Search - J. Brahms, Cédric Tiberghien :: Brahms: Hungarian Dances

Mostly Very Fine Brahms Playing

I. Martinez-Ybor | Miami, FL USA | 10/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Cedric Tiberghien has developed into a very fine pianist, with flawless technique, exquisite piano tone, and musical intelligence revealed in well structured interpretations of diverse piano music. Indeed his coupling of Ballades by Brahms and Chopin Ballades: Brahms, Chopin is a marvelous CD which continues to reward with its mix of intellectual probing and beautiful musical execution. The present Brahms compilation is successful for the most part, eliciting throughout beautiful piano tone and well structured execution. The most rewarding tracks are in the Klavierstucke Op. 76, masterfully played with sober sensitivity, gravitas and lightness as called for by each of the individual pieces. The Waltzes are nearly indestructible (unless metronomic) and Tiberghien gives us a delightful hearing. The Hungarian Dances, perhaps the most popular of the pieces presented, prove to be the most problematic. First, I much prefer the original version of these pieces for piano four-hands. Much was sacrificed in Brahms'own reductions for solo piano (Brahms himself I believe acknowledged as much). Hearing them here and elsewhere (e.g.Kissin) one is always aware of how much is missing. Second, Tiberghien, an accomplished technician capable of whizzing through these by no means easy pieces, nonetheless falls short. His interpretations lack the swagger, panache and rhythmic subtleties that make this music shine. This is not true of every single one of these little gems, but it happens often enough to notice. Furthermore, he is in the habit of introducing little ritards in spots where the music calls for virtuosic abandon. Perhaps it is a question of temperament. Nonetheless, this is a worthy CD for everything else, and there is much pleasure in the Hungarian Dances. (By the way, he plays ten, not the full set of 21; Harmonia Mundi is slightly misleading in the CD cover).



For a gorgeous selection of the Hungarian Dances in the original piano four-hands version, there is none better than Nicholas Angelich and Frank Braley Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1; Hungarian Dances .... perfect rapport and infectious delight. The Konstarsky brothers recorded for DG the complete set of 21 dances in breathtakingly virtuosic but rather agressive, somewhat charmless manner.



Cedric Tiberghien nonetheless gives us here a CD with much to enjoy.



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