Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 2 in D minor

“Very ably abetted by Claire Désert, Graffin does his utmost to conjure up the style and effect of Hungarian gypsy fiddling. His account of Monti's Csárdás is embellished with improvised ornaments and fancy tricks - a magnificently evocative impersonation... an enthralling, exceptional recital, to be thoroughly recommended.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2009

“A delightful programme of violin sweetmeats with a gypsyesque flavour… Throughout, Graffin blends the music's various flavours with mouth-watering panache. Bravo!” BBC Music Magazine, May 2009 *****

“Throughout a work once dubbed "a symphony with piano obbligato", the Frankfurt orchestra play superbly for Paavo Järvi, the strings burnished and deep-toned, the woodwind gracious agents of tenderness and consolation. Though Nicholas Angelich commands ample Brahmsian heft, his playing tends to emphasise the music's lyrical pathos, rather than its turbulent heroism. Momentum can suffer in the first movement, especially in Angelich's ultra-dreamy treatment of the assuaging chorale-like theme. But he distils a mystical inwardness in the adagio - a wordless requiem for Schumann - and balances muscular stoicism with luminous delicacy, even a touch of playfulness, in the finale.” The Telegraph, 10th May 2008 (on Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor)

“Angelich's solo Brahms scarcely prepared us for the conviction and rapt intensity in this showpiece. With French pianist Frank Braley, Angelich also brings infectious zest to nine of the 21 Hungarian Dances for four hands, including the celebrated No 5 in F sharp minor.” The Observer, 13th April 2008

“A delight to encounter precise, hand-in-glove ensemble-playing that manages not to sound pre-planned. ” Gramophone Magazine, June 2008

“Both conductor and soloist take a lyrical approach to this Concerto. Paavo Järvi's tapering of the opening melodic gesture modifies its usually brusque, implacable drama, and Nicholas Angelich's expansive ruminations in the second theme, although expressive and dignified, borders on the languid.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008 ****

“The range of dynamic truthfulness conveyed in Sarah Chang's performance, helped by a clear, full, naturally balanced recording, brings not just momentary delight in individual phrases but cumulative gain, in a reading that strongly hangs together. Not only does she play with exceptionally pure tone, avoiding heavy coloration, but her individual artistry doesn't demand the wayward pulling-about often found in this work. She's enormously helped by the fresh, bright and dramatic accompaniment of the LSO under Sir Colin Davis. In the outer movements she conveys wit along with the power and poetry, and the intonation is immaculate. Brahms's Hungarian Dances are delectable, marked by the sort of naughty pointing of phrase and rhythm that tickles your musical funny-bone just as Kreisler always did.
Here's a young artist who really does live up to the claims of the publicists.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“A rhythmically taut, finely structured reading with plenty of dynamism ad thrust, but giving full rein to the work's deep elegiac aspects.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2007

“The LPO, London's finest Brahms ensemble, has been in vintage form during this cycle under Marin Alsop's measured and thoughtful direction.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2008

“It's a rhythmically taut, finely structured reading with plenty of dynamism and thrust, but giving full rein to the work's deep elegiac aspects and darker shadings.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2007 ****

“Alsop’s triumphant cycle of Brahms symphonies with the LPO comes to a climactic end with this hugely impressive account of the Fourth. She has that ability, vital in music as dense as this, to hurry nothing, to make the most of the moment, yet always to maintain a sense of impetus.” Sunday Times

“The LPO, London's finest Brahms ensemble, has been in vintage form during this cycle under Marin Alsop's measured and thoughtful direction.
Not since the classically incisive Loughran/ Hallé recordings of the mid-1970s has there been a more obviously collectable budget-price Brahms set.
Alsop's reading of the Fourth Symphony is not dissimilar to Sir Adrian Boult's 1972 LPO recording. Like Boult, Alsop is happy to establish a tempo and emotional trajectory for each movement and leave it at that – a plausible view given the astonishing degree of thematic integration that underpins the work.
As elsewhere in the cycle, tempi tend to be measured.
The Andante moderato is downright slow, though Alsop manages to maintain line and interest.
The Scherzo, happily, is a true Allegro giocoso, which is important. By acting out the role of a conventional finale, the Scherzo leaves the actual finale free to enact its own tragic destiny.
The recording sounds well if played at a decent level. In the Scherzo, the triangle (deliciously placed and recorded in the Hungarian Dances) is more an impression than a presence. There is also an editing glitch midway through the movement, not the first in this series. The seven Hungarian Dances, unorchestrated by Brahms, are heard in newly commissioned orchestrations by Peter Breiner. The thudding fairground timpani in No 6 doesn't appeal. Elsewhere, piquancy is the watchword, with stylish playing from the LPO, gamesomely led.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Boris Berezovsky's opening salvo is exactly that, dazzling in its own way...His is a physical approach, an athletic dash through the first movement, which lacks repose at crucial moments but is appealingly exciting.” International Record Review, April 2011

“This is the concerto as a high-octane virtuoso number.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2011

“This must be one of the fastest Brahms Second Concertos on disc...Some of it is, perhaps, just too impetuous but how thrilling it is to hear the music taken by the scruff of the neck and handled so imperiously. Liss and his players catch the spirit of the maverick soloist...There has been a trend over the past few decades to adopt ever more solemn tempos for the great concertos warhorses. Berezovsky reverses the trend.” Classic FM Magazine, June 2011 ****