Brahms Inspired
Label: Canary Classics [CC15]
Released: June 9, 2015
Orli Shaham, piano
Throughout her impressive international career, the pianist Orli Shaham has displayed her unwavering passion and exceptional understanding of the music of Johannes Brahms. Admired for her interpretations of both standard and contemporary repertoire, she places Brahms’s late works for solo piano – his most intense and beautiful music – as the keystone of a collection of music history’s most amazing compositions.
Orli Shaham surrounds these masterworks with compositions that specifically inspired the romantic master: works by J.S. Bach, Chopin and Schumann. Her commitment to living composers led her to commission Avner Dorman and Bruce Adolphe to compose works purposefully influenced by Brahms. As luck would have it, Australian composer Brett Dean’s recent Hommage à Brahms für Klavier, fits neatly into this collection.
Disc One
Johannes Brahms: Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118
Franz Schubert: Impromptu, Op. 90, No. 3
Bruce Adolphe: My Inner Brahms: an intermezzo*
Schumann: Romanze, Op. 28, No. 2
Chopin: Berceuse, Op. 57
Brahms: Three Intermezzi, Op. 117
Disc Two
Avner Dorman: After Brahms:Three Intermezzos for Piano*
J.S. Bach: Partita in B-flat major, BWV 825
Arnold Schoenberg: Six Little Pieces, Op. 19
Brahms: Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119
Brett Dean: Hommage à Brahms*
*World premiere recording
"It makes for an album that takes the listener on an intellectual as well as a musical journey, as the mental cross-references mount… musical intelligence and integrity, fine technical chops and dedication to quality in all she does." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch (original link)
"The word “inspired” cuts in several directions here, as both adjective and verb. Orli Shaham, herself inspired by Brahms’s sublime late piano pieces – intermezzos and the like — gives beautiful performances... everything here, in fact — with a knowing, feeling, proprietary air. A treasurable album, which alternately soothes and tickles the ears." — ArtsBeat (original link)