Out Now: Brahms’s Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3 from Krystian Zimerman & Friends

The album is released today, 4 April 2025 – listen to it here

The pianist joins forces with Maria Nowak, Katarzyna Budnik and Yuya Okamoto, bringing radiant new perspectives to two masterpieces of the chamber repertoire 

50 years after winning the International Chopin Piano Competition,
Zimerman celebrates a reunion with a genre he embraced early on in his career

Pianist Krystian Zimerman’s new album, Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos. 2 & 3, is released in all formats by Deutsche Grammophon today, 4 April 2025. The recording highlights Zimerman’s enduring passion for chamber music, a cornerstone of his artistic journey. With colleagues Maria Nowak (violin), Katarzyna Budnik (viola) and Yuya Okamoto (cello), he has chosen to record two of Brahms’s three piano quartets: No. 2 in A major and No. 3 in C minor. Zimerman persuaded his colleagues to sidestep the popular G minor (No. 1), instead tackling Nos. 2 and 3 with the ambitious goal to “make them the most famous!”

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Zimerman’s career-defining victory at the International Chopin Piano Competition. While this triumph launched him onto the world stage as a soloist, his passion for chamber music never wavered. Over the decades he has collaborated with artists as diverse as Kyung-Wha Chung, Kaja Danczowska and Gidon Kremer.

The four musicians performing here have been quartet colleagues since 2019. Zimerman met Maria Nowak and Katarzyna Budnik through their orchestral activities in Poland, while he first heard cellist Yuya Okamoto playing in a competition. The chemistry and power of communication between the four players proved to be ideal – “it worked right away,” says Zimerman. As for the choice of repertoire for this album, they wanted something challenging. “And I particularly love the Third Quartet,” Zimerman adds.

Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26 is a work on a vast scale. Zimerman and friends bring out its contrasting moods with the utmost clarity, from the sombreness of the second-movement Poco adagio to the dancelike Hungarian rhythms of the finale.

The Third Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 60 took Brahms almost 20 years to complete. Its original inspiration was his unrequited love for Clara Schumann – the composer hinted several times that the work was a portrayal of Goethe’s tragic hero Werther, who kills himself over his own impossible love for a married woman. “It’s so powerful, ” explains Zimerman. “It has unbelievable drive.”

Krystian Zimerman will perform solo recitals later this season at the Zürich Tonhalle, Lucerne Konzertsaal and Concertgebouw Amsterdam (15, 20 and 22 June respectively).