Brahms, 6 Klavierstücke, op. 118

September 15, 2014.  Brahms, 6 Klavierstücke, op. 118.  We continue our traversal of the late piano works of Johannes Brahms.  Three weeks ago Joseph DuBose wrote about 7 Fantasien, op. 116, composed in 1892.  This time he discusses Six Pieces for Piano (Klavierstücke) op. 118, written by Brahms one year later, in 1893. This was not an easy time in Brahms’s life: though just 60 years old and in a good health, Brahms was already thinking of abandoning composition.  Many of his closest friends have died: Elisabet von Herzogenberg, the former pupil, a love interest and the wife of a friend; the singer Hermine Spies; Philipp Spitta, the biographer of Johann Sebastian Bach; and Hans von Bülow, the pianist and conductor.   Still, Brahms remained creative, and even though he stopped writing in the large form, his chamber output was as rich as ever. 

We illustrate each of the six pieces with a recording made by Beatrice Berrut.  Briefly about Beatrice: she was born in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, studied at the Lausanne Conservatory and later at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.  Currently she is studying with John O'Conor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.  A winner of several international piano competitions, she performed in major concerts hall of Europe.  In 2011 she recorded all of Robert Schumann’s piano sonatas: Op.11 in F-sharp minor, Op.22 in G minor and the rarely performed Op.14 in F minor.  The recordings of Brahms’s Klavierstücke op. 118 were made in 2009.  Here’s the article.

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