on the best of the sea of chamber recordings out there.

Brahms wrote tremendous large ensemble choral works. Listen to Shaw/Atlanta Symphony and Chorus for the Alto Rhapsody, Song of the Fates, Song of Lamentation, Song of Destiny and Deutsche Requiem, all on Telarc.

Don't stop there...

Some Brahms orchestral recordings on CD that I'm partial to are:
1) The four symphonies by Mackerras on Telarc with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Warm but less dense than regular full blown orchestral versions.

2)Piano Concerto #1 by Zimerman & Rattle on DG, and both 1&2 by Nelson Freire & Chailly on Decca (on 2 CD's).

3) Violin Concerto by Hilary Hahn & Sir Neville Marriner on Sony.

There are performances of all of these that I prefer but I think the recording might not be up to 'audiophile' quality. But if you can find them (old LP's) the Brahms VC by Perlman, the PC's by Gilels on DG, and the Symphonies by Walters are really worth having.

Interested in music for solo piano? Some of my favorite Brahms...........

There is a two CD set by Hyperion featuring the Florestan Trio doing the complete piano trios. They also include the horn trio and the clarinet trio. Susan Tomes is the pianist and is quite good IMO.