Brahms, J - Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118 No. 2 - archive student exam recital

[visitor]

So I was inspired by rachfan's recent re-release of a decade(s) old recording of  Rachmaninoff piece. Was also encouraged privately by several kind folks that this older recording was worth sharing and that this was in fact quite good/great. It forced me to revisit my musical closet so to speak, and dig this out which I had never really planned on making 'public' as I basically stuck it in my private archive and shared maybe with a few friends and former teachers at the time.

Had always loved this work (along with all the other Intermezzi and verylate Brahms in general) but I was/still am to a decent degree, scared to death of late Brahms works, they are horrendously difficult to make convincing and I am disappointed that of the later short pieces with deceptive technical buy ins get a bit played out in the student/school environment. So I had wanted to play this for 10 years or so and finally felt I had enough exposure and musical maturity/insight to get to the nitty gritty of what the piece means/felt to me (at the time).
I was just 'so so' satisfied when I performed this (which was a big deal for me since I usually hate my performances of 'important' works like these).
Anyhoot, listening now few years later, I can finally hear some of the good things the jury panel and faculty remarked on my critique/grading sheets. This was the closing piece of a set I played so I excerpted and ripped audio from an HD recording I made.

Piano is a so so Kawai 7 footer, the voicing had all but been destroyed in an effort to muffle it's voice to make it easier to hear students when playing with accompanist...no comment on that other than i struggled to get the blasted thing to project, probably made it sound as good as I could have. Tuning was meh....microphones were positioned at the rear of a small hall about 5+ rows back and a few levels above the ground floor stage (think raised seating curved amphitheater , everyone surrounds you and 'looks down' on you from the seats)

Thanks for listening and allowing me to share, I hope you like it as it is one of my favorite short romantic pieces by a composer from the standard literature.

[rachfan]

Hi visitor,

I enjoyed hearing your rendition of the Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118, No. 2 in A.  Brahms is not an easy composer.  One problem is that he often thought in orchestral terms rather than piano articulations.  This can lead to more difficult fingerings for example. Also Brahms often calls for a golden burnished tone that is different from Chopin or Liszt.  Overall I believe you played very well for your audience.  Congratulations! 

David  

[stevensk]

Nice 

[dogperson]

Wonderful, Visitor!  I hope you will continue to upload your recorded repertoire   
Can I turn in requests based on the repertoire suggestions you have made on this forum?

[dogperson]

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[visitor]

Hi visitor,

I enjoyed hearing your rendition of the Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118, No. 2 in A.  Brahms is not an easy composer.  One problem is that he often thought in orchestral terms rather than piano articulations.  This can lead to more difficult fingerings for example. Also Brahms often calls for a golden burnished tone that is different from Chopin or Liszt.  Overall I believe you played very well for your audience.  Congratulations!  

David  

Hi David, thanks you ever so much for your kind remarks and astute observation on Brahms' music.  I too find that less than 'pianistic' style of Brahms  frustrating, there are a few other composers that are 'notorious' for having this kind of compositional texture or writing structure style.

I do want to explore 'tone' approach as it pertains to Brahms vs others, perhaps we can discuss more in detail some time
 

Thanks for your time and encouragement. Glad you enjoyed it!

Nice  

THANKS!!!

Wonderful, Visitor!  I hope you will continue to upload your recorded repertoire    
Can I turn in requests based on the repertoire suggestions you have made on this forum?

hello dogperson, sincerely appreciative of your compliment and that you took a few minutes to listen

always happy to hear suggestions, i (as you) find myself enamored with so much more music than currently available time can possibly allow but i am always exploring and adding to the list. right now a decent chunk has to be dedicated to pending projects started in the fall with my teacher and a couple side ones in pipeline but i am reviewing literature at the moment to add on in spring! On on a bit of Medtner kick right now, but usually, almost always there is something soviet and/or from surround region and Japanese, but there's usually room for a smitter or smatter of something else if you have something in mind that strikes my fancy and I can get it past my gatekeeper/teacher ha ha , she has to reign me in for my own good at times  

[goldentone]

Terrific outing here Visitor with this Brahms.  I heard layers I have not heard before with your voicing.  There is a sadness in this piece, something of an unrealizable yearning, perhaps from Brahms' life.  I also hear a settled victory, as one who sits in contentment on a throne.  Not easy to interpret these disparate elements.  Maybe you hear this also.

I very much enjoyed listening.  Sure beats Kapustin.

[visitor]

Terrific outing here Visitor with this Brahms.  I heard layers I have not heard before with your voicing.  There is a sadness in this piece, something of an unrealizable yearning, perhaps from Brahms' life.  I also hear a settled victory, as one who sits in contentment on a throne.  Not easy to interpret these disparate elements.  Maybe you hear this also.

I very much enjoyed listening.  Sure beats Kapustin.

goldentone, your remarks make me happyand your observations are spot on! We share some similar  feelings about this piece indeed. The a major key sets us up, it is not a happy piece, just like in a lot of soviet music major and min ordo not automatically lead to happy from major or sad from minor. Perhaps with my love of soviet music , this is one reason Im so drawn to this work.

thanks for listening