The Sunday Times
March 9, 1997
JOHANNES BRAHMS – 14 Klavierstücke from Opus 76 & Opus 116-119
Integra Records IR9603-2

The playing of the British pianist Diana Boyle is quite a discovery. A pupil of Enrique Barenboim (Daniel’s father) and Artur Balsam, she has scarcely flaunted her talents, but they are very considerable, indeed. This Brahms sequence comprises some of the most beguiling of the Op 76 and Op 116-119 sets of late piano pieces, compiled with due regard for key change. Not one of her interpretations fails to arouse keen interest. She has evidently thought about the music intensively but her playing never sounds didactic. On the contrary, it has magical freshness and clarity; a precision that is cool, yet full of feeling, perfectly attuned to the elusiveness of this music. Her phrasing, like her use of dynamics, is endlessly bold and fascinating. Often, and most notably in the andante con moto of Op 76, No. 6, she allows daringly long pauses between phrases and sections, thereby deepening the music’s mystery. No player or lover of the piano should overlook this disc. PD.