Emanuel Ax begins his program notes by describing his lifelong love affair with the Brahms Concertos and the never-ending challenges and rewards of performing them. On this 2-CD re-issue of recordings originally made between 1983 and 1997, this love speaks through every note. Playing from deep inside the music, he creates a sense of unhurried expansiveness, caressing the magical melodic and harmonic turns, making transitions and changes of mood and character seem natural and inevitable; his rhythm is unshakable yet flexible enough for perfectly balanced liberties. Making light of what he calls the concertos' terrifying difficulties, he puts his virtuosity entirely at the service of the music, projecting its stormy impetuousness, majestic grandeur, feathery lightness, radiant ecstasy, and inward expressiveness. The orchestras engage in a true partnership with the pianist, each matching the other's intensity of sound and emotion in constant give-and-take; the horn and cello solos in the second concerto are meltingly beautiful. Both concertos open with an extraordinary juxtaposition. In the first, the ominous timpani rumbles and tutti trills are answered by the piano's fervent pleading. In the second, the peaceful orchestral introduction is followed by the piano's outburst of passion and exuberance. The discs include three sets of Piano Pieces, grouped by genre. Written for Clara Schumann, Ax feels they are among Brahms' most intimate, personal works. In deeply felt performances, he brings out their pervasive melancholy resignation without losing their contrasting individual character. --Edith Eisler
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