Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2016-06-21 23:31
Brahms is hard to get "right" for me as a listener, sample of one. As opposed to, for example, Beethoven, whose music often seems to respond to a wide range of interpretive styles, Brahms seems to fall flat without some apparently rather particular phrasing or style being applied.
For decades I listened to piano recordings and got familiar with the piano compositions of Brahms (among others). I developed the impression that there are "Brahms pianists", those who really brought his music to life, and they aren't necessarily pianists otherwise highly ranked in my pantheon. They also aren't necessarily German or Austrian, and they also don't necessarily play particularly "beautifully", again, that being my personal evaluation. I never got the feeling there are "Beethoven pianists", or "Chopin pianists", though there definitely are "Liszt pianists" - a whole other animal. I did notice that good Brahms pianists seemed to really interpret Schumann well, though the converse doesn't seem to hold.
I enjoyed listening to the post linked performance; Ottensamer's playing is indeed beautiful, and he has my full respect. However, it feels like there's potentially something else to be expressed in this music. I think Tony has a good point.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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