Review: By Gary Lemco

WCS 045 - Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances

When we consider that it was in 1868 that the set of Brahms Hungarian Dances made their debut with Brahms and Clara Schumann at the keyboard, this version with Valrie Kantorski and Ann Almond Pope at the Hamburg Steinway seems like a natural extension of that premier. For the first ten of the Dances, Brahms utilized gypsy strains and formulas he adapted--to accompany the violinist Remenyi--from melodies by Sarkozy, Windt, and Rozner, along with cembalom (aka tremolo) effects taken from Hungarian and Magyar folk styles. The setting for piano four hands allows Brahms any number of layered effects, counterpoint, syncopations, and octave unisons that reverberate with pungent dynamics. The No. 4 in F Minor, for instance, exults in “weeping” sighs and cross rhythms. The famous No. 5 in F-sharp Minor enjoys a fiery spark the Hungarians call zal, a whimsical rubato that alternately tugs at or condenses the metric pulse. The repeated one-note throb in the bass line easily captures the string bass accompaniment to a gypsy band that ordinarily would consist of violins, double bass, and cimbalom, and possibly low horn and triangle. No. 6 displays the rhythmic license and jarring, restless quality we like in both Brahms and Liszt. Sarcastic staccati open the No. 7 in A Major, which stops and starts with flighty dexterity. The manic No. 8 in A Minor convulsively switches mood every few bars, ecstatic and melancholy, then breaks out into runs worthy of Liszt. No. 10 in E Major Brahms orchestrated himself, understanding the tricky metrics and three-voice effects would make for a polyphonic experience.

One of the two longest Hungarian Dances, No. 11 in D Minor opens the second set, a funereal and processional piece with a drone trio section. The music sidles rather suavely and plaintively, more Brahms than gypsy. No. 13, Andantino grazioso in D Major, prepares us for some of the Brahms magic in the Handel Variations. The B-flat Major No. 15 opens like a Chopin Nocturne from Op. 48, then it freely splices the Liszt Rhapsody No. 14 to the wild mix. No. 17 in F-sharp Minor, Andantino, the piano duo takes very slowly until the middle section, where the czardas breaks out with impassioned and jocose energy. The B Minor No. 19 exerts a tripping guile that can explode at any whimsical moment. The E Minor No. 20 anticipates the Fourth Symphony in the same key. The melancholy sense of resignation proves a consistent Brahms affect, despite the latter pages’ attempt to hurtle into a pose of freedom. No. 21, also in E Minor, does manage to storm the walls of convention and taste the blue sky above. While it seems to me that four-hand setting of the Haydn Variations could have well fit onto this disc, we must settle for what we have, faithfully and vivaciously rendered.

Review: By Styra Avins

WCS 045 - Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances

The new Kantorski-Pope recording of Brahms's 21 Hungarian Dances is the liveliest, most engaging, and most stylish one I know. It is as if these two native Americans were really born on the Hungarian Puszta and miraculously appeared in an American recording studio. Their performance captures the zest, the sadness, and the accents of the music with nuances I never heard before, inner voices and connections between the bass part and the upper part which I never thought about. In all 21 tracks there is not a dull moment. Their ensemble is impeccable, their tempos just right. I've tried hard to find something to fault -- however gently -- and I can't. I want one for all my friends!

Review: By Paul Mathews / Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs :: The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University

WCS 045 - Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances

The twenty-one Hungarian Dances composed by Johannes Brahms are in many ways a study of the changing nature of the composer and audience in the late nineteenth century. Brahms composed the work for two players at a single piano: an ensemble that speaks to a kind of communal – even familial – music making that was common in the nineteenth century. While every respectable European city had an opera company with an opera orchestra, dedicated symphonic orchestras were still quite rare. As a result, musicians learned symphonic works in piano transcriptions, and as the symphonies grew more complex, the use of two pianists for a transcription increased. Thus, Brahms' original conception of the Hungarian Dances suggests a shared sense of musical inquiry between two performers. The later arrangements for orchestra and for a single pianist, speak to the changing nature of the "market" for new music in the nineteenth century; entrepreneurs could sell tickets for an orchestral concert and publishers could sell multiple editions of a work by Brahms. The performing and recording history of this great work has been enriched by the other arrangements. The orchestral version remains a staple of the repertoire, while the solo version remains the sort of work pianists keep at hand for encores and specialty performances. Even a cursory glance at a library or store catalog indicates how these other versions have dominated available recordings. The four-hand version has become a sort of curiosity that is available in older recordings – with their attendant re-mastering problems and unfashionable performance practices – or new digital offerings, hastily recorded by two young prodigies in an Eastern-European church. This recording of the Hungarian dances by the Kantorski-Pope Duo is a most welcome addition to the available recordings. Here are two musicians who have obviously lived with this literature and have given serious consideration to the problems – and the promise – of balancing the considerable amount sound one can expect of two pianists. Perhaps one of the first challenges of performing this literature is to properly lift and sing these Hungarian melodies within rich and varied texture of voices that are all played on a single piano. The sheer proliferation of piano notes combined with the heft of Brahms' contrapuntal praxis can make the overall sound busy or clouded. The Kantorski-Pope Duo meets this challenge with aplomb. The pedaling is restrained and is used more for timbre than for sustain: a kind of pedaling that suggests the Graf and Streicher pianos that Brahms actually played. Moreover, the clarity of the Kantorski-Pope Duo's musical presentation is reproduced in stunning digital sound. The lower resonance blooms as if the listener were close to the pianos but in a sizable room. The bright passage work is rendered lively, but not cold or metallic. Unlike some recordings, there is never the feeling that one is presented with a sound trapped under the lid of the piano. By not giving this work an opus number, Brahms himself may have inadvertently suggested that these dances are less serious. Only fifty years after their publication, one would-be wit suggested the Hungarian Dances were only good for a showy display of technique, writing, "the unhackneyed ones are quite as fetching as those played in movie-houses and at violin recitals ... it's up to duettists to exploit them properly." Fortunately, Kantorski-Pope Duo takes a more reverential approach in their presentation. The tempi and expression captured in this recording suggest the maturation of long study. In particular, the subito tempo changes and the broadening expression at structural articulation points are a testament to the shared commitment to ensemble playing between Kantorski and Pope. Their playing suggests the communal and mutually respectful playing Brahms imagined when he performed the work with Clara Schumann. Moreover, the keen sense for motion mediates some of the extremes of earlier recordings and the sensibilities of the modern listener. In all and in sum, this is a serious presentation of serious music and long overdue.

Review: By Robert Finley

WCS 045 - Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances

"The Kantorski-Pope Duo's CD of Brahms 21 Hungarian Dances is most enjoyable and entertaining. I believe this is one of the best recordings available of the version for piano duet. Each Hungarian Dance was played with its own individual character and mood, and the duo achieved a fine ensemble with much contrast, excellent rhythmical drive, dynamic variations and tonal shading. They brought out some of the humor in the 7th dance.

Most of the first half of the Hungarian Dances are well known, but a few of the later ones are not heard very often, and it was the first time for this author. Maybe this recording will encourage others to try some of the lesser known dances. They were originally written for piano duet and are popular with both professional and amateur pianists. They have also been orchestrated and arranged for different groups of instruments. The duo achieved an orchestral effect on the piano.

It was interesting to hear some of the melodies in these dances that have been used by other composers. Some of the themes in the 15th Hungarian Dance, for example, were used by Franz Liszt in his 12th Hungarian Rhapsody. The second part of the 17th Dance sounded almost like Klesmer music, or the type of music one would hear at a Chassidic Jewish wedding.

I highly recommended this CD. I am looking forward to hearing more recordings from this wonderful duo".

Review: By Radnai Rudolf

WCS 045 - Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances

Hamburgban született, mint csodagyermek már igen korán feltunt zongoramuvészi képességeivel, majd Marxsen irányításával zeneszerzést is tanult. Életében dönto változást jelentett a magyar hegeduvirtuóz, Reményi Ede, akinek 1853-ban zongorakíséroje lett. Másik jótevoje ugyancsak világhíru magyar hegedumuvész volt, Joachim József, akinek révén Liszt-el és Schumann-nal került kapcsolatba. Több ízben hangversenyezett Pesten, Reményi Edével közösen tett koncertkörutakat, sok magyar barátja volt. Brahms muveit nagymértékben áthatja a verbunkos muzsika dallam és formavilága. A magyaros mufajt egészen magáévá tette, mintegy anyanyelvi szinten muvelte. Legnépszerubb muvei közé tartozik a 21 Magyar tánc. Vajon mi lehet az oka ennek a népszeruségnek? Elsosorban talán az a könnyedség, ahogy a 11., 14. és 16. tánc kivételével a tradicionális magyar dallamok megtalálják a helyüket a német komponista tiszta és eleven zenei struktúráiban. A 21 Magyar tánc négykezes zongorára készült, elso alkalommal maga Brahms és plátói szerelme Clara Schumann, a kor egyik legelismertebb zongoristája adták elo egy házi koncerten 1868-ban. Kiváló zongoristák Valrie Kantorski és An Almond Pope adják elo a lemezen a magyar füleknek oly ismerosen csengo dallamokat. A duo háromszor volt elso helyezett a Graves Duo Piano Competition rendezvényen. Kantorski a Toledo Symphonic Orchestra elso zongoristája. Pope az ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) tagja, zongora duóra készült hangszerelései a Belwin/Warner Bros kiadó jóvoltából széles körben ismertek.