Output details

"The Complete Songs of Johannes Brahms Volumes 1- 4"

The aim presented through the researcher’s recordings – as pianist - of the complete songs of Brahms was to present the listener and scholar not simply with a rendition of the published scores but an insight into the composer’s world, with its many conflicting and complementary elements that urged the songs into existence.

The research process undertaken to allow the researcher / performer to reconstruct for the listener this private world made public, included a detailed study of the poets whose work Brahms chose to set. The researcher’s liner notes associated with the recordings evidences his conviction that for Brahms the fusion of the two languages was a prerequisite for the communication of his aesthetic intentions. The researcher / performer must therefore also inhabit a similarly informed and sensitive world if he is to pass on the subtleties of Brahms’ insights to the listener.

A second strand of the research process studied correspondence concerning Brahms’ style as a pianist. This often described a unique approach exploiting a freedom of expression articulated through rubato phrasing. The researcher / pianist incorporates this little-studied element of Brahms’ performance practice into his recordings.

Possibly linked to the freedom of expression described above came a third research process that focused on Brahms’ use of folk-song. The researcher’s investigations revealed that these formed not just the starting point for subsequent sophistication but injected an immediacy and earthy quality into the whole fabric of the compositions. This insight had significant implications for the performer’s interpretation, for he now had to communicate an understanding of, and respect for, the folk origins of some of the works, works that nevertheless also spoke through the urbane language Brahms evolved from his equally intimate knowledge of high-art traditions.