Ax and Ma have collaborated frequently in Sony Classical recordings of the music of Brahms, including their Grammy Award-winning recordings of the composer's cello sonatas (SK 48191), piano quartets with Isaac Stern and Jaime Laredo (SK 45846), and clarinet trio with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman (SK 57499).

Emanuel Ax has made his reputation playing works of the standard repertoire drawn primarily from the Classical and Romantic periods. His poetic lyricism and brilliant technique are the perfect tools necessary to tackle one of the biggest and most demanding concertos in the entire repertoire, both technically and interpretively.

This new recording of Brahms' Piano Concerto No.2 comes on the heels of Ax's critically acclaimed recordings of Chopin's Piano Concertos No.1 (SK 60771) and No.2 (SK 63371) on a period piano. This is Ax's first collaboration with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Haitink.