Johannes Brahms 24 Bit

The fact that a violinist can also play the piano with virtuosity and artistic perfection suggests an extraordinary musical talent. Tomoko Mayeda's recording of Mozart's late Viennese violin sonatas has already shown that this is the case.

The art of the Swiss pianist of Hungarian origin Géza Anda, which is as unmistakable as it is elusive, is revealed even more impressively in the concert recordings of his career spanning almost 35 years than in the studio recordings, many of which have remained a reference. The numerous surviving concert recordings show the image of an artist who is committed to unconditional dedication and great expressivity. This is impressively demonstrated by the live recordings of Mozart's B flat major Concerto K. 456 and Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1, published here for the first time, which occupy a special place and rank in Anda's oeuvre.

“We might just be within an ace of the finest Brahms symphony cycle of the digital era. Marek Janowski and the Pittsburgh Symphony commenced the series with impressive accounts of Symphony No 1 and the Haydn Variations.

Die Pianistin Yuja Wang, der Klarinettist Andreas Ottensamer und der Cellist Gautier Capuçon sind in aller Welt aufgetreten und haben in ihrem Musizieren ein intuitives, fast telepathisches Zusammenspiel an den Tag gelegt.

Recorded in August 2022 at concerts given in Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie by the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg under Kent Nagano, this version of Johannes Brahms's celebrated choral masterpiece will come as a surprise to many.

In contrast to the grand scale and public profile of his orchestral and choral works, Johannes Brahms saw the organ as an instrument ‘for home use’, and one in which he confided his most intimate feelings. The earlier pieces were exercises in counterpoint inspired by Brahms’ friendship with Clara Schumann and, despite their academic titles, they are infused with distinctive musical ideas and lyrical expressiveness. The later Chorale Preludes with their themes of suffering and death can be seen as autobiographical, the elder Brahms seeking spiritual strength in the ‘pure style’ of the Protestant tradition.

The golden age of string orchestra repertoire must certainly be the period spanning the final decades of the 19th century to the early 20th century. The density of sound, great dynamic range, long phrases and virtuosity that are uniquely possible with this combination of instruments saw it become a particularly cherished ensemble for many of the greatest composers of the day. This same era also witnessed the birth of the Great National Schools and the influence of composers’ native folk melodies on their compositional output.

“But the greatest of these i love…” – an extremely interesting Brahms album dealing with the “metaphysical” Johannes Brahms, interested in religiosity and transcendence, with the “Four Serious Songs” completed in 1896 as the pivotal point.

The album you hold in your hands charts a journey that is, in more than one sense, the cartography of a life. Not only does it span both the first and one of the last piano works of Johannes Brahms, but beneath it's design lies a deeper meditation on the nature of time.

Claudio Bohórquez has established himself as an experienced chamber musician and concert soloist. For the past 30 years and more he has been playing the cello, teaching at the famous Hanns Eisler conservatoire in Berlin and travelling the world from the USA to Japan and from Argentina to Russia.