The recording spotlights the piano so that Tiberghien's every note can be heard and pondered, and he never gives the impression of irresponsibility or excessive calculation. But everything is so shaped and rationally conceived that this powerful work never quite achieves its usual impact.

The Leipzig audience who gave the young Brahms’s concerto such a hostile reception — outraged by its uncompromising violence — missed not only its masterly construction, but also its sweetness, the dolce element that runs through it and, in that glorious coda, resolves the conflict and heals its wounds. I feel that Tiberghien, for all his power and sure control, misses it too, in his unusually percussive playing

This notoriously difficult yet majestic concerto is the perfect vehicle to show off the considerable talents of dazzling French pianist Cedric Tiberghien, who tackles it with a combination of effortless virtuosity and maturity beyond his years.Partnered with the BBC Symphony and new chief conductor Jiri Belohlavek, Tiberghien is equally at home in the light, contemplative passages.

The French pianist Cédric Tiberghien...has climbed to prominence slowly, gathering competition prizes, a Harmonia Mundi recording contract and four CD recital discs of core repertoire from Bach to Debussy. He's no flashy virtuoso: one Lang Lang is enough. But he's refreshingly individual, sensitive, strong-minded, intelligent; more than a name to watch.

few recordings in recent years have matched the emotional intensity and drama that Tiberghien and Belohlavek bring to this masterpiece.