CD

Murray Perahia, Perahia Brahms (Sony Classical). An anthology of Brahms’ finest works for solo piano–the Handel Variations, the B Minor and G Minor Rhapsodies, and the ten intermezzi and other short pieces of Opp. 118 and 119–all played in an understated, unexaggerated style that emphasizes their autumnal virtues. Not only is this the strongest single-disc collection of Brahms’ piano music since Van Cliburn’s My Favorite Brahms, originally released in 1975, but Perahia’s chastely classical playing contrasts very nicely with Cliburn’s expansive romanticism (TT).