The problem with having a Classical Clip of the Month is that it necessarily is a Classical Clip of the Month, not of the week or even the day. The upside is that the clip stays up nice and long so you can enjoy its reign (they get put in the archive anyway, ya'know!); the downside is that some composers or performers have to wait around quite a while before they get their moment in the sun, so to speak. Remember what happened to Callas not that long ago?

So, this month, there is finally an entry for two who have been absent from these pages thus far: Brahms and Emanuel Ax. The former need not be commented upon in detail here. Should I begin typing, I might never stop. The latter is, in my view, one of the truly great pianists of our day (the other which comes to mind is Murray Perahia, yet another who has not graced these pages...yet).

This is one of my favorite performances of that superb set of variations, the Handel Variations. I am particularly enamored with his sense of style and joie de vivre in the first variation, and I share it here.