Clarinet Trio in A minor Op.114
1. Allegro
2. Adagio 
3. Andantino grazioso
4. Allegro

Horn Trio in Eb Op.40
5. Andante Poco piu animato
6. Scherzo. Allegro
7. Adagio mesto.
8. Finale. Allegro con brio

András Schiff – piano
Erich Binder – violin
Fritz Dolezal – cello
Gunter Hogner – horn
Peter Schmidl – clarinet

The Trio for clarinet, cello and piano in A minor, Op. 114, was one of four chamber works featuring clarinet composed by Johannes Brahms in rapid succession after emerging from retirement toward the end of his life. It is one of a small number of compositions for clarinet, cello and piano, and one of the very few to have entered the standard repertoire. Eusebius Mandyczewski, a scholar and friend of Brahms, wrote of the trio that "It is as though the instruments were in love with each other."

The Horn Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40, by Johannes Brahms is a chamber piece in four movements written for natural horn, violin, and piano. Composed in 1865, the work commemorates the death of Brahms’ mother, Christiane, earlier that year. However, it draws on a theme which Brahms had composed twelve years previously but did not publish at the time. The work was first performed in Zurich on November 28, 1865, and was published a year later in November 1866. ---wikipedia

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1	First Movement: Allegro 	14:31
2	Second Movement: Andante 	6:36
3 	Third Movement: Vivase Non Troppo 	7:32

Jascha Heifetz – violin
Gregor Piatigorsky – cello
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Alfred Wallenstein – conductor

I have always enjoyed the Heifetz/Piatigorsky team in the Double Concerto. Here, Heifetz's urgency and intensity seem to perfectly complement Piatigorsky's open, warmly expressive style. Together, both soloists display a wonderfully engaging instrumental interplay replete with moments of sweep, reflectiveness and autumnal glow. Conductor Wallenstein provides an orchestral backdrop that very nicely dovetails with the main players. This interpretation has long been and continues to be my favorite among all Brahms Doubles I have heard. ---Jeffrey Lee, amazon.com

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Piano Concerto No. 2 In B Flat, Op. 83  (Live At Musikverein, Vienna 2012)
1	1. Allegro non troppo	18:52
2	2. Allegro appassionato 	9:25
3	3. Andante - Più adagio 	12:44
4	4. Allegretto grazioso - Un poco più presto  	9:27

16 Waltzes, Op. 39  
5	15. In A flat 	1:48

Hélène Grimaud - piano
Wiener Philharmoniker
Andris Nelsons - conductor

There is no doubt that Hélène Grimaud is a pianist possessed of an unassailable technique and a fearless, risk-taking disposition. Yet, despite her fascination for wolves, she is far from a pack animal; and, despite the scale of Brahms’s B flat Piano Concerto, this score requires a soloist very much in touch with his or her inner chamber musician. With the piano part folded into proceedings from the very start, there’s an extraordinary process at work of orchestra and pianist defining, anchoring and almost grooming each other, and also acting as a sort of mutual corrective.

Nelsons completely got the point of this balancing act between impulsiveness and formal security. With Grimaud, though, that sort of connection wasn’t a given, especially in the elaborate and flexible structure of the first movement. It worked, but like an Internet signal not quite at full strength. She was an amazingly grand, even portentous barnstormer, trills had a steely glint, the ben marcato passages bounced with ferocious articulation and double octaves were awesome. In the quieter areas, though, where the music stands and stares, Brahms’s striving for subtleties of muted colour and remote expressiveness, magically realised by the Philharmonia, wasn’t entirely up her street and her fortissimo had a consistent volume without fullness that left her with nowhere to go in the climactic peak of the second movement. There was much more rapport in the Andante – how could there not be, with Timothy Walden’s eloquent, romantic cello solo setting the scene? – with Grimaud relaxing into some mesmerising and interior playing, and she had completely the measure of the finale’s geniality. --- Peter Reed, classicalsource.com

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1 	Maestoso 	23:50
2 	Adagio 	13:27
3 	Rondo - Allegro Non Troppo 	12:43

Hélène Grimaud - piano
Staatskapelle Berlin 
Kurt Sanderling - conductor

This disc received the 1999 Cannes Classical Award
 for "Best Solo with Orchestra - 19th/20th Century."

Wow! This is one hell of a performance! Grimaud has fought hard during her career not to be typecast as a "French" pianist doomed to spend her life playing cute little concertos by Saint-Saëns and keyboard fluff by Satie, and with this performance she really throws down the gauntlet. This is as classically Germanic a performance as you're likely to hear: rock solid, moderate tempos, a gorgeously modulated piano sonority, and a view of the music that perfectly balances passion with classical discipline. She is helped in no small measure by Sanderling, one of the great Brahms conductors of our day, and also by a live recording that catches the whole inspirational event on the wing. This is one of the great ones, make no mistake. --David Hurwitz, Editorial Reviews

This powerhouse of a concerto can withstand a number of approaches, given its combination of drama and lyricism. Ms. Grimaud has taken it on with the objective of exploring its more hidden treasures. It's rare for a record collector of 35 years to hear a fresh approach to such a classic (i've heard Serkin/Szell; Fleisher/Szell; Kovacevich/Sawallisch; Cliburn/Leinsdorf and Gilels/Boehm and found great value in the approach of each, but this recording, made in performance in Berlin's Schauspielhaus is something quite special. In her jacket notes, she states her understanding of the piece as a response on Brahms' part to the incredible drama he faced at the loss of his best friend and mentor Robert Schumann due to mental illness (likely he was bi-polar) and his eventual death. This explains the intense craggy drama of the opening movement followed by the lovely resignation of the slow movement and the restored life-affirmation of the finale. There is likely a great deal of the composer's fondness for Clara Schumann in the slow movement. His unrequited love for her shows itself in a number of his piano works, not least of all the opus 119 pieces.

She takes, like Gilels and Gould, an extremely slow tempo in the first movement, balancing its dramatic and lyric elements beautifully while allowing the conductor, Sanderling, the opportunity to distinguish various inner voices and explore various instrumental balances and sonorities in long held passages and chords. The recording balance is amazingly good for an "in-performance" recording. The orchestra which serves in the pit of the Berlin Staatsoper is well accustomed to providing accompaniment, playing with a smooth blended sound that while not quite up to the high standard of the Berlin Philharmonic will still do quite nicely.

The slow movement plays like a meditation with various soloists in the orchestra responding intimately and spontaneously to the pianist. After all the slow reflection of the first two movements, the finale is played at a more conventional lively tempo in keeping with the pianist's interpretation of this concerto as a kind of requiem expressing resolution and life affirmation at its end.

The overall perspective of the recording gives a sense of being somewhat recessed in mid hall with a nicely blended sound as opposed to surgical detail. That may be why some reviewers note the subdued timpani and horns, although I find the conductor has given them sufficient prominence. It's simply a more central-european approach. I highly recommend this to those who love this concerto and wish to explore various approaches to it. This one is quite unusual but rewarding in what it reveals. I note some complaints about the conductor but Grimaud chose him particularly for this concert and recording based on prior collaboration and admits in her notes, that she was fortunate in that he agreed with her on the slow tempo interpretation of the opening movement. Get it if you can. Warner does a poor job of distributing its classical recordings in the U.S. Perhaps you can find it used on amazon or perhaps even a budget rerelease will appear. Don't hold your breath for the latter. ---W. Chiles, amazon.com

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1.    Allegro non troppo
2.    Scherzo. Allegro
3.    Andante
4.    Finale

Festival Quartet:
Szymon Goldberg – violin
Victor Babin – piano
William Primrose – viola
Nikolai Graudan – cello

Brahms composed the first version of the work that would eventually become his Third Piano Quartet, Op. 60 (to which the subtitle "Werther" is often attached), in Dusseldorf in 1855-1856. The first version had emerged concurrently with first drafts for the first two piano quartets, Op. 25 and Op. 26, all received enthusiastically by his close friends, including Albert Dietrich and Joseph Joachim. At this point, No. 3 was in the key of C sharp minor. Even when (a year later) Joachim wrote to Brahms concerning the piece it still comprised three movements only, an opening Allegro, an Andante, and what Brahms' termed a "concise" finale. While its two sister works were completed in 1859 and 1861, Op. 60 was put aside, since neither Brahms nor his associates were satisfied with it. By 1869, he returned to it again and contemplated its publication as his Op. 54. But further extensive revisions followed and the quartet assumed its final shape in the winter of 1873-1874 in Vienna, with minor revisions the following summer. A letter from Brahms, sent with the manuscript to Theodor Billroth includes the following enigmatic comment: "the quartet has communicated itself to me only in the strangest ways...For instance, the illustration to the last chapter of the man in the blue frock and yellow waistcoat." This refers, somewhat obliquely, to Goethe's Werther, which Brahms admired. Meanwhile, he remained deeply dissatisfied with the work, and wrote to his publisher Fritz Simrock "you may attach a picture on the title page, i.e. a head with the pistol before it."

The definitive version is comprised of the 1855-1856 score's opening movement, a scherzo from 1856-1861, and an Andante and finale (allegro commodo) from 1875. The work, now in the general key of C minor, reflects the turbulent and vacillating self-doubts that Brahms felt so deeply. Indeed, little more darkly oppressive movements than the first exist anywhere else in Brahms' chamber output, while the "new" andante in E major is certainly one of the most beautiful. Above all, however, the work fully deserves its Goethe connections, for neither Brahms nor Werther enjoyed a contented course en route to their respective destinies.

The C minor Piano Quartet was first performed in Vienna on November 18, 1875, with Brahms himself at the piano, and members of the Hellmesberger Quartet. --- Michael Jameson, Rovi

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String Quintet No.1 Op.88:
1. Allegro non troppo ma con brio
2. Grave ed appassionato - Allegretto vivace - Tempo 1 - Presto - Tempo 1
3. Allegro energico

String Quintet No.2 Op.111:
4. Allegro non troppo, ma con brio
5. Adagio
6. Un poco Allegretto
7. Vivace ma non troppo presto

Hagen Quartett
+
Gérard Caussé - Viola

Like Mozart, Brahms was a bit uncomfortable writing string quartets, where the desire to maintain an absolutely democratic discourse among the participants often led to overly dense textures and rhythmic heaviness. The extra viola part offered by the quintet medium, however, allowed both composers to relax a bit and write music with the richness of texture they both loved, without forcing. These two works really don't seem to get the attention that they deserve, either on recordings or in concert, but they are both vintage Brahms. Fortunately, Naxos seems to be dedicated to a complete survey of the chamber music of the great composers, and they are working with a very fine stable of artists. This disc is no exception. ---David Hurwitz, amazon.com

Late Brahms is a special thing. Like opening a bottle of Pauillac '82, get it right and a whole new world of experience opens up, one tinged with a delicious melancholy, infused with the golden honeyed light of September. Here the vicarious joys of nostalgia come braided with the sad ache of terminal decline. A heady infusion of rusting trees and summer's dying breath. Here is everything that Time teaches us. Paul Celan put it thus: 'Autumn eats its leaf out of my hand: we are friends.' A telling line, and one that runs right through this stellar recording of op.111.

How this disc has been allowed to slip out of the DG catalogue is a mystery even Sherlock would struggle with. As lovely as op. 88 is, it is Op. 111 that is worth the often eye-watering prices this disc goes for in Ye Olde Marketplace, especially with the performance the Hagen Quartet gives here (accompanied by violist Gérard Caussé). One of Brahms's most sublime slow movements is teased out with all due care and attention - one minute weaving gossamer threads of sound, the next its throbs of passionate brio. At times one recognises the ethereal realm of Beethoven's late quartets, but the rapturous melodies are pure late Brahms.

Breath in and breath deeply of autumn's mulch and musk: 'From the nuts we shell time and we teach it to walk: then time returns to the shell.' --- Thropplenoggin, amazon.com

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1.Allegro non troppo
2.Andante moderato
3.Allegro giocoso
4.Allegro energico e passionato

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Kurt Masur - conductor

The sweetness in the string tone, allied with the Leipzig acoustic and glowing woodwind and brass timbres make this an outstanding disc. Masur in his younger days made this orchestra play their hearts out and this was evident in these performances. The problem was that the sound was affected by the variable transfer quality of the original Philips LPs.

In many ways, this fourth symphony of Brahms is his masterpiece among the symphonies. In this performance the first movement, with its extended coda, makes for thrilling listening. The slow movement is warmly played and is unlikely to be anything other than fully enjoyed by anyone coming to it for the first time. As most music lovers know, Brahms put out the boat for this symphony in terms of orchestration, for in addition to the normal symphonic complement he added a triangle. In some recordings this slight brightening of the texture can almost go unnoticed but here it is clearly audible, making its contribution to the symphonic argument.

What is notable is the absolute rightness of the sound of this symphony and of the two overtures. The East German (as it was then) instrumental timbres are extremely attractive, especially the sound of the woodwind, so important in this symphony. The microphones are set somewhat back from the orchestra, so a clear concert perspective of the players is the main audio characteristic. --- John Phillips, musicweb-international.com

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Disc 1

Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 	
1 	1. Un poco sostenuto - Allegro	13:15 			
2 	2. Andante sostenuto	9:11 		
3 	3. Un poco allegretto e grazioso	4:17 		
4 	4. Adagio - Allegro non troppo ma con brio	15:30 	
	
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 	
5 	1. Allegro con brio	12:17 		
6 	2. Andante	9:25 		
7 	3. Poco Allegretto	5:21 		
8 	4. Allegro	7:50 	
	
Disc 2

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73 	
1 	1. Allegro non troppo	14:03 		
2 	2. Adagio non troppo - L'istesso tempo, ma grazioso	9:50 		
3 	3. Allegretto grazioso (Quasi Andantino) - Presto ma non assai	4:35 		
4 	4. Allegro con spirito	9:16 		

Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 	
5 	1. Allegro non troppo	12:01 		
6 	2. Andante moderato	12:05 		
7 	3. Allegro giocoso - Poco meno presto	6:09 		
8 	4. Allegro energico e passionato - Più Allegro	9:16

Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
Antal Dorati - conductor

To a certain segment of classical music enthusiasts, purchase of this reissue will be (or already has been) a foregone action of some urgency. Why? In the late 1950s and early 60s Mercury Records produced a number of recordings hailed as landmarks in sound reproduction and mastering. To this day, some assert that Mercury's recording techniques of that era remain unsurpassed. They note the close-up clarity of the sonics and the naturalness of the soundstage. I remember my first hearing of Byron Janis playing Prokofiev's Third and Rachmaninov's First on a Mercury LP when it came out in the early 60s: the sound was spectacular, so vivid, so lifelife, so powerful. I wondered then why the other labels simply didn't copy Mercury's techniques and produce LPs of that impressive quality. Hearing these Brahms performances from December 1957 (No. 2), June 1959 (No. 1), and July 1963 (Nos. 3 and 4), one marvels still at the sonic properties--and also at the consistency of the readings by the late Antal Dorati.

I must note right off that the tempos here are among the fastest in the complete Brahms Symphony sets. Ormandy, Maazel, Walter, Masur, Kertesz, and others are significantly slower. Levine and Wand, though, both on RCA, are also brisk, each actually clocking in ahead of Dorati in the Fourth Symphony. In the Third's first two movements, Dorati is surprisingly relaxed, proving he was certainly not inflexible in his approach to Brahms. Of course, tempo is but one small part of the overall interpretive persona of a conductor in a project like this. Dorati always manages to give forward thrust to his readings here, adroitly pointing up the classical, lean side of Brahms, although never slighting the innate Romantic character either. Contrapuntal detail emerges cleanly, orchestral balances are well judged, and Dorati interprets each work as a unified whole, always eschewing the tendency to italicize for some momentary effect, or to turn episodic due to a lack of structural grasp. Try the first movement of the First, where the strings slash away relentlessly to convey anxiety and a sense of doom lurking around the corner; or hear the peaceful, joyous beauty of the second movement of the Third flow by seamlessly and with such mesmerizing charm. In short, these readings, while not probing in nature, are insightful and never sound extreme or hasty, despite their briskness.

To those who think that Dorati's Haydn and Bartók were his only worthwhile major contributions, this set could change their minds. It may not be at the top of the heap of Brahms Symphony cycles, but it holds its own quite well against most comers. Both orchestras play admirably, even if the Minneapolis Symphony (now called the Minnesota Orchestra) is a bit scrawny-sounding. (Back then it probably was a smaller ensemble.) Mercury provides excellent notes and interesting details on the recordings and techniques used. A most desirable reissue. --- Robert Cummings, Rovi

Other recordings of Brahms’s symphonies are certainly more perfect, more detailed, more profound even, but few match the raw exhilaration of these Dorati performances. No. 2 is the odd man out, played by the Minneapolis SO rather than the LSO, and is the only case where accuracy may have been sacrificed in the cause of élan. Even so, the breathless urgency of these totally involving performances commands admiration. -- Christopher Wood, BBC Music Magazine

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CD1 [77.35]
Sonata in F minor for clarinet/viola & piano, op.120 no. 1 
1 I Allegro appassionato  [7:52] 
2  II Andante un poco adagio  [5:35] 
3 III Allegretto grazioso  [4:09]
4 IV Vivace  [4:59] 

Violin Sonata No 1 in G major, op. 78 (arr. viola Klengel/Rysanov)
5 I Vivace ma non troppo [10.33]
6 II Adagio [7.56]
7 III Allegro molto moderato [8.05]

Trio in E flat major for horn/viola, violin and piano op. 40
8 I Andante – Poco piu animato [7.56]
9 II Scherzo –Allegro [6.59]
10 III Adagio mesto [7.18]
11  IV Finale - Allegro con brio [6.03]

CD2 [47.09]
Sonata in E flat major for clarinet/viola & piano, op. 120 no. 2 
1  I Allegro amabile  [8.54] 
2 II  Allegro appassionato  [5.00] 
3 III Andante con moto - Allegro non troppo  [7.41]

Trio in A minor for clarinet/viola, cello and piano, op. 114 
4  I Allegro  [7.59] 
5  II Adagio  [8.36] 
6  III Andantino grazioso  [4.14] 
7  IV Allegro  [4.40 ]    

Maxim Rysanov - viola 
Katya Apekisheva - piano (CD1)
Boris Brovtsyn - violin (CD1, 8-11)
Jacob Katsnelson - piano (CD2)
Kristine Blaumane - cello (CD2, 4-7)

This exciting release gathers together in one neat package the two late sonatas for which Brahms’ viola versions have become standard repertoire, together with two trios for Clarinet and Horn that are more rarely heard for viola but work equally well. For this recording Max also plays the Klengel arrangement of the G Major Violin Sonata (with a few revisions of his own)

Played by one of the world’s most charismatic violists Maxim Rysanov, of whom Yuri Bashmet declared “ my rival has arrived!” Remarkably, Max has been awarded Editor’s Choice from Gramophone Magazine for both his recital discs to date, including Kancheli’s Styx and Tavener’s The Myrrh-Bearer on ONYX (ONYX4023) of which the reviewer said “it was a privilege to review” --- onyxclassics.com

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Clarinet Quintet in B minor op.115 (arranged for viola)
1 I Allegro 12.51
2 II Adagio 11.42
3 III Andantino 4.38
4 IV Con moto 8.59

Two Songs op.91
5 Gestillte Sehnsucht 7.16
6 Geistliches Wiegenlied 5.48

String Quintet no.2 in G op.111
7 I Allegro non troppo, ma con brio 12.40
8 II Adagio 6.37
9 III Un poco Allegretto 5.23
10 IV Vivace, ma non troppo presto 5.03

Maxim Rysanov (Viola)
Alice Coote (Mezzo Soprano)
Ashley Wass (Piano)
Alexander Sitkovetsky (Violin)
Mariana Osipova (Violin)
Julia Deyneka (Viola)
Kristine Blaumane (Cello)

Viola discs are flooding the market currently as if this middle-voiced stringed instrument had just been discovered: about time too. Hyperion's Complete Hindemith (soloist Lawrence Power) and English Music for Viola on Naxos (soloist Matthew Jones) are two recent pleasures, but this Brahms chamber music CD from Maxim Rysanov steals the limelight. Transcriptions are the norm for the viola, which has a relatively small repertoire. Here the clarinet quintet Op 115 has Rysanov replacing clarinet, with a string quartet led by Alexander Sitkovetksy. Mezzo Alice Coote and pianist Ashley Wass join for Two Songs Op 91. The concluding work is on the glorious string quintet No 2 in G, Op 111. It's addictive. ---theguardian.com

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