Dame Myra Hess and Bruno Walter: Brahms Second Piano Concerto (1951 concert performance)

A February 11, 1951 concert performance of Dame Myra Hess playing Brahms Second Piano Concerto with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Bruno Walter. Hess recorded relatively little for piano and orchestra, and this performance captures her big-scale playing and full-bodied sonority to perfection.
For more about Hess, a feature I prepared for her 130th birthday in 2020:
www.thepianofiles.com/dame-my...
And check the other uploads on this KZbin channel for some more commercially unavailable recordings by the artist.
If you wish to support The Piano Files, please consider membership at my Patreon page: / thepianofiles

[@chrisraffen5980]

AS a youngster in a musical family in Yorkshire in the early 1950's, my father used to talk of Myra Hess.My dad was a clever pianist, as was my brother.How right they were, as I now adore listening to such in- depth music of such brilliance of Myra, which I love.

[@urherman1]

her performances of both Brahms piano concertos are magnificent. I remember her from that era. She was incredible -- This is a masterful example of her greatness.

[@erichall7068]

Search unbelievable touch she has

[@melodiegren323]

My heart needed this today. No surprise that she is on the list of the very best pianists of all time.

[@tatjanamarinkovic43]

Sublime rendition! Also, let's mention that the solo cello in the movement III here was performed by Leonard Rose.

[@vladibaby79]

A full scale artist. Most of all I am touched by the honesty of her piano playing.

[@vladibaby79]

and her 3rd mouvement is the most beautifull ever!

[@solonka123]

Extraordinary performances by Myra Hess, Bruno Walter and the NY Phil!!!

[@lindalove8246]

This is an incredibly rich, passionate, sensitive, and delicately playful at times, rendition of this magnificent work, a complete tuning into Brahms by Myra Hess, Bruno Walter, and the New York Philharmonic.

[@henryspinelli741]

One of the glories of the past.

[@davidjohnson9796]

How could ANYONE put a thumbs down on this performance??? I guess he/she is deaf in one ear and can't hear out of the other! I've have this recording since 1971 and have yet to hear even its equal let alone its better. And to quiote James A. Altena in his 2017 review of the Pristine Classical re-issue of the same performance: "And what a blessing to have preserved for us an account of this concerto with the leonine Myra Hess at the keyboard! Make no mistake; despite a very few smudges, this is a magisterial rendition that, if recorded in modern digital sonics, could arguably be ranked as the reference version. I’ve owned it for 30 years now, and have yet to hear its interpretive equal." So nuts to all you (even if only 5 ) deaf detractors!!!!

[@charlesdavis7087]

I've noticed this strange phenomenon, too. What kind of being would put a thumbs down on a masterwork? Somehow I can't quite believe it. Maybe KZbin is working a kind of shill game behind our backs. To put things out of balance. But why? This is History and Art at the highest level. ??? Is an imbecile smarter than a moron or an idiot? Or the other way round.

[@vladibaby79]

Yes, it is difficult to imagine. However, I must admit I don't care if great musicians play some wrong notes. Indeed I feel happy that even these gods and godnesses of the music are not perfect. And it is in any case such a great gift to can hear to their recordings and learn from them.

[@vladibaby79]

And any professional who practiced this piece knows exactly what a huge achievement it is to can play it in an at least acceptable level. It is one of the most demanding piano concertos ever written.

[@p.a.cthegoldenageofmusic3279]

There are many deafs on youtube ...leider...people Who like pianists as Wang Trifonov Rana and so on...

[@berlinzerberus]

This performance is simply wonderful. What a sostenuto and what a Brahmsian espressivo in sound. She mastered the cadenza of the first movement almost without any wrong notes and with strong power. Inspired and supported by Bruno Walter, the other humanist, she is in top form. A great artist is playing: Myra Hess. Many thanks for posting this!

[@burninglightfire]

Politically correct and by the way not a bad artist at all ;-) When those things come together in one person, this person has to be one of your favourites if not your godess ;'-) I admire her too ;-) She was a wonderful artist with skills and a high musicality.

[@charlesdavis7087]

Are you familiar with a tradition having to do with putting the pedal down as the french horns on this great work? I've heard about this for a long.

[@berlinzerberus]

I'm not quite sure what you mean!

[@pianomaly9]

@@charlesdavis7087 Makes sense, setting up a resonance in the piano strings before they are struck.

[@yendasmejkal4094]

My favourite ever performance of this work. I have never heard her strength matched in this. Just glorious.

[@metteholm4833]

She was SO powerful!

[@CraigFarangBa]

Wow. Extraordinary performance by Dame Myra and of course Bruno Walter.

[@jackatherton0111]

Myra’s virtues are boundless - not least that she would have chortled at any talk of virtue - but I particularly relish her verdant freedom and energy. Little Hess and her great friend (not cousin, but close) Irene Scharrer apparently imbibed this when they were giggling girls from Uncle Tobs Matthay. Some equally famous English pianists (who shall go nameless) lacked this quality, as did a great many Germans and their pupils, but you hear it in Edwin Fischer, whose Brahms 2’s are so fresh and questing. Like Fischer, Myra could also be still. There’s a story of her emerging from an almost silent practice session, radiant. You’ll be beaming too. Thanks, Mark.

[@AbelWeinfass]

I'm

[@JOSHUA-hs4zt]

This ranks with the very great performances of this wonderful piece of music. What a wonderful concerto this is, and I loved every minute.Thank you for uploading .

[@islenerunningdeer1927]

Powerful, and tender.

[@cityboy63]

Just magnificent! What a marvellous pianist Hess was and what a collaboration, Hess and Walter - bound to be miraculous. ❤

[@vincenzoieracitano]

The best of this concerto

[@Bulbophile]

Ashkenazy

[@davidirvine4294]

@@Bulbophile Gilels or Richter.

[@hyramesshiramess1035]

MAGNIFICENT! A wonderful HUGE-YET-MELLOW SOUND ever forced or bangy, and what's more the mightiest passages are played with a sculptured nuance usually reserved for the more lyrical "espressivo" elements. A truly inspired performance! Beyond brilliant!

[@pianomaly9]

Another wonderful performance of this, one of my favorite piano concertos. You've made the point well, that Schioler and Friedberg as well as Hess (the only ones I've heard on PF, I know you've posted a couple other performances of this work) can all project the beauty and majesty of the Brahms B-flat, refracted through different ensembles, conductors, and pianistic traditions and give us moving and thrilling musical experiences.

[@ThePianoFiles]

Glad you like this so much - and those others I've shared. My other go-to is Anda with Klemperer in 1954 - that one is a whole other level too (probably my desert island reading, now together with Schiøler) ... SO fascinating listening to all these great different takes, though, isn't it!

[@musikantropo2278]

Fortissima e poetica Myra insieme al grande Bruno Walter!

[@MrInterestingthings]

So wonderful to have this here ! Every thing she does here is Brahmsian . Wish we had her in the last sonatas or some Brahms chamber works. Most recently Sokolov 's filmed performance has had me raving about his sensitivity ,lyricism and the special things he has to say in this concerto .

[@robertholliston]

John - there are some great recordings of Dame Myra playing the B major and C major piano trios as well as one (sonically not great - it was the 1940s) from the National Gallery of the F minor Quintet (with the Griller Quartet). In addition, a live recording of a recital she gave with Isaac Stern at the Edinburgh Festival in 1960 features the A major sonata. (I'm sure there is also a C minor Quartet somewhere on vinyl ... )

[@bevaconme]

what "last sonatas"? brahms's final piano sonata was his op. 5.

[@christopherczajasager9030]

@@bevaconme perhaps meant the last Piano and Violin Sonata or the two for Piano and Clarinet ?????,

[@bevaconme]

@@christopherczajasager9030 oh, ok. forget it.

[@innocenzobarrera1505]

Tra le più belle che ho ascoltato!

[@MrGer2295]

Wonderful! Thank you for posting!

[@matthewzisi300]

Great quality for a Bruno Walter recording, and great performance! Thanks for sharing!

[@Bulbophile]

so many great artists to rediscover in the piano files!

[@jgrab1]

Wow! Top-drawer.

[@saltburner2]

i don't think she made commercial recordings of either Brahms concerto. I heard her only once, in Beethoven 4 at the Proms under Boult, possibly her last performance as she died a year or so later.

[@rogelsamuel]

DOIS MESTRES... PROFUNDA INTERPRETAÇÃO....

[@palladin331]

I believe the cello soloist is Leonard Rose. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[@ramonmiranda223]

@palladin331 Lynn Harrell has said this is so, *(sublime phrasing, he added)* and was his inspiration for his own cello part in the Serkin Szell recording.

[@luisfernandomurillo3631]

I recognise the same dark pithiness of tone that I love in her pupil Steven Bishop Kovacevich

[@josephlaredo5272]

Those three thumbs-downers must be mysoginists or something. This is spectacular (no wonder there was applause after the monumental first movement, desultory as it was)! What a Great Dame! Thanks for posting.

[@TJFNYC212]

Maybe deaf-non hearing

[@christopherczajasager9030]

Rich fortes..ibid fortissimi..Hess at her most " butch " grandeur.I had the same impression hearing her playing of the f minor Brahms Sonata.

[@christopherczajasager9030]

This recording should end the nonsense in certain circles re American Steinways . What a magnificent here!!!

[@flemmingranch8777]

Selv om det er en meget gammel indspilning er lyden knivskarp og helt i orden. Flot spillet af den gamle dame......

[@rudolfgolezpianist4322]

Good save at 7:45

[@jiyujizai]

🏵️🌾😔

[@erikajakobsone9267]

12:26