Géza Anda plays Brahms Paganini Variations (1953 recording)

If you wish to support The Piano Files, please consider membership on Patreon: Hungarian pianist Géza Anda’s 1953 recording of the Brahms Variations on a Theme of Paganini . This account was set down at EMI’s Abbey Road Studio No.3 on April 24, 25, and 27, 1953 and was one of two works featured on the pianist’s debut album on the Columbia label (the other was the Schumann Etudes symphoniques, also available on my channel). Anda’s later recordings for Deutsche Grammophon are far more cerebral than his earlier efforts, and this performance demonstrates his incredible refinement fused with a devil-may-care vivaciousness. With a jewel-like crystalline sonority, deft articulation, rhythmic vivaciousness, and stunningly refined dynamic and tonal shadings, Anda delivers a performance that is simultaneously thrilling and elegant. This recording is uploaded as part of a tribute to the pianist on the 100th anniversary of his birth. A f