Brahms & Clara Schumann: Violin Concerto, Romances

“Even before Lisa Batiashvili makes her entrance, we can sense this will be an outstanding performance of the Brahms. Finely balanced, spacious recording, with woodwind and horns well placed, highlights the fine orchestral playing...Batiashvili, too, finds a wholly convincing equilibrium between her bold, passionate entry and the more reflective music that follows...Batiashvili and Alice Sara Ott are splendid advocates for the Clara Schumann Romances.” --Gramophone Magazine, April 2013

 

“Batiashvili’s Brahms is beautifully played and makes rewarding listening but this is a most crowded catalogue...the Staatskapelle Dresden under Christian Thielemann provide the finest imaginable support. In the Clara Schumann Romances Alice Sara Ott demonstrates what a fine recital pianist she has become.” --MusicWeb International, 15th May 2013

“this performance is lively and warm, partly thanks to Batiashvili, who sets the dominant tone in her darkly sensuous opening line...And throughout Batiashvili remains herself: less showy than some but deeply responsive to the music’s inner workings and its colours.” --The Times, 18th January 2013 ****

“Batiashvili can always justify revisiting a popular work such as the Brahms Violin Concerto. Her reading of this tough masterpiece is more lyrical than combative, but there is a tensile quality throughout. Speeds are well judged and the Dresden band play winningly.” --Sunday Times, 27th January 2013

“The concerto is engrossingly done, with the first movement majestically shaped and

 the finale sensibly paced so that we appreciate its logic as well as her panache. And she does indeed play the Adagio like a declaration of love.” --The Guardian, 7th February 2013 ****

Reflection

“…even if her Schumann Concerto had come out on its own… I'd still strongly recommend it. From her first two forte chords it is clear this is going to be something special. Every single phrase, change of mood or colour, sounds as though it has been lovingly rediscovered.” --BBC Music Magazine, February 2006 *****

Gramophone Magazine
Editor's Choice - February 2006

BBC Music Magazine
Orchestral Choice - February 2006

“Hélène Grimaud presents us with a second lovingly themed gift, this time mirroring the entwined love of Robert and Clara Schumann and their adored protégé, Johannes Brahms. Grimaud's performance of Robert's Piano Concerto is a superbly bracing riposte to more indulgent and sentimental readings. Brilliantly partnered by Esa-Pekka Salonen, who conducts with all the joy of first discovery, she launches the work with fierce authority before playing the principal theme with a rare sense of its expressivo and affetuoso character. She is no less bold and impassioned partnering Anne Sofie von Otter, an ideal match for a singer whose intensity and vision leave you in no doubt that Clara was a more-than-gifted composer as well as a great pianist. ...joins Truls Mørk in the E minor Cello Sonata, where you get an almost palpable sense of the artists lifting each other to heights they might find hard to achieve alone. Few performances on record have a more robust eloquence and fervour.” --Gramophone Magazine, February 2006