Brahms - Vier klavierstücke op 119

[fnork]

here's the rest of op 119. I'll try to make the files smaller when I have time...

[teresa_b]

Hi fnork,

I'll reply for both your posts here.  I listened to all 4, and you play these difficult pieces very, very nicely!  I love the late Brahms piano pieces, and I always marvel at how they improve the longer you know them, too.

My only suggestion is to be sure you remember to keep it flowing forward in no 1.  But that's a quibble, they are all lovely.  The recording (and maybe the piano itself, from what you said) is not fabulous, but it's obvious you love the pieces, and you play them with artistry.  Great! 

Teresa

[rachfan]

Hi fnork,

I always enjoy hearing you play, and the Brahms Rhapsody, Op. 119, No. 4 is no exception. I've played this piece myself, so can very well appreciate the challenges it presents--not an easy one to execute!  You establish much momentum, always play the long line, bring wonderful contrast to the various ideas, and create a wide range of dynamics along the way with very nice nuances.  Your articulation of the difficult figurations sounds almost effortless.  Very masterful playing indeed.  Bravo!

[fnork]

thanks for the comments! yes, I had to work on that rhapsody quite a while - with all four pieces actually, this opus didn't come easily at all...in fact, having started with the handel variations recently, most of it seems much more comfortable to play than op 119! A good friend of mine has played the paganini variations and says she finds op 119 a bigger challenge - don't know about that though, haven't touched the paganini yet. But I guess it has to do with that Brahms wasn't at all interrested in writing "comfortable" for the piano - I mean, some of the leaps in the end of the rhapsody are just ridiculously awkward. The best thing to do for anyone who wants to master the last 3 pages is to play them with closed eyes - slowly at first. After a while, your hands will know EXACTLY where to jump to the next position.

teresa - no 1 can be done in many ways, but I prefer not to use the word "flow" in this piece...after having learned the opus, I remember reading a letter by Brahms to Clara Schumann about the first piece, which goes: "I have been tempted to write you a little piano piece well knowing how it will please you. It is seething with dissonances!… The little piece is exceptionally melancholic and ‘to be played very slowly’ is by no means an understatement. Every bar and every note must sound like a ritard., as though melancholy would be drawn in from each, with sensual pleasure from these dissonances". I think it says a lot about what the composer was after.

[fnork]

and the recording quality...well, I did what I could on that piano but as I said, dynamics under mf was diifficult to control - you probably notiiced a few dropped notes in no 1 and 2.

[teresa_b]

I totally respect your interp of no 1.  My "flow" comment was a gut response, and I had not been aware of Brahms' remarks to Clara.  In that sense, the hesitancy may be just what he was looking for. 

It is far from easy to get the right feeling in these pieces, as they are complex both technically and emotionally.  You've done it masterfully!

Teresa

[fnork]

they are, in some sense, contrapunctally difficult also - to realize them the way they were "orchestrated" by the composer demands a great deal of control! Thanks for your comment.
I noticed when I started playing that the chair was making noise (a LOT) when I was moving around, so I had to play the whole thing completely without moving...very disturbing 

[rachfan]

Hi fnork,

I too found the Rhapsody incredibly awkward.  Brahms' figuration frequently comes "out of the octave" which is one factor to contend with.  Another is that he seemed to be thinking orchestrally in this particular piece.  So even though in his younger days he was a fine pianist (but hardly ever practiced in later life) and had an affinity to the instrument, he didn't compose this piece in a pianistic way.  He was more taken with writing down the orchestral sounds.  Therein lies the challenge!

[fnork]

Yeah, I heard that he hardly practiced at all before the premiere of the 2nd concerto, can you believe that? And according to someone who heard the concert, it was the finest 2nd concerto that person heard in his life.
Brahms piano music is almost always very orchestral, very "thick", and the rhapsody is certainly not an exception.

[rachfan]

Not only that, but when he did practice, he simultaneously puffed on a cigar.  I'm not sure which was the higher priority to him.