BRAHMS: Hungarian Dances; JOACHIM: Variations in E minor – Hagai Shaham, violin/ Arnon Erez, piano – Hyperion CDA67663, 66:08 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] *****:
Johannes Brahms at age 20 must have been quite a musical powerhouse. His impressive talents so thrilled Robert Schumann that he proclaimed him music’s next genius. Schumann’s wife Clara urged the young musician to compose and may have secretly fallen in love with the handsome and talented youth from Hamburg. And the great violinist Joseph Joachim, who also received the 20-year-old Brahms when he appeared at his lodgings, admitted to being astonished by his musical gifts and quickly responded to Brahms’ obvious compositional mastery by ceasing his own composing efforts and concentrating on his violin artistry. The young Brahms regretted Joachim’s decision to virtually end all of his writing projects. He regarded Joachim as his mentor and his artistry on the violin as the finest in Europe. Regardless of their later ups and downs (Brahms sided with Joachim’s wife Amalie when the violinist attempted to divorce her), Joachim remained the musician to whom Brahms inevitably turned for musical advice and criticism. This resulted in a legendary collaboration and several masterful compositions, such as Brahms’ Violin Concerto and the great Double Concerto for Violin and Cello. Both were written for Joachim as violinist.
The young Brahms soon responded to all of this excitement. While traveling with his violinist friend Eduard Remenyi as his piano accompanist, Brahms began to collect the Hungarian gypsy tunes that were prominently featured in Remenyi’s repertoire, as well as those he heard played by the numerous itinerant gypsy musicians wandering the highways of Central Europe. Soon Brahms was making his own expert arrangements of Hungarian material. Schumann’s daughter Eugenie later recalled Brahms playing melancholy Hungarian melodies to the Schumann children at bedtime: music she was never able to discover among his published works. This Hungarian “Zigeuner” style has a long history amongst composers, from Haydn to Liszt. But Brahms so loved this music that he quickly adapted it with unusual strength, intensity and originality. He often utilized the gypsy style in his later compositions, such as the Rondo alla Zingarese of his G minor Piano Quartet and the profound slow movement of the Clarinet Quintet.
The first set of ten Hungarian Dances, arranged for piano duet (the most popular format for home music-making) and first performed by Brahms and Clara Schumann in 1868, was published in the following year and became a commercial sensation. It made the publisher Simrock a small fortune because Brahms had sold them outright for a simple down payment with no royalties. The second set of eleven was published in 1880. Brahms always considered them arrangements and not original compositions, yet he was still accused of plagiarism. Joachim eventually arranged both sets for violin and piano and it is those arrangements we hear on this CD. Violinist Hagai Shaham and pianist Arnon Erez play them with fire, flamboyance and an authentic gypsy rambunctiousness. Like the famous Viennese Waltz that requires a slightly halting rubato to produce an authentic effect, these Hungarian gypsy dances must be played with a certain abandon if they are to sound like the folk music that is their source. Both musicians inhabit this music as if born to it. It is often difficult to overcome the urge to dance. This is music that dazzles one not with its profundity but with its passion. I can think of no better recording to lift your spirits than this splendid release. The Joachim Variations in E minor that round out this disc are similar in style and make a superb filler.
Like most Hyperion recordings, this CD is blessed with superb sound. Both violin and piano are not too closely miked, producing just enough reverberance to provide a warmth and suppleness to their tone that is most appropriate to this music. The violin sounds especially rich and full, seeming to surround the piano rather than surrendering to it. The keyboard remains a subtle and faithful partner, providing all of those marvelous percussive effects that truly make these Hungarian Dances come alive. This CD is an exciting, life-affirming disc to all who yield to its charms.
– – Mike Birman