Nelson Freire - Brahms

The Guardian 80

(Decca)

Brahms’ titanic F minor Piano Sonata was the centrepiece of Nelson Freire’s first ever solo recording, which was made in 1967 when he was 23 and released on LP by Columbia/CBS. It’s now available as part of a seven-disc Sony Classical box that bundles together all Freire’s early releases, and makes for a fascinating comparison with this new version, recorded at the beginning of this year.

Considering they were separated by almost half a century, the two sonata performances are remarkably close in their timing – in a work lasting over half an hour, the new one is just about a minute longer. The power and technical mastery of Freire’s playing have not changed at all, but there is a strikingly greater sense of authority and spaciousness in the new version, an instinctive sense of when to allow the music room to breathe (in the first two movements especially) and when it should move forward more urgently.