Search - Johannes Brahms, Elisabeth Leonskaja :: Brahms: Piano Music, Op. 116-119 [Hybrid SACD]

Cold, austere

William Patry | Stamford, CT United States | 12/29/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I purchased this in order to see how these most beautiful of pieces would sound in SACD. The sound is excellent, although to me there a bit too much of what sounds like echo, which may be the result of the room in which the recording was made. (The label justifiably prides itself in the purity of its recording process).



My problem is with the performances, which while technically outstanding, to me come off as cold, austere. They lack the melancholy and deep passion that are the essence of the pieces. They sound like prose instead of the poetry they are, a particular problem for Opus 119. There are some unusual tempi too, like in Opus 116, No. 5, which has a strange retard that comes off sound like a hobby-horse.



Those who love Ms. Leonskaja may well love this disc, but I didn't and really wanted to.





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