Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2' [2 CD] tells the story of Pollinis triumphant reunion with Staatskapelle Dresden in 2011 and 2013 and includes the acclaimed recordings of Brahmss Piano Concertos with Christian Thielemann.p> Those who admire the intelligent, direct and stylishly lean virtuosity that Maurizio Pollini has long brought to Brahms' Piano Concertos will want to know how the pianists recent recordings with Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden compare with his two earlier versions, both conducted by the late Claudio Abbado.

Disc: 1
1. Maestoso
2. Adagio
3. Rondo. Allegro non troppo

Disc: 2
1. Allegro non troppo
2. Allegro appassionato
3. Andante Piu adagio
4. Allegro grazioso Un poco piu presto

For those not in the know, Maurizio Pollini is an Italian classical pianist. Born in Milan to the Italian rationalist architect Gino Pollini, who has been said to have been the first to bring Modernist architecture to Italy in the 1930s. Pollini studied piano first with Carlo Lonati, until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso, until he was 18.

He received a diploma from the Milan Conservatory and won both the International Ettore Pozzoli Piano Competition in Seregno (Italy) in 1959 and the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1960. Arthur Rubinstein, who led the jury, declared Pollini the winner of the competition, allegedly saying: "that boy can play the piano better than any of us". How right he was.

Christian Thielemann is a German conductor. He is Chief Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival. Thielemann studied viola and piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and took private lessons in composition and conducting before becoming répétiteur aged 19 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Heinrich Hollreiser and working as Herbert von Karajan's assistant.

He worked at a number of smaller German theatres including the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen, in Karlsruhe, Hanover, at Düsseldorf's Deutsche Oper am Rhein as First Kapellmeister and in Nürnberg as Generalmusikdirektor before returning to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1991 to conduct Wagner's Lohengrin. During this time he also assisted Daniel Barenboim at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

Musically speaking, the work that both Maurizio Pollini and Christian Thielemann do here on Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 is beyond a shadow of a doubt, simply incredible. Breathtaking would also sum it up. The entire set of performance's are warm, natural, and each soloist/orchestra moment is balanced out sublimely for us to hear.

Whether it be the ebb and flow of Pollini's unbeatable standard of techniques re: the very first movement, together with is power and tonal heft, or Thielemann speeding up when the orchestra answers the main theme, this new recording will soon be one for the ages.

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