Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Three Intermezzi Op. 117

FROM SYMPHONIC BRILLIANCE TO QUIET REFLECTION, PIEMONTESI ILLUMINATES BRAHMS

Francesco Piemontesi, conductor Manfred Honeck, and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig come together in a new recording of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2. This concerto transcends the traditional form, blending symphonic grandeur with virtuosic brilliance and moments of intimate chamber-like dialogue between piano and orchestra. Piemontesi’s sensitive playing and Honeck’s precise, passionate leadership create a richly detailed and moving interpretation of one of Brahms’s greatest masterpieces.

Alongside the concerto are Brahms’ Three Intermezzi, Op. 117 – quiet, reflective pieces that offer a window into the composer’s most personal thoughts. Francesco Piemontesi, one of today’s most-cherished pianists, presents the fifth release in his exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE, following the widely praised Schubert – Last Piano Sonatas (2019), Bach Nostalghia (2021), Schoenberg, Messiaen & Ravel (2022), and Liszt Transcendental Etudes & Piano Sonata (2023).

Released physically on standard CD.

REVIEWS:

Classic Review: “World class playing, through and through”

Presto – Team Choice for September: “Power and expression without harshness” is how Piemontesi describes his pianistic ideal, and that could hardly be better demonstrated than in this tremendous performance of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2, in which he contrasts great heft in the second movement with graceful, delicate passagework in the fourth. Manfred Honeck and the Gewandhausorchester are ideal partners, bold and muscular in the big orchestral tuttis, yet delicate and tender as required, with a yearning cello solo at the start of the third movement. Piemontesi follows this with exquisite accounts of the three Intermezzi, Op. 117.'”

BBC Radio Scotland – Album of the week

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “The opening horn call forms the sonic gateway to another world, into which Piemontesi enters in amazement with his lyrical response. A brisk tempo and antipathos characterize the further progression; tacit poetry, structural clarity, and technical brilliance merge into a single whole.”

Crescendo: “Piemontesi takes care to always mark the rhythms well and to articulate carefully without anything being forced or tense and concludes a performance of the highest level with this alloy of eloquence and simplicity from which he never departs.”

Scherzo: “This recording of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which will be followed by the First next year, places Piemontesi among the greatest names to have recorded such a masterpiece.”

Le Devoir – Four and a half stars: “The countermelodies and sonic texture of the first movement, the timbral blends of the third, are marvelous. Francesco Piemontesi explores the phrases with full force, demonstrating consummate skill in maintaining sonic continuity and cantabile.”

Zeitschrift für Kultur und Gesellschaft: “Although critics initially dismissed the work as a concert piece, derisively calling it a ‘symphony with obbligato piano,’ this composition is now considered, precisely for that reason, one of the genre’s most distinctive works. When paired with a pianist like Piemontesi, willing to embrace these unique characteristics, to adopt a lyrical restraint, and to set aside the virtuosic piano part, the result can be something truly wonderful in terms of sound, expression, and intimacy, a true delight for the listener.”