Brahms / Muller - Piano Works [CD]

Fabian Müller was given Brahms's complete piano works on an album as a child, and he would sit in the back of his parents' car on the way to vacation, enraptured by the music of the Hamburg composer. Nothing has changed in his attitude since then. Fabian Müller has embarked on a promising career which has already been full of thrills and continues to progress very favorably. In 2017 he was the first German pianist in this millennium to win a second prize at the ARD Music Competition as well as being awarded both the Audience and Busch prizes. He gave his debut at New York's Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2018, and at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg in September that year. The Bonn-born pianist demonstrates Brahms's calm, introverted pianistic approach in his recordings of the Ballades op. 10, the Piano Pieces op. 76 and the Intermezzi op. 117. This is an unusual choice for such a young artist: Müller's playing style eschews sensational pianistic virtuosity, instead evincing heartfelt musicality, especially in the soft tones. In "piano expert" Stefan Knüpfer, who is known from the film Pianomania, he has found the perfect technical partner, who knew exactly how to react to his ideas and wishes. The result is a sound that is almost inimitable. On his debut album for Berlin Classics he can be heard inviting listeners to totally immerse themselves in the music. "This is music that I wish to hear when I am old and perhaps ailing, because despite their sadness they emit such warmth and comfort, characteristics that I have found in no other composer."