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Nicholas Angelich, American-born, but French-trained, continues his exploration of Brahms for Virgin Classics with this performance of the composer’s Second Piano Concerto, an epic, four-movement work that demands both grand pianism and chamber-music sensibilities. In the past, Gramophone has praised Angelich’s “trenchant, focused Brahms,” describing him as “a formidable player … whose performances … are of a wholly exceptional drama, sweep and impeccable craftsmanship.”
“Brahms was always very important for me — and for my parents,” explained Angelich in a recent interview with Pianiste magazine “… I studied the sonata in F minor op 5 when I was 10 or 11 years old … When I was 9 or 10 I played the second sonata with my father and I worked on the Concerto No 2 when I was 14 … Then I discovered the string chamber music, the songs, and I played all the chamber music with piano. All this was very nourishing for me.”
Angelich’s Virgin Classics recording of Fantasies op. 116, Intermezzi op. 111, Klavierstücke op. 118 and 119, was designated a ‘Music Choice’ by the BBC Music Magazine: “Steering a balanced course between imaginative vitality and warmth on one side and resigned melancholy on the other can be difficult, but Nicholas Angelich manages it with a kind of panache. He takes you to the brink of inconsolable sadness one moment, only to put a refreshing spring in the step of a dance movement the next … [Angelich keeps] the melody lines fluid and shapely, and brings light to the textures without emasculating that rich bass sound so typical of Brahms … For all his respect for tone weight, Angelich can also make Brahms sound deliciously light and transparent … the colors and textures all seem to emerge quite naturally from the printed notes … Very impressive all round.”
