My friend, Andrew, in Sudbury, wrote to tell me about a Brahms piano solo he enjoys. He writes -
I took out a 6 CD set of Brahms’ solo piano works (Decca London) played by Julius Katchen…I just finished the last disc about 17 minutes ago. I’m not that fond of solos, but I was able to find the name of the one Brahms piano solo piece that I can actually say that I like:
Ballade in G Minor op. 118
Part of the ‘Six Pieces for Piano’ set created in 1893Katchen is a very competent player, but I don’t like his rendition as well as the one I first heard. The tempo is too fast.
Well, that’s quite intriguing. I figure I can use my Naxos subscription for search as well as wandering, so I went looking.
I found 3 performances of this piece. Well actually, two.
Naxos used Idil Beret’s recording of Brahms’ Opus 118 twice:
SCHUMANN, R.: Fantasiestucke, Op. 12 / BRAHMS: Klavierstucke, Op. 118
BRAHMS: Intermezzi, Op. 117 / Piano Pieces, Opp. 118-119
The other recording features Xiandong Kong (at least I think that’s the Western order of his name):
Of these recordings, I think Andrew would like Idil Beret’s rendition better.
What do you think?
Hello Vince
I listened to the two recordings and found Beret’s performance to be more to my liking. Kong’s interpretation of the ballade is quite brisk and very different from the ‘mystery performance’ I heard earlier.
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Mystery solved!
Vince
I am wondering what Andrew might think about the following recording by Seda Röder? It’s that same piece and you can listen to it over at Seda’s website:
http://music.sedaroeder.com/track/johannes-brahms-1833-1897-six-pieces-for-piano-op-118-ballade-in-g-minor
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897): Six Pieces for Piano, op. 118 – Ballade in G Minor by Seda Röder
Hello,
I prefer a faster tempo for this piece, but it’s a good recording.
Thanks for sending the link.