Joseph Moog - Brahms: Piano Concerto No.2; Strauss: Burleske - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

After Joseph Moog's successful recording of the Brahms Piano Concerto No.2, he follows with a superb performance of the turbulent Piano Concerto No.1. Nicholas Milton leads the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in a program that also includes the late Piano Pieces Op.119. 10/23/2020

Joseph Moog, after recording both Brahms piano concertos for Onyx Classics, turns his attention to one of the most demanding and forbidding of piano concertos. Max Reger's concerto dates from 1910. This rugged giant of a concerto displays all Reger's formidable skill at using large orchestral forces with great clarity, making the piano part of the orchestral fabric. The concerto has much music that is both brilliant and poetic as well as passages of great turmoil. The album includes the 6 Intermezzi, which display a different facet of this complex composer. These are delightful pieces, tender, romantic with much poetry.

On this recital Joseph Moog explores Paganini's Caprices, which have exerted a mesmeric attraction for composers since their publication in 1820. Schumann's two sets of Etudes were the result of hearing Paganini play in Frankfurt in April 1830. These early compositions are comparatively rare in performance. Brahms, also fascinated by Paganini, composed his Variations on a theme by Paganini for the great virtuoso pianist Karl Tausig. Brahms takes the 24th Caprice and turns his Studies for Pianoforte Variations on a theme by Paganini into a tour de force. Tausig loved them, writing to Brahms InchI had a devil of a time with them... everyone considers them unplayable.Inch