Hardy Rittner - Brahms: Early Piano Works, Vol. 2 (2009)

Hardy Rittner seemed on top of his game both technically and interpretively in his first volume of Brahms' early piano works, but for some reason he seems less assured and less interpretively attuned to Brahms' music in this, his second volume. Performing the north German composer's C major and F minor sonatas, Rittner does not bring out of the piano the massive sonorities the music's out-sized chords require. This may be due in part to his choice of instrument. On the first volume, Rittner performed on a rich-toned 1851 Johann Baptist Streicher piano, but here he's playing an 1850 Bösendorfer lacking both depth and resonance. As he did in the previous disc, Rittner does well with the poetic side of Brahms' nature and his account of the F minor Sonata's Andante espressivo is thoroughly persuasive. But when he needs to pour on the power as in the same sonata's Finale, Rittner and his Bösendorfer can't supply what's wanted. Though Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm's super audio sound is clear and present, this disc fails to live up to the promise of its earlier sibling.