Johannes Brahms – Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 4 – Barry Douglas (2015) [theCLASSICALshop FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Johannes Brahms – Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 4 – Barry Douglas (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:22:58 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: theCLASSICALshop | Digital Booklet | © Chandos Records
Recorded: West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, UK, 15 and 16 December 2014

This is Volume 4 in Barry Douglas’s monumental project to record the complete works for solo piano by Johannes Brahms. Each volume has been released to critical acclaim, the first one, in 2012, being seen by BBC Music as ‘a triumph of Brahmsian thought, with playing that gets right to the heart of the composer’.

Once again, the album is presented as a stand-alone recital, prominently featuring the C major Sonata, which was Brahms’s first published work. The influence on Brahms of his early romantic predecessors Beethoven and Schubert is obvious here, not only in the virtuoso demands on the performer but also in the opening, which recalls both Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata, Op. 106 and Schubert’s ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy.

Two other works are much more than simple sets of variations. The Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann highlight the close relationship of Brahms with Schumann and his wife, Clara, to whom the work is dedicated ‘with intimate reverence’, and demonstrate Brahms’s skill at ‘thematic actualisation’, whereby latent potentialities of a theme are gradually revealed throughout the variation process. In the Variations on a Theme by Niccolò Paganini – the first of two books originally published in 1866 as ‘Keyboard Studies’ – each variation explores a distinct figural pattern or keyboard technique.

The recording also features short keyboard character pieces, abundant in the second half of the nineteenth century and especially in Brahms’s later years.

Tracklist:

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Sonata No. 1, Op. 1 28:38
in C major – in C-Dur – en ut majeur
Joseph Joachim zugeeignet
1 Allegro – Poco ritenuto 11:00
2 Andante (Nach einem altdeutschen Mineliede) – Adagio – 5:25
3 Scherzo. Allegro molto e con fuoco – Più mosso – Presto – Da capo il Scherzo senza rep. sin’al Fine 5:43
4 Finale. Allegro con fuoco – Presto non troppo ed agitato 6:30

5 Intermezzo, Op. 117 No. 3 5:19
in C sharp minor – in cis-Moll – en ut dièse mineur
from Three Intermezzos
Andante con moto – Poco più lento – Più moto ed espressivo – Tempo I – Più lento

6 Intermezzo, Op. 119 No. 2 4:37
in E minor – in e-Moll – en mi mineur
from [Four] Piano Pieces
Andantino un poco agitato – Andantino grazioso – Tempo I

Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 9 16:18
in F sharp minor – in fis-Moll – en fa dièse mineur
Clara Schumann zugeeignet
7 Thema. Ziemlich langsam – 1:15
8 Variation 1. [ ] – 1:10
9 Variation 2. Poco più moto – 0:23
10 Variation 3. Tempo di tema – 1:00
11 Variation 4. Poco più moto – 0:42
12 Variation 5. Allegro capriccioso – 0:54
13 Variation 6. Allegro – 0:52
14 Variation 7. Andante – 0:44
15 Variation 8. Andante (non troppo lento) – 1:13
16 Variation 9. Schnell – 0:33
17 Variation 10. Poco Adagio – 1:23
18 Variation 11. Un poco più animato – 0:32
19 Variation 12. Allegretto, poco scherzando – Presto – 0:42
20 Variation 13. Non troppo Presto – 0:43
21 Variation 14. Andante – 1:10
22 Variation 15. Poco Adagio – 1:17
23 Variation 16. [ ] 1:40

24 Capriccio, Op. 76 No. 1 3:26
in F sharp minor – in fis-Moll – en fa dièse mineur
from [Eight] Piano Pieces
Un poco agitato

25 Capriccio, Op. 76 No. 2 3:21
in B minor – in h-Moll – en si mineur
from [Eight] Piano Pieces
Allegretto non troppo

26 Intermezzo, Op. 76 No. 6 3:29
in A major – in A-Dur – en la majeur
from [Eight] Piano Pieces
Andante con moto

27 Ballade, Op. 10 No. 1 ‘Edward’ 4:43
in D minor – in d-Moll – en ré mineur
from [Four] Ballades
Julius O. Grimm gewidmet
Nach der schottischen Ballade ‘Edward’ in Herders ‘Stimmen der Völker’
Andante – Poco più moto – Tempo I – Poco più moto – Allegro (ma non troppo) – Tempo I

Variations on a Theme by Niccolo Paganini, Op. 35, Book I 13:01
in A minor – in a-Moll – en la mineur
Dr. Eduard Hanslick zugeeignet
28 Thema. Non troppo presto – 0:27
29 Variation 1. [ ] – 0:31
30 Variation 2. [ ] – 0:33
31 Variation 3. [ ] – 0:31
32 Variation 4. [ ] – 0:54
33 Variation 5. [ ] – 0:42
34 Variation 6. [ ] – 0:28
35 Variation 7. [ ] – 0:28
36 Variation 8. [ ] – 0:32
37 Variation 9. [ ] – 1:25
38 Variation 10. [ ] – 1:12
39 Variation 11. Andante 1:21
40 Variation 12. [ ] – 0:57
41 Variation 13. [ ] – 0:35
42 Variation 14. Allegro – 1:20
43 Presto, ma non troppo 0:55
Personnel:
Barry Douglas, piano

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mqs.link_BrahmsWrksfrSlPianVl.4BarryDuglas20159624.part1.rar
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