Brahms's Second Piano Concerto features a unique pianistic style, emphasizing dense chords and lateral shifts rather than rapid scales or arabesques, distinguishing it from contemporaries like Chopin or Liszt.
Performer Biography
Boris Berezovsky was named 'Best Instrumentalist of the Year 2006' at the BBC Music Magazine Awards.
Composition History
Brahms premiered his Second Piano Concerto in November 1881 in Budapest, playing the piano part himself with Sándor Erkel conducting.
Performer Biography
Boris Berezovsky, the pianist on this recording, won the Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The concerto's opening horn call, described as coming from the 'depths of the forest,' sets the work's tone of memory and distant echoes, reflecting Brahms's fascination with snow-covered landscapes and mists.
Performer Biography
Dmitri Liss, the conductor, became the youngest conductor in Russia after graduating in 1984 and winning the Lovro von Matacic International Competition for Young Conductors in 1995.
Recording & Production
This album was recorded in November 2010 at the Ekaterinburg Philharmonic in Russia, with Anna Barry of Classicsound as artistic director and editor.
You might also enjoy...
Brahms: Sonata for 2 Pianos in F Minor, Op. 34b (After Piano Quintet, Op. 34); Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56b
