Feature Review by Jacqueline Kharouf

BRAHMS (transcr. Keller) Symphony No. 2 • Pianist Nada (pn) • 4TAY 4074 (Download: 41:27) Reviewed from a WAV download: 48 kHz/16-bit

Pianist Nada’s latest all-digital release is her solo performance of Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 as transcribed for the piano. Nada has continued her exploration of Brahms and all his piano works by also including these transcriptions of his symphonies for solo piano. In this Second Symphony, we hear a bit more brightness from Brahms—themes that are complex and far-reaching but defiantly warmer in D Major. Even from the very first movement, Allegro non troppo, Nada strikes a delicate balance between the bright, rising melodic line and the almost nostalgic or retrospective harmony, which at times pushes aside the brightness—with ruminating, repeating patterns of arpeggios and circling phrases—until a jolly, almost humorous and skipping melody finishes out the movement.

In the second movement, Adagio non troppo, the lyrical rumination of the first movement is given a bit more room to expand. Again, Nada deftly handles the sort of questioning back-and-forth between the themes and elements. Here I think Brahms’s modernity is most readily heard and appreciated. There is a brief repetition of a theme from the first movement towards the middle of this second movement, but the theme is gradually relaxed and stretched into an Adagio shape—quite a lovely compositional feat.

The third movement, Allegretto grazioso (quasi Andantino), is quick and light, with many moving themes and interwoven lines. As she has done throughout this recording, Nada makes all of this seem supremely easy, natural, and indeed conversational. We are listening to her work on the symphony’s ideas and suggestions with Brahms, talking over their bright language with spirit and vivacity.

When we arrive at the fourth movement, Allegro con spirito, Nada really pulls out all the stops and works with speed and agility, infusing as much of the instrumentation and symphonic feeling as is possibly written in the transcription. Like the full symphony, this final movement is the crowning jewel of the composition—the resolution of the themes and ideas from the first movements—and Nada delivers some extraordinary punches from her place at the piano.

This transcription and recording are not so much about mimicking the full symphony, however; instead, I think it demonstrates Brahms’s incredible composition work. That he infused so many incredibly moving—achingly questioning and retrospective—themes into this symphony is made all the more evident in this solo version. And we have no greater Brahms interpreter alive than Pianist Nada, who brings her incredible empathy, extraordinary presence, and keyboard skills to bear in order to express each theme with grace and energy.

I purchased the download on her website—https://pianistnada.com—and I would highly encourage you to do the same. Buy this recording, if not for completing your solo piano collection of Brahms, then for posterity. You’ll have (and enjoy) all of Nada’s incredible Brahms work for many years to come. Jacqueline Kharouf