Brahms 2?

[in_love_with_liszt]

Anyone know the difficulty of Brahms second piano concerto? My theory teacher told me it was pretty comparable to Rach. 3...which I diddn't beleive right away.

[larse]

Brahms' 2nd piano concert is absolutely comparable to, if not even more difficult than, Rach 3. It does'nt really sound that way because it's suffering from those intense cadenzas, but that's not the hard part in Brahms anyway.

Brahms makes you use all your fingers at the same time, alot more than Rach does in no3. Stretching my tiny hand like that. Gives me aches! This is not my experience, though, just what I've heard ("Don't attempt Brahms 2 until you've finished Rach 3!")...

[in_love_with_liszt]

Wow thanks that's pretty amazing, because you don't hear Brahms second piano concerto talked about much, and listening to them both, I suppose they sound fairly equal in difficulty, but I've seen both scores, and yes, you're right thinking back on it, it did seem like Brahms had even bigger hands than good ol' Rach. Lots of tenths. Hmmm well I did want to start Brahms 2 this comming schoolyear, and my teacher has voiced no objections so far......and that is one of my favorite concertos, so I'll try my hand(s) at it, worse comes to worse, I'll just set it aside for a while and work on something slightly easier. Thanks, I guess it never hurts to trust a theory teacher! lol

[larse]

No, you're probably right.
Though, about your teacher making no objections. I began the revolutionary etude when I was 12. My teacher did'nt say anything, but my hand was teared apart for a month..guess I learned a lesson there. But I would'nt recommend on jumping on Brahms like that. That concerto demands silk gloves while playing a G to a taller C with four other keys in the middle... This is no intermezzo... . Naah, do what you want. Just don't break your fingers, cause that would just be silly.