Recorded for two different record companies over 14 years in five different locations,
Emanuel Ax's
Brahms concertos plus his Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79; Three Intermezzos, Op. 117; and Four Piano Pieces, Op. 119, are joined together for the first time here on two discs. Given the span in space and time,
Ax is surprisingly quite consistent in his approach. The same emphasis on content over form, on heart over mind, on lyricism over drama is equally present in both concertos as well as in all the solo works. Accompanied by the strong-willed
James Levine leading the
Chicago Symphony in 1983,
Ax turns in a passionate but nuanced performance of the D minor Concerto, while accompanied by the self-effacing
Bernard Haitink leading the
Boston Symphony in 1997, he turns in a powerful but controlled performance of the B flat major Concerto. While listeners who enjoy
Richter and
Gilels' scowling
Brahms may find
Ax's
Brahms a bit staid, listeners who enjoy Arthur Rubinstein's smiling
Brahms will find
Ax's
Brahms feels like coming home. Even better examples of
Ax's way with
Brahms are his recordings of the solo piano music. His Rhapsodies are superbly poised between restraint and recklessness; his Intermezzos are wonderfully inward but not unduly intimate; and his piano pieces are ideally balanced between hope and despair. While there are surely other
Brahms' concerto recordings, one ought to hear as well -- the venerable
Backhaus,
Schnabel,
Fischer, and
Kempff recordings along with the more recent
Arrau,
Richter,
Gilels,
Pollini,
Kovacevich, and
Hamelin recordings -- fans of the Polish-American
Ax who don't already know these performances from their previous releases will surely want to hear these recordings. Whether recorded by Sony or RCA, the sound of this reissue is uniformly clean and full.