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Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bflat major,Op.83 ARTUR SCHNABEL (Piano)

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With the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.

A Connoisseur Historical Recording Side 1

1st Movement: Allegro non troppo 2nd Movement: Allegro appassionato

Side 2

3rd Movement: Andante 4th Movement: Allegro grazioso

ARTUR SCHNABEL Pianist and composer born in Lipnik,

Austria on 17th April, 1882. He studied with Leschetizky and

Essipova in Vienna and appeared, a musical prodigy, a concert pianist, at the age of eight. He was one of the most eminent pianists of his era, a specialist in the ‘classic’ composers, with a particular flair for Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven.

To Schnabel was entrusted the first complete recording of the Beethoven Sonatas and for many people this remains the set by which all others are judged. As a pianist, Schnabel is remembered for his strong intellectual grasp of the form and structure of the music he performed. A strong reflective, contemplative quality in his playing, led Schnabel to choose works of this nature rather than empty virtuoso pieces, for which he was not emotionally suited.

A famous teacher in Berlin, Schnabel left Austria and Germany on the rise of Nazi power. He finally made his home in America. He was one of the first pianists to record really extensively and his performances for this medium were made in the heyday of electrical pre-

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LP recording. Although Schnabel composed a concerto, chamber music and songs, it is for his recordings of the music of German and Austrian composers that he is remembered today. He died at Axenstein, Switzerland in August 1951. MPK This performance was recorded in November 1935 and originally issued on HMV DB2696/701. It was trans- ferred to LP in Paris and issued on COLH82. This present issue marks its LP debut in the United Kingdom.

Brahms’ first Piano Concerto in A minor was something of a disappointment to the composer for it never became very popular during his lifetime. His deter- mination to write a concerto that would satisfy the most reluctant audience prob- ably sparked off the Bb Concerto. At the time Brahms was very active as a pianist and he was the soloist at the first performance on November 9, 1881 at the Redouten Saal in Budapest, with Alexander Erkel conducting. A virtuoso concerto with a shining part for the soloist might have been expected, cer- tainly if the composer had been Liszt or Rachm?ninov. But, except possibly in the blithely tuneful last movement, this. sort of balance seems to be avoided throughout the work and Brahms wrote a concerto notable for its integrated collaborative aspect. The third move- ment gives almost as notable a part to the cello as to the piano. It was clearly designed to suit his own temperament and capabilities as a pianist.

The longest concerto written in Classical form and in four movements instead of the more usual three, it is not an easy work to understand or appreciate; it makes no immediate conquest in the mannor of some of its popular rivals, but wins its way with a

progressive change from the probing questions and answers of the majestic first movement, through the tranquil rhapsody of the third to the sunshine of the fourth. The violently passionate allegro second movement in D minor is a strange interruption that breaks into and disrupts the work rather than allowing it an easy passage. One conduc- tor pointed out that it was a work often abandoned in rehearsal, not because of any great difficulties of a technical nature but because of the difficulty of grasping the work as a whole and giving a logical interpretation. |

That it was a work dear to the com- poser’s heart and one of his greatest achievements could hardly be doubted. Only the Violin concerto achieved a greater nobility of thought, and its quiet nature contrasts vividly with the stormy D minor Piano concerto. oe

he care that went into its writing is indicated by the length of time spent on it. He started its composition in 1878 and finished it during the summer of 1881 at Pressbaum near Vienna. The biographical background is uneventful. Composition, occasional tours to promote his music, occasional holidays partic- ularly in Italy where he went as often as possible, certain duties as musical director to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen with a small orchestra of about fifty players which he moulded into a first- rate unit and travelled with throughout Germany. The ordinariness of Brahms’ life is often a serious disadvantage to the writer!

Against such a background one would not expect a particularly tragic or emotional work. The concerto, in spite of its epic size, is a quiet personal statement of the composer’s calm philosophical approach to life, its

doubts small and personal and sub- dued by his continual desire to avoid fuss. By 1881 the composer’s technical command of his resources was complete. When this concerto is described as

_ “Chamber music on a big scale” it rightly suggests intimate expression, clearness of outline and an intellec- tual flow of ideas expressed on a symphonic scale. Its unhurried com- position, the first sketches of 1878 being put aside while the Violin conc- erto and other works were written, suggests not so much an inspired gesture as a considered opinion. The result, a musical document that clearly expresses Brahms’ attitude to music.

The first movement, allegro non tro- ppo, opens with a question and answer sequence between piano and orchestra, a strong pentatonic phrase from the horns answered by an equally strong phrase from the piano. The piano issues a leng- thy challenge and the orchestra answers in calmer but emphatic manner. In pass- ages of varying length this sort of conver- sational interplay carries on right through the first movement in many tones of voice, sometimes bold and challenging,, sometimes gay, sometimes doubtful, sometimes regretful. At the end, the conclusions drawn from the conver- sation are brilliantly paraphrased.

The second movement, allegro appassionato, is perhaps not a logical progression in the expected classical order of things. The whole movement has an uneasy questioning atmosphere, tunefjl and energetic, even gay at times, but still leaving an impression of anxiety and a question posed but left unanswered within the movement itself.

Perhaps the answer really comes in the beautiful andante of the third | movement, an answer we expected

rather sooner. The endless but soothing flow of the music is like a warm wind blowing over a field of wheat, inducing a sense of direction without actually going anywhere. There are occasion- ally strong gusts but emotional control is taken by that eminently approachable, friendly and wise instrument, the cello, with the piano, for much of the time, content to make gentle comments. Later Brahms indicated his fondness for the cello’s melodious theme by turning it into one of his most lyrical and poetical songs Jmmer leiser wird mein Schlummer. The piano and cello duet at the end of the movement is the warmest and friendliest of all the conversations held in this work.

The fourth movement allegretto grazioso, a “great and childlike final” is one of the most optimistic orchestral movements that Brahms wrote remind- ing us of the sunny emotional release of many of his songs and waltzes. The grandeur, the serenity, the occasional storms of the concerto seem to be com- pletely forgotten. The movement is a free rondo full of melodic ideas, elaborate conceits and sprightly rhythms, with light scoring that leaves out the timpani and trumpets. The conversational elem- ent is less apparent here than before; one might better describe it now as chatter. In this concerto Brahms was old-fashioned to the extent of enjoying a happy ending in company with his preceding masters, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. For most people, who don’t mind being labelled musical escapists, this is still the most pleasing way for things to conclude, and, in most aspects, Brahms’ Bb Concerto provides a sane and satisfying musical exprience.

PETER GAMMOND

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The World Record Club Limited

Parkbridge House, Little Green, Richmond, Surrey.

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