Brahms' Piano Sonatas are amongst the stalwarts of the repertoire and here the absorbing German pianist Tilman Kraemer has come up with some fine interpretations recorded in quite splendid sound by the enterprising German label Coviello Classics.
Kraemer opens the first sonata with a thub-thumping tempo dispatching the first movement in just under 12 minutes. He finds poetic beauty in the lovely Andante with a Scherzo which is quite a precursor of things to come. All is resolved in the adventurous Finale marked Allegro con fuoco which sails along merrily to a roaring finish.
The second sonata is actually an earlier composition according to the lengthy notes which accompany this well filled CD with Kraemer again finding much poetry and also substantial energy in all four movements. The short Scherzo Op. 4 makes a fine conclusion to a well-filled disc which should certainly enhance the reputation of this quite brilliant pianist.
Copyright © 2010, Gerald Fenech