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Brahms: 3 Sonatas / Collins, Hough
BIS

Brahms: 3 Sonatas / Collins, Hough

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Details

Composer
Brahms, Johannes
Artist
Collins, Hough
Format
SACD
Label
BIS
Released
Dec 03, 2021
Catalog #
BIS-2557
UPC
7318599925578

About

Friends of long standing as well as regular partners in chamber music, Michael Collins and Stephen Hough bring their combined musical insights and expertise to bear on Johannes Brahms’s sonatas for clarinet and piano. Together with the composer’s trio for clarinet, cello and piano and clarinet quintet, the sonatas are among the most treasured works in the repertoire of the instrument – but it is partly down to good luck that we have them at all. When Brahms in 1891 heard the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, principal clarinet of the Meiningen Court Orchestra, he had already announced his retirement. He was enraptured by Mühlfeld’s playing and its vocal qualities, however, and made a ‘comeback’: during the following couple of years he composed all four of his clarinet works. These were written especially for Mühlfeld, whose spirit does seem to pervade the two sonatas – we hear an unusually sunny and lyrical Brahms, with plenty of opportunity to sing for both instruments. When the sonatas were published, they appeared with alternative viola parts to replace the clarinet, and soon violin versions prepared by the composer were also brought out. For the opening work on the disc, Michael Collins has therefore taken a leaf out of Brahms’s book, by adapting the composer’s Violin Sonata No. 2, another late work. The amount of adaptation needed is small: a lot of the violin writing fits the clarinet well, and the sonata share much of the songlike quality of the two ‘real’ clarinet sonatas.

REVIEW:

Clarinetist Michael Collins must have lived with the two Op. 120 sonatas for all his professional career. That seems abundantly clear from his superb playing in both of those sonatas. His Brahmsian experience is also evidenced by his highly persuasive and idiomatic adaptation of Op 110. As for Stephen Hough, his Brahms credentials are well known, not least for his splendid recordings of the piano concertos (review) and, more recently, of the late piano pieces (review). It was a great idea to bring these two fine musicians together for this project and the idea has paid off handsomely.

The production values are high. The recorded balance is ideal and the instruments are reproduced truthfully. I listened to the stereo layer of this SACD and was very satisfied with the results. As I’ve already indicated, Stephen Johnson’s essay is excellent.

This is a disc which will grace any Brahms collection.

-- MusicWeb International


Tracklist 10 tracks

  1. 1 I. Allegro amabile 08:05
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Allegro amabile
    Duration
    08:05
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough
  2. 2 II. Andante tranquillo - Vivace - Andante 05:54
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Andante tranquillo - Vivace - Andante
    Duration
    05:54
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough
  3. 3 III. Allegretto grazioso (quasi Andante) 05:25
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Allegretto grazioso (quasi Andante)
    Duration
    05:25
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough
  4. 4 I. Allegro appassionato 07:43
    Track
    4
    Title
    I. Allegro appassionato
    Duration
    07:43
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough
  5. 5 II. Andante un poco adagio 05:07
    Track
    5
    Title
    II. Andante un poco adagio
    Duration
    05:07
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough
  6. 6 III. Allegretto grazioso 04:08
    Track
    6
    Title
    III. Allegretto grazioso
    Duration
    04:08
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough
  7. 7 IV. Vivace 04:47
    Track
    7
    Title
    IV. Vivace
    Duration
    04:47
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough
  8. 8 I. Allegro amabile 08:27
    Track
    8
    Title
    I. Allegro amabile
    Duration
    08:27
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough
  9. 9 II. Allegro appassionato 05:17
    Track
    9
    Title
    II. Allegro appassionato
    Duration
    05:17
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough
  10. 10 III. Andante con moto - Allegro 07:05
    Track
    10
    Title
    III. Andante con moto - Allegro
    Duration
    07:05
    Composer
    Johannes Brahms
    Performer
    Michael Collins, Stephen Hough