Search - Johannes Brahms, Hans Knappertsbusch, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra :: Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2; Tragic Overture

Hard to digest this one from Curzon/Knappertsbusch

Jeffrey Lee | Asheville area, NC USA | 07/27/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"On the lower right, the front cover of this cd reads "Archipel Desert Island Collection". I'd rather be on a desert island without it. This is about the least enjoyable performance of the Brahms Second Piano Concerto I have ever heard. There is not much richness, warmth, gracefulness, majesty or reflectiveness. The principal horn player of the Vienna Philharmonic sounds as if he has had too much to drink and I don't know whether the cello passages in the third movement sound sour, stale or both. Little about Knappertsbusch's accompaniment is noteworthy either. His pace is not as slow as it frequently can be, but his reading is not especially flowing, romantic or tuneful. Strangely, during the performance there are moments when the music seems to sound like it is being squeezed out of a tube. Part of the overall fault might rest with the recording process. However, what really surprises and disappoints me most is Curzon's playing. He seems to exhibit too much style and not enough substance. Portions of his performance strike me as flamboyant and emotionally shallow. Moreover, his piano sonorities sound skeletal, with little meat covering the Brahmsian bones. To me, his Brahms Second is an oddly realized turn around from his very fine Brahms First Concerto with George Szell and the London Symphony. (See my strongly positive review.) Incidentally, this session was recorded at the Salzburg Festival in 1955, (in monophonic sound). In the final analysis, I find the entire presentation trying. Though others might see or hear differently and like it, I have little desire to listen again to this one either sooner OR later."