Brahms - piano concerto no. 2
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B minor*
Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), composer
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Erich Leinsdorf, conductor
*Recorded October 15, 1960
RCA Victor Records
Sometime around 2005-2008 I went to the old Brown Elephant thrift store in Lakeview usually looking for music. This time in the back of the store was a large donation of classical vinyl LPs someone donated. It was somewhat of a marvel to behold. There was a young man I guessed an undergrad in some music program diving into the pile of LPs. I felt like I had stepped out of my body and saw myself when I was his age just absolutely in love with music… well, I still am and always will be. By how intensely focused he was looking through the piles, I sensed there was something in particular he was looking for and I had to ask. He was looking for recordings of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 and he then told me how it was all-time favorite piece of music and raving about it. Because I’ve always loved piano. music, I knew instantly that I needed to hear it and I decided then and there I would seek it out.
My interest in classical music at that point was still light stuff: Philip Glass and Vaughan Williams. I finally tracked down a version and eventually found my way to the great recording of Erich Leinsdorf with Sviatoslav Richter and the CSO. As it’s been famously said, “it’s a full meal” and it’s got everything: bombast, romance, serenity, lyricalness, and deep emotional resonance. It took me about three or four listens before I felt like I had a handle on it, but it’s always been the end of the third movement that got me interested in the piece. After the fourth listen I started to love it and finally understood why young music fan at the thrift store loved this work so.
This was the start of my listening to classical music more seriously. After this I discovered on my own the Debussy and Ravel string quartets and the doors of discovering classical music just kept opening. These are the keystones in my collection, but there’s about 200 recordings I could name beyond this list:
- Brahms in general (Piano Concerto Nos 1 & 2 esp.)
- Schubert - Everything
- J.S. Bach - Cello Suites, Well-Tempered Klavier, Violin Sonatas and Partitas
- Shostakovich symphonies
- French composers in general (but Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, esp.)
- John Dowland works performed by Paul O’Dette on lute
- Ralph Vaughan Williams “The Lark Ascending”
- Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas (Stephen Kovacevich, piano)
