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Brahms, Piano Concerto no 1 in D minor, op 15 / Bach (arr.
Brahms) Chaconne in D minor |
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Daniel Levy pf / Philharmonia Orchestra / Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Edelweiss Emission ED 1062 68 minutes: DDD |
More brain than brawn, and there's plenty
of warmth on offer, though it's not a version to compare with
the best
The perennial problem with performances of Brahms's First
Piano Concerto is one of balance, how to pit the titanic orchestral
score against a solo line that is quite often ruminative, even
introspective. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau passes on the monumental
axis favoured by, say Carlo Maria Giulini (in his long-deleted
Chicago recording with Alexis Weissenberg, HMV, 6/74) or the
more classical approaches of Szell, Reiner or Leinsdorf. Here,
the Philharmonia plays best when the mood is lyrical, such as
the string-textured second set at 1'28, or the return of the
same theme from around 12'29, where Daniel Levy projects the
melody's bare outline against a gently swaying (and texturally
luminous) orchestral backdrop. Listen to how Fischer-Dieskau
draws out the cello line from 17'07, how he curves and balances
the wooodwind phrases form 19'03. These and similar details suggest
a sympathetic mind engaging in a genuinely collaborative effort.
Levy follows similar trains of thought. His moulding of rubato
is often sensitive (try the noble solo passage from 7'00) in
the Adagio, his tone projection for his first statement has an
almost operatic intensity (though his very first chord - at 1'49
- sounds a little sharp to my ears). Like Schnabel, he is more
a thinking musician than a piano virtuoso, which means that any
listener whose performace priorities ar pianistic refinement,
lightning finger velocity or thundering octaves should look elsewhere.
This isn't a perfect production by any means, and a certain tendeny
to plod - I'm thinking in particular of the first movement's
closing pages and much of the finale - rather bars it from front
-rank status. The recording (made in Henry Wood Hall), though
a little hard, is perfecty adequate.
The Bach-Brahms fill up is a humbling, and generally well-played,
example of how one great composer could transcribe another's
work without musical compromise. Like the Concerte, it's worth
a listen. Rob Cowan |