Search - Johannes Brahms, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Wiener Philharmoniker :: Brahms: Piano Concertos No. 1 & 2 - Tragic Overture, etc.. / Barenboim, Barbirolli

A great set

02/07/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's hard to believe that Barenboim was only in his 20s when he recorded these concertos; the performances show emotional depth far beyond his years. Barbirolli and the New Philharmonia provide beautiful playing and the entire production is cohesive, powerful, and the remastered sound is amazingly good. While it won't displace the Fleisher/Szell or the Gilels/Jochum sets, it's essential listening for anyone who loves this music."

WOW, that's power

mcnoldy | 10/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A fantastic 2-CD set of some of the finest piano music out there. I'm a big fan of Mozart's piano concertos, and this is going to proudly share the same shelf with those CDs. Highly recommended!"

Don't you wish he'd stayed at the keyboard?

Mark McCue | Denver, CO USA | 07/26/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This five star production infuriates me--why has Barenboim inflicted himself on the world as a two-star conductor when he was consistently doing five-star work from the keyboard?This is the perfect case in point. This is one of the great traversals of these two big things, individual without being quirky, technically assured, interpretatively clear, thoughtful, astute. Of course, Barbirolli is responsible in part for this, but his collaboration is what was needed to fill out a perceptive rather than noisy and even elegant presentation. All this in Brahms: that's rare.We're not going to be forgetting Rubenstein, Fleisher, Backhaus, Gilels, Richter on a good day, Bachauer and a few others. We're just going to keep remembering to include Barenboim in that select group. This disc would be unalloyed joy...if we just didn't have that nagging feeling that we're listening to a great artist who took the advice of a mediocre career counselor."