Skip to content
Help support CapRadio’s local public service mission 
and enrich the lives in your community.
Support local nonprofit public media.
Donate Now

View thank you gift options

CapRadio

CapRadio

listen live donate
listen live donate
listen live
donate
  • News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
    News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
  • Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
    Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
  • Podcasts & Shows
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
    Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About
  • Close Menu
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 

Songs We Love: Arcadi Volodos, 'Intermezzo In A, Op. 118, No. 2'

By Tom Huizenga | NPR
Friday, June 16, 2017

Arcadi Volodos devotes his new album to the music of Brahms.

Marco Borggreve / Sony Classical

The official start of summer may be just around the corner, but this music is a mainline to fall. Not only did Brahms write his Intermezzo, Op. 118, No. 2 in the twilight of his career, but he paints it with muted colors and veiled light — that warm, horizontal glow that stretches out at the end of an autumn day.

Although Brahms was a formidable pianist, he's not interested in virtuosity here. Still, it's tricky to capture just the right tone. The music tenderly sways like a lullaby with a sophisticated web of hushed inner voices. All the more surprising, then, to find the Russian powerhouse pianist Arcadi Volodos taking on this delicate, inward-looking miniature.

Volodos has built a career on conquering the toughest, most finger-twisting repertoire, from mammoth Rachmaninoff concertos to flashy Horowitz transcriptions which he further tweaks just to make them more impossible. Hearing Volodos in concert, one observer noted, is like "watching lightning strike on command."

But here, with Brahms' soft-grained intimacy, the pianist caresses each note without sounding precious. His phrases, while slightly more expansive than usual, are not so much played as beautifully sung. The contrasting central section, in a minor key, offers a gentle tempest of apprehension until the aching opening theme mysteriously returns.

Brahms' style at this point in his career, the pianist notes in the album booklet, "was now uncommonly compact and at the same time supremely personal." Volodos adds that he finds it all very moving.

It's easy to agree, when the performance is this detailed, devoted and touched with poetry.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

View this story on npr.org

Sign up for ReCap and never miss the top stories

Delivered to your inbox every Friday.

 

Check out a sample ReCap newsletter.

Thanks for subscribing!

Thank you for signing up for the ReCap newsletter! We'll send you an email each Friday with the top stories from CapRadio.

Browse all newsletters

Most Viewed

Sacramento guaranteed income program opens applications for second round of participants

California could be the first state in the country to ban some much debated food additives

Wildfire victims left ‘in the dark’ after U.S. Forest Service briefs Congress about the Caldor Fire

10 new California laws that go into effect in 2023

Rain, snow and wind are returning to Northern California. In Sacramento, impacts expected to be milder than recent storms

We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    •  
      (916) 278-8900
    •  
      (877) 480-5900
    •  Contact / Feedback
    •  Submit a Tip / Story Idea
  • About

    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Stations & Coverage Map
    • Careers & Internships
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
    • Press
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile Apps
    • Smart Speakers
    • Podcasts & Shows
    • On-Air Schedules
    • Daily Playlist
    • Signal Status
  • Connect

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen Live

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2023, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.