Centre Stage: Brahms’ Piano Quintet, CBSO Centre, Birmingham | 24 April 2026 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray
Centre Stage: Brahms’ Piano Quintet
CBSO Centre, Birmingham | 24 April 2026
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray
“A searingly intense and insightful reading of a monumental piece of chamber music.”
Brahms – Piano Quintet
In a brief introduction to the afternoon’s concert, pianist, Robert Markham, talked about how, after Brahms’ death, this work was realised by other composers as a piano concerto and a symphony. It was an observation that provided a way into today’s players approach to the work: theirs was an interpretation of symphonic scope wrapped up in a chamber format.
The decision to place the piano very firmly behind the string quartet and with the lid fully up was a potentially risky one. Balance could have been an issue, with the piano swamping the rest of the texture. In the event, it was a risk worth taking. The lid acted as a sounding board for the whole ensemble; with the power of the piano driving a big, well-blended sound out into the auditorium.
This stunning and incredibly difficult piece of music always you feel like it is somehow “on the edge” – of both emotion and of very great danger of collapse! Again, one marvelled at the extraordinary skill & excellence of pianist, Robert Markham - together with superb lead violin, Lowri Porter - whose close connection with one another kept everything tightly focused and perfectly shaped.
Brahms’s Quintet is a monumental work. All of the instrumentalists managed to maintain concentration - mentally and tonally - playing with intensity and precision throughout. The ensemble was instinctive and collegiate. These CBSO players work together all the time; and the sense of a real, shared understanding of the piece was evident in every bar.
This meant that the arguments in the massive first movement were clear and well articulated. The densely written development section was both intellectually satisfying and wrought with drama and passion.
Each player gave space for the others when their lines needed to prevail. Viola, Chris Yates, in particular delivered some deliciously rich and lyrical lines in the Andante. This movement was also very well paced. While the energy ebbed and flowed, there was always a feeling of tension building until the final release.
A remorseless Scherzo balanced energetic drive and a strangely dark kind of exuberance. The reading as a whole highlighted all of the thematic material and how it knits together so that, throughout the final movement, one expected to suddenly find oneself suddenly in the middle of one of the preceding movements. This is down to Brahms’s own unique approach to motivic and thematic integration.
A really fine interpretation that highlighted why this is such a seminal piece of music. Bravo.
Lowri Porter – Violin
Bethan Allmand – Violin
Chris Yates – Viola
Kate Setterfield – ‘Cello
Robert Markham - Piano