Eager to showcase his early compositions to prominent musicians, Johannes Brahms performed selections of his piano sonatas, Op. 1, 2 and 5, as well as Scherzo, Op. 4 for Robert Schumann in 1853. Schumann praised the ability of the young, twenty-year old to play the piano as “an orchestra of lamenting and loudly jubilant voices.” He also commented that “every work was so different from the others that it seemed to stream from its own individual source.” Such encouraging comments from an established figure certainly catapulted the young Brahms’s career forward.
Scherzo Op. 4 in E flat minor opens with a fiery four-note gesture. As the music progresses, this motive is presented relentlessly to the conclusion of the first section. In the following two trios, various themes and gestures offer contrasting moods. The musical material in these two sections exudes a youthful, heroic, and triumphant character before returning to the presentation of the opening section. Frank Huang
Classical Music | Piano Music
Johannes Brahms
Scherzo for piano in e-flat minor, Op. 4 Play
Recorded on 06/15/2011, uploaded on 01/20/2012
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Eager to showcase his early compositions to prominent musicians, Johannes Brahms performed selections of his piano sonatas, Op. 1, 2 and 5, as well as Scherzo, Op. 4 for Robert Schumann in 1853. Schumann praised the ability of the young, twenty-year old to play the piano as “an orchestra of lamenting and loudly jubilant voices.” He also commented that “every work was so different from the others that it seemed to stream from its own individual source.” Such encouraging comments from an established figure certainly catapulted the young Brahms’s career forward.
Scherzo Op. 4 in E flat minor opens with a fiery four-note gesture. As the music progresses, this motive is presented relentlessly to the conclusion of the first section. In the following two trios, various themes and gestures offer contrasting moods. The musical material in these two sections exudes a youthful, heroic, and triumphant character before returning to the presentation of the opening section. Frank Huang
More music by Johannes Brahms
Paganini variatons
Capriccio in d minor, Op 116, No. 7, from Seven Fantasies
Variations on a Theme by Haydn
Capriccio in c-sharp minor, from Eight piano pieces, Op. 76
Intermezzo in E Major, Op. 116, No. 4, from Seven Fantasies
Schicksalslied, Op. 54
Intermezzo in A Major, from Eight piano pieces, Op. 76
Intermezzo in e minor, Op. 116, No. 5, from Seven Fantasies
Intermezzo in b minor, Op. 119, No. 1
Klavierstücke op. 118 - VI. Intermezzo
Performances by same musician(s)
La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune, from Préludes Book II
Three Movements from ballet Petrushka
Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest
Classical Music for the Internet Era™
Courtesy of International Music Foundation.