András Schiff, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: Johannes Brahms - Piano Concertos
ECM New Series

One of the more striking things about this double-CD recording of Brahms piano concertos is the chamber-like quality achieved by pianist András Schiff and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE). Performing sans conductor, the musicians achieve a level of intimacy one associates more with a chamber ensemble than full-scale orchestra. Such qualities are in keeping with the composer's own desire to have the piano and orchestra act as equal partners rather than see the latter function as mere accompanist. Schiff brings his life-long enthusiasm for Brahms to these thoroughly rewarding performances, which were recorded in London in December 2019 after he appeared with the orchestra in a series of concerts.

They're ideally suited for the project. The Budapest-born pianist achieved success at major piano competitions in his early twenties before his career as a recording and concert artist took flight. In addition to recording Beethoven's thirty-two piano sonatas and the Diabelli Variations and Bach's Goldberg Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier, Schiff has issued on ECM's New Series material by Schubert, Schumann, Janácek, Mozart, Debussy, and others. Founded in 1986, the OAE plays using ‘period instruments' built at the time that the music was composed and boasts fifty members. That's in keeping with the size of Brahms's personal favourite, The Meiningen Court Orchestra, which at times comprised no more than forty-nine. Sharing the OAE's enthusiasm for period authenticity, Schiff plays a Blüthner piano built in Leipzig in the mid-nineteenth century. In combination, the instrumental forces approximate the conditions of Brahms's own era and do much to peel away the layers of performance tradition that have accumulated over decades.

While the first concerto, completed in 1858, is in three movements and the second, completed in 1881, four, each follows a towering first movement by ones of lesser yet nonetheless dramatic scope. The opening “Maestoso” movement in the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in d minor, op. 15 advances through five parts: orchestral introduction, exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda. A dramatic theme introduces the proceedings, which then leads into the voicing of other themes and their fluid development. After the tempestuous intro, Schiff enters to assert his presence with authority, but, as mentioned, while the pianist is unquestionably the soloist, Brahms doesn't relegate the orchestra to the shadows: yes, unaccompanied piano episodes do arise, but the orchestra and piano are clearly on a shared mission. At various times, the orchestra moves to the forefront as the piano rests; more often, the two appear together, with the one embroidering the expressions of the other. After that epic journey, the graceful “Adagio” soothes with its peaceful tone, and the hushed pitch allows the delicate expressions of the piano and the orchestra's strings, horns, and woodwinds to be heard all the more clearly. The concluding “Rondo. Allegro non troppo” is naturally a dramatic, high-energy affair whose three-themed design brings the bravura playing of both soloist and orchestra into sharp relief.

Just as the writing of the first concerto progressed through multiple stages, the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in B-flat major, op. 83 developed over a three-year period and was publicly premiered in Budapest by Brahms as the soloist with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. A lone horn introduces the “Allegro non troppo” with a lovely melody, which then leads into a daunting cadenza that spans the full keyboard and calls on the virtuosity of the pianist. Similar to the first concerto's opening movement, themes in the second's are likewise introduced, developed, and revisited, with all such elements organized into an organically unfolding whole. Speaking of tempestuous, the label also applies to the scherzo, which like the opening movement places considerable demands on the soloist; Schiff of course meets the challenge handsomely, as does the OAE as the two navigate stormy waters until quieter passages arrive. As arresting as the opening movements are, the slow movement” captivates even more for the exquisiteness of its plaintive phrase, which the cello delivers first and which is then taken up by the violins and, more elaborately, the pianist. Ebullience marks the concluding “Allegretto grazioso,” though there's wistfulness and elegance too. Multiple themes and moods are explored in the closing movement until it culminates in a robust crescendo.

July 2021