Brahms: Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 2 – Adam Laloum

   in Piano International (May, 2018)
Brahms looms large in Adam Laloum’s music-making, reflected in his discography: two all-Brahms discs, including one solo album (soon after his first prize at the Clara Haskil Competition in 2009); one chamber (for Mirare), plus a smattering of appearances on various piano festival discs.

For a French pianist, the focus on the core German and Austrian repertoire (Schumann is another favourite) is unusual, as he concedes in the booklet interview with Jessica Duchen. His deep study of Brahms pays dividends in these poetic and thoughtful accounts of the concertos. Laloum certainly has the range and measure of both works’ expansiveness and is not afraid to adopt tempi to match. It is …