A true meeting of minds gets to the heart of these intimate quartets
THE STRAD RECOMMENDS
The Strad Issue: July 2025
Description: A true meeting of minds gets to the heart of these intimate quartets
Musicians: Maria Nowak (violin) Katarzyna Budnik (viola) Yuya Okamoto (cello) Krystian Zimerman (piano)
Works: Brahms: Piano Quartets nos.2 and 3
Catalogue number: DG 4864650
Krystian Zimerman’s forays before the microphone are fewer than we might wish, so this chamber collaboration would be worthwhile even were it not of such a breathtaking standard. He chooses as his partners three musicians relatively unknown on disc: Maria Nowak is second concertmaster of his Polish Festival Orchestra and Katarzyna Budnik is a principal in Sinfonia Varsovia, while Yuya Okamoto joined the Ébène Quartet last year.
This is, though, far from a case of a star pianist shining against a less well-known backing group: the chamber interplay between these four musicians is remarkable. Balances are judged just about perfectly, with Zimerman happy to fine down his volume when the music demands it; and if I were to single out Okamoto’s contribution first of all, it is not least because the cello so often leads with the melodic interest in these two works.
This album follows on closely from the Kaleidoscope Collective’s recording of the Third Quartet (reviewed in June) and, while that group’s was an admirable recording, this one trumps it for the concentration of the reading, involving the listener in a truly gripping traversal: going for maximum intensity in faster music and relaxing into the Andante with instinctive give and take between players.
The Second Quartet matches it for these players’ innate response to Brahms’s glorious fusion of Schubertian lyricism and Beethovenian drive. Essential listening.
DAVID THREASHER
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