Die Presse reviews Brahms’ Piano Quartets in Vienna
“The Piano Quartet is a genre which falls between two chairs – trios for piano and strings are available in abundance, the rarer Quintets one hears often, because a string quartet only has to invite a pianist into its conclave. But Quartets for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello? There are two magnificent works by Mozart, one by Schumann, three by Brahms – and you do not get to hear them often, because the traveling trio ensembles would need to hire a viola player and the quartet needes to dispense with a violinist.
Its as trivial as that. All the better if there are four world-class soloists who come together to present all three of the Brahms Trios in a tour of the major concert halls … Christian Tetzlaff, Tabea Zimmermann, Clemens Hagen and Leif Ove Andsnes went the whole hog in the Mozartsaal – with an expressive character of knife-edged musicality, a clear identity and sonic extremes … Hopefully this performance will be followed by a CD!”
Source: Die Presse