Search - Johannes Brahms, Myra Hess :: Johannes Brahms: Sextet No. 1/Piano Trio No. 1

Most Passionate performance

Faithful Reader, USA | Central NY | 01/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have collected several CD performances of the Brahms Sextet #1 and this one is the most passionate, especially in the second movement when Pablo Casals's warm and deep cello leads everyone on. Working very well together the musicians reveal many of the sublime Germanic feelings in the piece not heard elsewhere.

The group picks up the lyrical notes and runs with them right to the finish.

Truly a masterpiece and my favorite version of those available right now."

A beloved classic -- if only we could get better sound

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So far as appreciation goes, I have nothing to add to Scott Morrison's glowing recommendation. Pablo Casals was a musical titan of a bygone type. Just as Toscanini protested Mussolini's regime by refusing to play in Italy while he ruled, Casals remained exiled from Spain during the Franco era -- his Prades Festival was just outside the country and served as an artistic protest to Fascism.



These great performances speak for themselves. They are of an intensity that is also long gone, and every participant in the Sextet is inspired by Casals, his fervency and molten tone. I only wish that the sound wasn't so abrasive. Even for 1952 this recording sounds primitive. But one gets used to it, and perhaps Sony will see fit to return to the master tapes one day for a thorough remastering."

Lifetime experience

Antonie Blackler | Ithaca, NY United States | 02/23/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Other reviewers to this page have stated almost everything I also feel about this recording except that I believe it to be in the highest cadre of musical experience of the 20th century immortalized on disc. The warmth of the young Brahms jumps from the recording."