Wow! George Szell owned the First Piano Concerto. He played the opening movement like no one else, and he recorded the work with three outstanding pianists: Sir Clifford Curzon, Rudolf Serkin, and this performance with Anton Fleischer. When I say this is the best of the three, I'm making a tough choice, but Fleischer brings a youthful vigor and rage to the music that complements Szell's fiery accompaniment so well that they sound like they're both performing from the same musical brain. The Second Concerto is a gentler work, but it's played with no less vigor and dash. Along with the Emil Gilels/Eugen Jochum performances on DG, these are the Brahms piano concertos to have above all others. --David Hurwitz

• Piano Concertos
• Brahms: The Piano Concertos; Fantasia
• Brahms: The Symphonies
• B0000029PC
• Otto Klemperer- Brahms: Symphonies / Overtures / Deutsches Requiem