Looking for a new Brahms piece

[beethovenfan01]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a good Brahms piece to work on. I'm looking for something of similar length and difficulty to a Chopin Nocturne. I am researching the intermezzos, but my experience with Brahms is limited; I might be missing something.

Let me know what y'all come up with!  

Thanks

[spektralist]

I might be missing something.

I guess most'd deem late Brahms one of the pinnacles of piano literature, so you're on the right path; just keep digging until you find one that strikes you in particular, since difficulty and length do not vary much at all. I found Op. 118-6 to be the one for me.

[natanica]

What about one of the Rhapsodies op.79? The first is a bit more extensive than the second, but both are quite fun to play.

[beethovenfan01]

My teacher says Op 79 No. 2 is down the road ... but for right now, I'm looking for something a little shorter.

[jeffok]

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Brahms Intermezzi and Capriccii. Of course they're good - even great - music, they just lack (to my ears anyway) the kind of immediately apparent charm that I like. However, I'd strongly recommend Op. 117 no. 1 (E-flat Major if memory serves, but it's been decades). It offers some great (but manageable) challenges in voicing.

Another option might be to learn a sequence of 3 or 4 of the Waltzes (although in performance I think they really should be heard all at once). They are definitely not lacking in the kind of charm I like.

best wishes,
jeff ok

[alkan2010]

His op. 76 is made of 8 pieces fairly varying in character and difficulty

[gustaaavo]

I'd go, as an introduction to Brahms, with one of the four ballades (Op. 10). A piece from Op. 76 would also be a good choice.
One of the late pieces would of course be adequate too. Nevertheless, I tend to feel more comfortable when approaching legendary masterpieces (late Beethoven, late Schubert, late Brahms...) after having studied other less revered works by the composer in question. Some could say that, for example, it should be obligatory to have played some number of Beethoven sonatas before approaching Op. 101, 106 and 109-111. On the other hand, others would say that this is just quasi-religious bullshit. None will win the argument, so the choice is yours...
That I'm aware of, the only short pieces (or sets of short pieces) by Brahms are Op. 4 (Scherzo), Op. 10, the waltzes (Op. 39, originally for four hands and with two different adaptations for two hands by the composer, one being a simplification of the other), Op. 76, Op. 79 (although the two rhapsodies lean toward being medium-length pieces) and Op. 106-9 (the deities).

[j_tour]

I think this is not quite at your stated level of engagement, but if it were me and I wanted to do some Brahms, having already "done" my share already, I'd look strive for doing one of the opera taken as a group.  For example, the Op. 118 Klavierstu:cke.  

I don't know anything about Brahms the man nor the composer, beyond the average person, I just know two of his intermezzi, one Rhapsody, and one Ballade, and occasionally sight-read from him for fun, but if I were making a "project of Brahms" I'd look into how he organized his pieces and see if there were some interesting inter-connections.

ETA the poster above me mentioned the Waltzes.  For the past few months I've been spending a few minutes here and there looking at them -- strange pieces, in a kind of Ed Wood sort of way.  Such a low opus number, but I kind of like them.  Thanks very little for reminding me of yet another thing I have been neglecting.

BTW, I still like my idea of taking one of Brahm's opera at a go.  I know I'm not the only one here who plays/has played the Op. 118 no. 6, but if I had to do it again, I'd do the Op. 118 pieces as one group.  I'm not sure if there's historical or musical merit in that, but it might be fun to find out.

[expressman70]

Do the op 118 no2. That piece is amazing and sort of reminds me of nocturnes.

Have fun.