This is another solid performance by Anton Kuerti of some of the classics in the piano repertoire. He is such a well-rounded musician, who understands the balance between structure and expression, which is particularly important in Brahms' larger works like the piano concertos here. Kuerti doesn't let the emotion become the be-all and end-all of the works, but he isn't giving a dry, academic reading either. Amid the yearning moments, the heroic moments, and the wistful moments, the listener can hear themes being broken ...
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This is another solid performance by Anton Kuerti of some of the classics in the piano repertoire. He is such a well-rounded musician, who understands the balance between structure and expression, which is particularly important in Brahms' larger works like the piano concertos here. Kuerti doesn't let the emotion become the be-all and end-all of the works, but he isn't giving a dry, academic reading either. Amid the yearning moments, the heroic moments, and the wistful moments, the listener can hear themes being broken apart, re-used, and transformed. A couple of things that make this all the clearer are Kuerti's tone and the quality of the recording. Kuerti never pounds at the keyboard, even in the loudest parts of the music, so that his rich tone blends extremely well with that of Brahms' deeply colored orchestra. The sound of the piano in these performances is much closer than many piano concerto recordings, allowing it and the orchestra to be more partners than adversaries. The last disc in the set...
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