Brahms: Piano Pieces & Sonata No. 3

With his colossal technique allied to a heart-easing sense of poetry, Nelson Freire is an ideal guide to the music of Brahms. Here he builds a terrific programme around Brahms’ early—and huge—Third Piano Sonata, a work of symphonic ambitions with which Freire made his recorded debut in 1967. This 35-minute sonata needs a pianist capable of conveying its scale, and Freire rises to the challenge magnificently. Add in some late, shorter works and you have a programme of true substance by one of today’s piano greats.