Pianist Nada now brings us the Brahms D-Major

FEATURE REVIEW by Ken Meltzer

BRAHMS (transcr. Keller) Symphony No. 2 • Pianist Nada (pn) • 4TAY 4074 (Streaming audio: 41:27) https://jamesarts.com/records-archive/op-73-nada-tracks/

In the Nov/Dec 2022 Fanfare (46:2), I reviewed a marvelous and thought-provoking recording by Pianist Nada of the Brahms First Symphony, transcribed for solo keyboard. Pianist Nada now brings us the Brahms D-Major. At the outset, I’ll note some contrasts between Pianist Nada’s interpretation of the Brahms First, and the Second that is the subject of this review. For the Brahms First, Pianist Nada performed an arrangement for solo piano by Otto Singer, Jr. (1863–1931). Singer was a pupil of Brahms’s friend and colleague, violinist Joseph Joachim. Otto Singer transcribed many instrumental and vocal works, including the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms. Pianist Nada does not specify the transcription used in her recording of the Brahms Second in her booklet notes, but this time it is one by Robert Keller (1828–1891). Nevertheless, it bears the same qualities I observed in the Singer arrangement of the Brahms First: “Singer makes no attempt to replicate the original version’s rich orchestral sonority. There is no suggestion of thundering timpani in the first movement’s introduction, for example. And Singer avoids easy resort to such devices as gratuitous texture-thickening tremolos. While Singer frequently notates Brahms’s spotlighted orchestral instrument(s) in his piano reduction, he does not suggest their unique sonorities…. Here, the Brahms First sounds very much like a work for solo piano, with a keen focus upon Brahms’s genius at thematic creation and manipulation.” In her recording of the Brahms First, Pianist Nada observes the first movement’s exposition repeat, but omits it in the Second. Her concept of the Brahms First employs strikingly broad tempos. Indeed, Pianist Nada’s account is one of the most expansive on record. In my review, I compared Pianist Nada’s total performance time of 56:48 with another Brahms First that observes the first movement repeat, the 1973 Decca release with conductor István Kertész and the Vienna Philharmonic, which times out at 46:43. While no one would accuse Pianist Nada’s Brahms Second of being rushed, the tempos are closer to a “standard” performance. David Daniels’s Orchestral Music: A Handbook lists a typical play time for the Brahms Second (with no repeat of the first movement exposition) at 40 minutes. The TT for Pianist Nada is 41:25. The following is a comparison of movement timings:

Movement 1: Daniels (14:00), Pianist Nada (15:00)

Movement II: Daniels (10:00), Pianist Nada (10:17)

Movement III: Daniels (6:00), Pianist Nada (5:35)

Movement IV: Daniels (10:00), Pianist Nada (10:33)

But the many qualities that made Pianist Nada’s Brahms First so special may be found once again in the Second. Perhaps first and foremost is her marvelous, poetic flexibility of phrasing. The pulse has a constant ebb and flow, with nary a measure sounding metronomic. It’s an approach reminiscent of such legendary Brahms interpreters as Abendroth, Furtwängler, and Mengelberg. Aligned with plasticity of phrasing is her grasp of the Symphony’s overall architecture. As with her Brahms First, the Second proceeds unerringly from first note to last. Everything is in proportion to what precedes and follows. Pianist Nada also fully conveys the lyricism of the first two movements, the playfulness of the third, and the irrepressible joy of the finale. If, from time to time I yearned for Brahms’s orchestral concept in the final two movements, that is in no way a reflection on Pianist Nada. In those movements, Brahms the orchestrator comes to the fore. The puckish sound of the solo oboe that opens the third movement, the bracing dynamic contrasts and sonic grandeur of the finale, to name a few aspects, are beyond the realm of the solo piano. That said, this is a Brahms Second that provides ample satisfaction throughout, and of a kind not so frequently encountered in contemporary performance. I’d be thrilled to hear a concert rendition of the Brahms Second in which a modern conductor and orchestra embraced Pianist Nada’s concept. Excellent recorded sound graces this project as well. I hope that Pianist Nada will soon share with us her thoughts on the Brahms Third and Fourth Symphonies. Recommended. 
Ken Meltzer