Brahms: Piano Sonata Op. 5, Fantasien Op. 116, Klavierstucke Op. 119

Nakamatsu, Van Cliburn winner in 1997, is an elegant, refined pianist, but goes only part of the way towards conveying Brahms’s complex sensibilities. The Sonata has an exuberant, youthful quality, but falls short of the emotional power presented by Lupu or Sokolov; and he gives the late pieces undoubted tonal beauty, but too little depth. Jessica Duchen

Our rating

3

Jessica Duchen

Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:54 pm

COMPOSERS: Brahms
LABELS: Harmonia Mundi
ALBUM TITLE: Brahms - Piano Music
WORKS: Piano Sonata Op. 5, Fantasien Op. 116, Klavierstucke Op. 119
PERFORMER: Jon Nakamatsu
CATALOGUE NO: HMU 907339

Nakamatsu, Van

Cliburn winner in

1997, is an elegant,

refined pianist, but

goes only part of the

way towards conveying Brahms’s

complex sensibilities. The Sonata

has an exuberant, youthful quality,

but falls short of the emotional

power presented by Lupu or

Sokolov; and he gives the late pieces

undoubted tonal beauty, but too

little depth. Jessica Duchen

Jessica Duchen

Journalist and Critic, BBC Music Magazine

Jessica Duchen studied music at Cambridge University and was the classical music correspondent for The Independent from 2004 to 2016. She has also written for The Guardian, The Observer, The Sunday Times, BBC Music Magazine and the JC, among others. Jessica Duchen has written librettos include numerous choral works and operas for the composer Roxanna Panufnik, including Silver Birch, commissioned by Garsington Opera and shortlisted for an International Opera Award in 2018. Two more works based on stories by Oscar Wilde were commissioned for Garsington’s Youth Company, The Happy Princess with composer Paul Fincham (2019) and The Selfish Giant with John Barber, which fell victim to lockdown, this has been postponed to 2021.
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