Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 10 in F major

“…the Pittsburgh Symphony - increasingly one of the nation's finest - could easily be mistaken for a top German orchestra, like Leipzig or Dresden, in this music. The refulgence of the playing is a constant source of pleasure and any conductor who is as mindful of Brahm's ingenuity, invention and sheer vision as Janowski demands to be heard. The Hungarian Dances... are earthy and sinewy with plenty of surge factor in the lower strings and the requisite cheekiness in the phrasing exemplified by those traditionally tantalising hesitations and stompling downbeats.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2009

“It's been true for many years now that American orchestras have been sounding more middle- European, but the Pittsburgh Symphony could easily be mistaken for a top German orchestra, like Leipzig or Dresden, in this music. Listen to the slow movement of the Fourth Symphony where Marek Janowski really has his players leaning into the harmonic radiance of the writing. All those wondrous transfigurations evolve so naturally and so dreamily that the brawny exuberance of the Scherzo – tough and resilient in Janowski's hands – really does come as an unexpected blast.
Approaches differ greatly with regard to the highly innovative first movement, the whole of which constitutes a development of sorts. So, how soon do the darkening clouds descend? For some they cannot descend soon enough. But here it's as if Janowski is delaying the inevitable right through to the high anxiety of the final pages. He tightens the screw relatively late in the movement. The slow movement then restores some sense of prior well-being and inner calm, as does the still centre of the finale with its tranquil flute and trombone-led chorale variation. The refulgence of the playing is a constant source of pleasure.
The Hungarian Dances come in Brahms and Dvorák's orchestrations, their kinship self-evident.
They are earthy and sinewy with plenty of surge factor in the lower strings and the requisite cheekiness in the phrasing exemplified by those traditionally tantalising hesitations and stomping downbeats.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The second instalment of Marin Alsop's Brahms symphonies series is as authoritative, understanding and warm-hearted as the first.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2005 ****

“This is a late-summer idyll of a performance, easily paced, nicely judged and warmly played.
For first-time buyers it will provide unalloyed pleasure; for older hands it will satisfy without necessarily enlightening or surprising.
It is one of those Brahms performances whose centre of gravity is in the violas, cellos and horns.
This is apt to the symphony's lyrical, ruminative character, though there are times when the music is robbed of its light and shade. In the finale, for example, one rather misses the chill-before-dawn mood of the lead-in to the recapitulation; and one needs a keener differentiation of horn and trumpet tone to catch the final page's incomparable D major blaze. Alsop's account of the third movement is strong in contrast, the oboe-led Allegrettograzioso strangely muted, the quicker 2/4 section done more or less to perfection. That said, you might think the slow movement under-characterised: insufficiently distinct in tone and temper from the first.
The symphony was recorded in Blackheath Concert Hall, the Hungarian Dances in Watford's Colisseum: a bigger, brawnier acoustic that doesn't suit the music quite so well. In dance No 18 in D, one of Dvorák's orchestrations, there is a noisy, cluttered feel to the performance. By contrast, the alfresco No 3 in F, winningly and economically orchestrated by Brahms himself, is played with real charm and style.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Though the serenade may not sound like the familiar Brahms, it’s a pleasure to listen to...Ticciati and his splendidly responsive Bamberg players also give a fine account of the St Anthony Variations, rhythmically vital, beautifully shaped and crystal clear, doing full justice to Brahms’s often maligned scoring.” Sunday Telegraph, 4th December 2011

“Ticciati has [the Serenade's] measure, finding more light and shade in the work than some other conductors..The Haydn Variations is beautifully done, most of the variations nicely characterised, with a really majestic build-up in the finale; but I did feel Ticciati was too well-mannered in some of the faster variations...Ticciati has plenty of time to find himself as a first-rate Brahmsian; he's already well on the way there.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 ****

“The pleasure this disc affords rests in part in the programme it provides...[the Variations] is the perfect work for a young conductor to record. Robin Ticciati, who is roughly the same age as Brahms when he completed the Serenade, barely puts a foot wrong. The opening movement is realised with elan and expressive beauty, the movement with two minuets is deliciously pointed and sprung, and the Adagio non troppo is exactly that” Gramophone Magazine, January 2012

“This is a most successful and enjoyable performance of the Serenade. It’s interesting to note that Ticciati, who was born in 1983, was 27 at the time these recordings were made; that’s the same age that Brahms was when he completed the Serenade. I can’t help feeling that it’s not just a coincidence that Ticciati has so convincingly interpreted the music of a man of exactly the same age.” MusicWeb International, August 2012

“The Wagner items flow seamlessly, with perfect pacing in the Götterdämmerung Funeral Music… and a fine sense of mounting emotion in the Lohengrin Prelude and Tristan Prelude and Liebestod… the most unusual items… are of lighter fare, the Fledermaus Overture... wonderfully dapper and brilliantly played.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2010

“Both the Waltzes and the Hungarian Dances are extremely demanding in their two-hand form, and in the latter collection you could often believe that the 20 fingers of two duettists must be involved, so many notes are being played in all registers (for an example, try No 8 in A minor).
However, the technical problems hold no terrors for this pianist and her performances are convincing and attractive. What more need be said about this playing of music in which Brahms portrayed, in turn, sophisticated Vienna and untamed Hungary? Well, not a great deal. The quicker Waltzes have plenty of vivacity, and the slower ones are lyrical in an aptly Viennese manner.
Tempos, textures, phrasing, rubato and pedalling are well managed and the playing has a very convincing blend of subtlety and simplicity.
She treats these 16 pieces as a sequence, as Brahms's key structure allows, and leaves relatively little gap between them. The HungarianDances have a darkly surging Magyar energy and sound that are very pleasing: indeed, Biret seems totally at home in this music. The recording is a bit larger than life, but perfectly acceptable.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This is another valuable addition to Idil Biret's fine series of Brahms's solo piano music.... her performances are both convincing and attractive.” Gramophone Magazine