Brahms Piano Music Vol. 2 – Eva Knardahl

Majestic performances of Brahms

Eva Knardahl continues her exploration of Brahms´ works for piano in three more majestic performances on this second volume in a series of two albums. With an extensive career laid behind her in the USA, Knardahl has since her return to Norway in 1967 done several recordings, including all piano music by Grieg, given concerts all over Norway and Europe, and received several awards for her artistry. Her pianistic skills are indeed highly visible in the demanding works by Brahms´ on this record.

In choosing Handel for his largest set of variations Brahms looked back beyond the Classical period to the Baroque in his “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel”. Brahms´ “Two Rhapsodies” strike a grand manner, both stormily passionate, but with a form still firmly under control. Ranging from the passionate, the outstandingly beautiful, to the fiery, heroic and stormy, and even the profoundly tragic, Brahms` “Six Piano Pieces” is a collection of small pieces for highly experienced fingers showing off some of Brahms´ more severe pianistic demands – which, of course, is of no match to Knardahl´s exceptional technical skills.