Brahms Op. 102

Superior historical music making by three masters of the genre. The sound is clear but typical of its period. The transfers (from 78RPM recordings) are really amazing.

In the early 19th century and earlier, the instrumental sonata for ensemble that included piano was usually called "piano sonata with instrumental accompaniment". Beethoven's first violin sonatas, for instance, were published as "sonatas for piano with violin accompaniment." While most sonatas with cello from the 18th century were written for continuo, with the left hand of the keyboard part often doubling the cello, Beethoven is credited for composing some of the first works in the genre that featured a written-out piano part.

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra performs this popular coupling of two major works for their latest Chandos recording. The two works complement one another as they both incorporate interplay and dialogue between two or more solo instruments.

Of the current CD, I can enthuse completely. In the Violin Concerto, Gidon Kremer plays with a rhapsodic flair that almost reminds me of Heifetz. I do not know whose cadenza he uses in the first movement; it is new to me. In the slow movement, Bernstein and Kremer weave textures that are beautiful without ever seeming solemn. The last movement is slightly faster than I am used to hearing, but if this does make for some awkward phrasing it is still very exciting. The Double Concerto receives the best performance I ever have heard.

Existing fans of brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon have likely been waiting with baited breath for their eventual and inevitable release of the Brahms Double Concerto, a work that would seem to have their names written all over it. Their premiere duo album, Face a Face, demonstrated their incredible technique, precision intonation, and inborn knack for playing together. Each brother's solo ventures, from Gautier's vivacious interpretation of the Haydn cello concertos and Renaud's insightful performance of Mendelssohn and Schumann, have been similarly highly regarded.

This album by violinist Christian Tetzlaff and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Paavo Järvi, is dedicated in the memory of their longtime artistic partner, pianist Lars Vogt (1970–2022). At the heart of this album is Brahms, one of Lars Vogt’s favourite composers, and his late orchestral masterpiece, the Double Concerto. Brahms himself had admired one of Viotti’s violin concertos so much that he included material from the Violin Concerto no.22 into his work. With Christian Tetzlaff’s recording of the Violin Concerto, this album finally brings these two works together. Also included is Dvořák’s beautiful Silent Woods for cello and orchestra, a work by another composer that was very close to Lars Vogt’s heart.

One of the most acclaimed musicians of his era, Toscanini was a conductor of the "old school" - aristocratic, perfectionistic and something of an autocrat on the podium. After a brief flurry of interest in Fascism in the 1910s, he rapidly became disillusioned with the movement and indeed became a personal rival of Mussolini, repeatedly antagonising him through acts of artistic defiance such as refusals to open concerts with the Fascist anthem Giovinezza.

Following on the heels of his highly successful recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto, Russian violinist Vadim Repin continues his survey of the core repertoire with this album featuring the Brahms Violin Concerto and Double Concerto. Accompanied by the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly, Repin' performance of Brahms is every bit as sensitive, vivacious, and well-thought-out as his Beethoven.