There are literally dozens dozens of recordings of this incredible masterpiece, which Liszt - during a performance with the composer at the keyboard - described as Brahms' greatest work, though qualified this saying he preferred von Bülow's playing of it. To be fair, by the early 1880s, I suspect Johannes wasn't practising at all, and was probably finding one too many cracks on the keyboard! In the professional piano world, it's chilling technical extremes warrants the term "the Mt. Everest of piano concertos". To make matters even grimmer, most performances run approx. 50 mins (at least the non-Horowitz performances!), so after working out, clobbering and pounding away for 25 minutes at some of the biggest piano writing in the entire repertoire, only to find you're still just half way through, this concerto is one of the most brutally taxing, on the concentration and stamina of the performer. This recording with Gilels is, without question, pretty much the pinnacle, though for me, the ‘ultimate’ is Backhaus/Böhm from 1939. It is completely on par with the Gilels, but then some! 1939 was quite possibly from the era before editing techniques, so this Backhaus/Böhm recording is as close to a live performance in a studio as was possible back then. However, this much cherished and reverential Gilels version enjoys the benefit of the great HDTT touch. What more’s to say - 5 stars! Gil Sullivan
