Krystian Zimerman. Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 (CD)

Polish-Swiss pianist Krystian Zimerman releases a further pre-release track of his upcoming album, on which he lays his focus on Brahms’s sometimes overlooked Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3, in order to give them the attention they deserve. For this recording Zimerman, whose passion for chamber music goes back to his childhood and has accompanied him ever since, teamed up with cellist Yuya Okamoto, violinist Maria Nowak and violist Katarzyna Budnik.

“I don’t think there is any other composer who has such an account in terms of quality”, says the pianist. “All Brahms’s chamber music is fantastic – the sonatas, the trios, the Clarinet Quintet. There is no bad piece among them.” He adds, “I particularly love the Third Quartet. It’s crazy. It’s so powerful. It has unbelievable drive.

Listen to the second pre-release track, the energetic and fierce second movement of Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60. The full album will be released digitally as well as on CD and on vinyl.