{"id":11125,"date":"2021-06-11T09:08:54","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T09:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pianostreet.com\/blog\/?p=11125"},"modified":"2022-02-15T10:04:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T10:04:45","slug":"andras-schiff-brahms-and-the-question-of-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pianostreet.com\/blog\/albums\/andras-schiff-brahms-and-the-question-of-tradition-11125\/","title":{"rendered":"Andras Schiff, Brahms and the Question of Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much attention and mention is given Sir Andras Schiff’s latest remarkable recording of both Brahms’ piano concertos with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Schiff’s choice of instrument is a Bl\u00fcthner grand piano built in Leipzig around 1859, the year in which the first D minor concerto was premiered. Schiff has changed foot in his views on period instruments and the recording can be seen as an ambitious attempt to scrutinize and fully bring out the true characteristics of Brahms’ works.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Several years ago, Schiff acquired an 1820 fortepiano, which was used to make recordings of two double albums with Schubert’s late piano works. Schiff says: \u201dPlaying the Brahms concertos on a modern piano with modern orchestras, there were always balance problems. And I found, especially in the second B-flat Concerto, that it was just physically and psychologically very hard to play. Somehow, with this Bl\u00fcthner piano, the physical difficulties disappear. The keys are a tiny bit narrower, so the stretches are not so tiring, and the action is much lighter. So there is not this colossal physical work involved.\u201d In recent interviews, Schiff has criticised the increasing homogeneity of piano performance, with modern Steinways used for repertoire of every era. <\/p>\n

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In the album’s liner notes Schiff describes his aim of this ECM label New Series project: \u201cTo liberate it from the burden of the – often questionable – trademarks of performing tradition.\u201d <\/p>\n

The ambition has been to get back to the sound and scale of the performances that Brahms himself would have expected. Among Brahms’ favourite orchestras was Hans von B\u00fclow’s band in Meiningen, which had just 49 players. Schiffs’ previous collaboration with the period instrument ensemble Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in the Schumann piano concerto in London, led to a natural choice of ensemble for this recording.<\/p>\n

Listen to a sample from the album:<\/p>\n