Brahms: Variations on an Original Theme in D major, Op. 21, No. 1

This CD showcases Backhaus’s great virtuosity.

American pianist Garrick Ohlsson, whose Complete Chopin set was acclaimed as one of the most important anniversary releases of 2010, now turns to another significant, though often overlooked, body of Romantic piano music – Brahms’s complete variations.

The coruscatingly difficult Paganini variations, a bravura display of pyrotechnic virtuosity, frequently feature in piano competitions, performed to demonstrate extraordinary technique. In this performance, Garrick Ohlsson also displays remarkable musicality.

The Variations and Fugue on a theme of Handel is one of the summits of his entire keyboard output, showing the composer at the height of his powers. This 2-disc set also contains some little-known gems, including the wonderful Variations on an Original Theme.

Daria Kamaneva was born in Moscow in 1987 and began her piano studies at the age of five. She later studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and won first prize in the 2011 European Piano Competition in France, leading to this CD.

From the age of 20 onwards, Brahms wrote unceasingly for the piano. His solo pieces for the instrument, ranging from the poetic evocations of the variations Op.21 to the nostalgic yearning of Op.117, may be seen as personal journal.

Adam Laloum was born in Toulouse in 1987. He began studying the piano at the age of ten and has studied with Michel Béroff, Paul Badura-Skoda, Pascal Devoyon and Jean-Claude Pennetier. Since October 2009 Adam has been a student at Hamburg’s Hochschule für Musik under Evgeny Koroliov who won the Clara Haskil Prize in 1977.

In September 2009 Adam won the first prize the audience award at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition. One to watch…

On this disc, pianist Andrew Rangell chooses five sets of his favourite variations- works both little and well-known. Among the rarities are Bizet's rarely recorded set, a work described by Rangell as “a fascinating wedding of conceptual rigor and brilliant stagecraft.” Also heard is Carl Nielsen's brilliant Chaconne.

Andreas Boyde has made Brahms’ piano works the focus of his work and he is recording the complete piano compositions on this label. Previous volumes have been well reviewed.

"David Wilde's power and individuality make a separation between composer and performer, between creator and recreator unrealistic. He sees the simple grace and lyricism favoured by many pianists as an evasion of a deeper poetic truth, and if he gives us all of Brahms' exulting strength in the fugue from the 'Handel' Variations, he is no less responsive to darker nights of the soul in Op. 117. Always there is an open invitation to re-appraise Brahms' genius, not by a radical reinterpretation (the determinedly 'different' way of, say, Gould or Pogorelich), but by a probing and enquiring look beneath the music's surface life. David Wilde may be true to the composer, but he is a pianist to make you think again." Bryce Morrison

"One of the most intense and involving performances that I've heard" International Record Review on David Wilde on Delphian

This recording was made possible through the support of The Ivory Classics Foundation and the Council on Research and Creative Work as well as the Graduate Council for the Arts and Humanities at the University of Colorado

In September 1853, Johannes Brahms arrived for his first meeting with Robert and Clara Schumann at their home in Düseldorf. Brahms, a youthful age of twenty ("hardly more than a boy" were the words of Robert Schumann's protégé Albert Dietrich), made an immediate and powerful impression on the older master, who in October wrote his famous essay, New Paths proclaiming...