Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 / Strauss Burleske

Brahms’s epic Piano Concerto No 2 is a big listen. Its mammoth fourmovement structure tests the mettle of the best of pianists, and even the most experienced of listeners.

One of the questions any recording artist makes when issuing a new version is what partner work will satisfyingly accompany it. Pianist Joseph Moog and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under conductor Nicholas Milton offer an excellent solution with Richard Strauss’s

mischievously rhapsodic Burleske for

Piano and Orchestra.

The performance of the latter is full of colour and unceasing in its thrilling momentum. As such, it provides an ebullient release from the symphonic solidity and cohesion of the Brahms, which Moog imbues with a noble intellectual quality while equally enjoying the expressive freedom offered by in the scherzo and the liquid lyricism of the Andante.

These are no-nonsense, simply articulated performances, admirable for their integrity and, where it matters, tasteful flights of fancy.