Vinyl Record

Krystian Zimerman, Maria Nowak, Katarzyna Budnik & Yuya Okamoto - Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3

Krystian Zimerman, Maria Nowak, Katarzyna Budnik & Yuya Okamoto - Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 album cover

Krystian Zimerman, Maria Nowak, Katarzyna Budnik & Yuya Okamoto - Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 on 2LP vinyl. A 2025 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.

2LP ยท 2025

Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.

Buyer notes: 2025 2LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.

Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 finds Krystian Zimerman turning his famously selective recording life toward chamber music with Maria Nowak, Katarzyna Budnik and Yuya Okamoto. The choice of repertoire is the story: instead of leading with the better-known G minor Quartet, the group focuses on the A major Op. 26 and the C minor Op. 60, two works that show Brahms at different kinds of emotional scale. The A major is expansive, lyrical and open-hearted, with a breadth that can feel almost orchestral. The C minor carries a darker drama, linked to long gestation, private anguish and the shadow of impossible love. Zimerman's piano role is not concerto-like display; it is conversation, propulsion and colour inside a four-person argument. The album feels like a late-career statement of musical friendship and seriousness.

This release matters because it is a rare chamber-focused Zimerman recording and a major 2025 Deutsche Grammophon statement around two comparatively under-promoted Brahms piano quartets. The acclaim around the album reinforces its role as more than a routine repertoire addition.

For collectors, this is the Zimerman chamber record to own from the 2025 cycle: a pianist with exacting standards, three close collaborators and two Brahms quartets chosen to shift attention away from the most familiar work. It anchors a serious modern Brahms shelf.

Refined Brahms chamber playing with commanding piano presence, warm strings, long lyrical paragraphs, muscular inner motion, autumnal colour and dramatic C minor weight.

Recommended for: Krystian Zimerman collectors; Brahms chamber music listeners; Fans of piano quartet repertoire; Classical buyers seeking a major 2025 DG release.

Which Brahms quartets are included? The album includes Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26, and Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60. Who plays with Krystian Zimerman? The ensemble is Zimerman on piano with Maria Nowak on violin, Katarzyna Budnik on viola and Yuya Okamoto on cello. Why did this album attract attention? It brought Zimerman into substantial chamber repertoire on record and focused on two Brahms quartets that deserve attention beyond the more famous G minor work.