Brahms had the good grace to say of Erno Dohnanyi's C minor Piano Quintet, ''I could not have written it better''. It was no use. Years later, when he came to write his wonderfully skittish Variations on a Nursery Theme, Dohnanyi sent the old boy up something rotten. Like many of the best parodies, it is done with a completely straight face; so much so that Dohnanyi's Variation No. 3 could probably go directly into the finale of Brahms's B flat Concerto without anyone noticing a thing.
On this new Nimbus record, it is the D minor Concerto that plays Wise to Dohnanyi's Eric Morecambe, so the joke is slightly obscured. But it is pleasing to have the two composers in harness again, not least because it brings into the catalogues as good a performance of the Dohnanyi as we have had in more than two decades. And a pretty good one of the Brahms, too.
The American pianist Mark Anderson—winner of the third prize in the 1993 Leeds International Piano Competition—is the soloist. He gives a glittering performance of the Dohnanyi, and a spontaneous one; he is superbly accompanied by Adam Fischer and the Hungarian State SO. On paper, Schiff and Solti (Decca, 12/86—nla) might seem to be formidable rivals; but Solti's rather synthetic charm is no substitute for real eloquence, real wit; and Schiff's dry, fortepiano-ish tone is unappealing when heard alongside Anderson or the fabulous Earl Wild (who, like Schiff, adds the Tchaikovsky B flat minor) on a wonderful 1967 recording conducted by the composer's grandson, now available through New Note on the Chesky label.
Wild's performance is the best of the lot in terms of verve and pianistic 'finish'. (No one equals him in the famous 'music box' variation.) It is also better recorded than the Decca (it has more immediacy) and the Nimbus, which is admirable in everything but the backward placing of the woodwinds in general and the bassoons in particular. The first bassoon is a key player in the comedy and there is no point in making a recording that doesn't bring him down to the footlights when necessary. Christoph von Dohnanyi's New Philharmonia bassoonist with Earl Wild gives a positively Falstaffian performance.
One thing the Dohnanyi Variations shares with the D minor Brahms Concerto is a passionate minor key opening. Again Fischer and his Hungarian orchestra are superb, the playing incisive and gloweringly vivid. It is a measure, too, of the accord that exists between conductor and soloist that the pianist enters the fray with the perfectly groomed musical manners of a soloist in a baroque concerto. It may be a new voice, sweeter and more reasonable than those we have so far heard, but not until the start of the development does it sound anything resembling a note of contention.
And it is the logic of Anderson's playing, his sweet reasonableness, that holds the attention. Brahmsians who, like farmers at market, look for a solid well-hung beast, may find Anderson a shade light-toned in bravura passages. But who apart from Arrau among the pianists listed in my selected comparisons makes a 'big' sound? Gilels does, of course, when it is called for, but how often is it necessary? Certainly not in the slow movement where the eloquence of Anderson's playing in the solo meditations helps explain why he topped the BBC TV viewers', if not the judges', poll in the 1993 Leeds competition.
If the coupling appeals to you, this is a well-made record that may be of historical interest in years to come. (I still have the LP Radu Lupu made immediately after his triumph in Leeds in 1969, Decca, 5/71—nla.) Who knows how Anderson's career will develop? The Brahms obviously faces tough competition, but the Dohnanyi is a very fine performance in its own right. Indeed, it is a first choice if you have difficulty in tracking down the Earl Wild.'