Suggestion for Brahms

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.

I highly recommend that anyone interested in Brahms put sonics aside and go here to obtain Toscanini's incredible 1940 performance of the Symphony No. 1. This performance, IMO, towers over many others I have heard, and the work, IMO, is one of the supreme masterpieces of the symphonic literature.

I recently listened to this on my main system, and found the 1940 mono recording to be surprisingly listenable, and to not detract significantly from the performance, which I can only describe as magical.

Among early mono recordings, I also recommend Kathleen Ferrier's 1947 performance of the Alto Rhapsody, which I have on a Decca LP.

For good sonics + good performance, Uru975's mention of Hyperion prompts me to say that that is an excellent label generally, and you may want to peruse their catalog of Brahms recordings here. Also, you are unlikely to go wrong with any of the recordings of his chamber works that have been issued on the Harmonia Mundi France label, or, for that matter, with pretty much anything else on that label.

Regards,
-- Al

Kathleen Ferrier's performance of the Alto Rhapsody... I had forgotten I was looking for that one. Thanks Al.

I'm a Kathleen Ferrier fan, not a big Brahms fan, but I would recommend this music and performance:

Sonatas Op. 120, Scherzo

These are the viola version (Brahms also wrote a version for clarinet) and the performance by Ursula Oppens is passionate and intense.