Brahms: Piano Concertos, Etc

The Decca recording is generally successful in unifying soloist and orchestra, as the work demands, although the piano remains well-projected. Tonally, both piano and strings could be better, but there can be no denying the quality of the Concertgebouw playing: the horns are in especially fine form. Masterly playing, too, from Ashkenazy, after a slightly hesitant start. He proves equal to the capricious moods of the piece, and both he and Haitink are fully responsive to the constant interplay between soloist and orchestra.

This is a performance that succeeds in being dramatic, without becoming hysterical, as can so easily happen in this concerto.

For the Second Concerto, Decca took Ashkenazy and Haitink to Vienna and results were predictably every bit as good as those obtained in Amsterdam. If anything, the balancing is a little better, and there can be no quibbles here about tonal quality. The whole performance is most sensitively moduled, measured yet supple in its responses. The slow movement is quite magica, with lovely solo 'cello contribution from Robert Scheiwein. In all this is a radiant performance of a genial and heart-warming work.
Peter Herring –-Classical Music on Compact Disc