Piano Forum

Thanks very much for your reply, and I'm glad you know the piece so well! I totally get what you're saying about not thinking in terms of 'hands separately' in the main theme sections. I think it's especially true in the hand crossings. I think the latter is more accurate   I find it hard to transate thinking of the octaves in terms of chords into playing them still in a relaxed way, if that makes sense. Anyway, I'll try to approach it mentally like that next time I practise!

Oh, I wouldn't say I know the piece "so well."  I did it as part of one of those graded exams where you get on stage and some blue-haired old biddies sit somewhere in the audience and give you a grade.  I did it OK, but since then has been a few decades and me doing more from the 118 just for fun. 

Yes, I remember the various hand-crossings to be challenging, particularly in the way I said:  it's not two hands, like accompaniment+melody, it really has to sound like one unified conception, or one big hand, if you prefer.

TBH, I never had the problem with the octave passages:  I just thought it was Brahms's way of being "big and impressive" when needed.  So, either chords or scales, however you want to think of it, but clearly this is the place if ever there was one to really lead from the shoulders, and just trust that your fingers will land on the right places.

Big motions, big sound.

Out of curiosity, how do you prefer to play the LH at the beginning of the middle Db major section?  I still like light pedal, and think sharp staccato like Gould is kind of affected and a bit precious.  For me, I think the meaning of Brahms's staccato markings (I'm not sure of the provenance of the manuscripts — I still only use the Dover reprint) is to suggest a lightness in mood and not the heavy pedalling.  But Brahms's own pianos, as is well known, had the quality that you could practically stand on the sustain pedal and still have some articulation.

Oh, I'll put in my plug for practicing and learning the octotonic "W-H" diminished scale:  it's something I only learned from jazz, doing those scales in b-thirds, dim-fifths, and dim-sevenths.  (ETA even though that scale itself shows up all over the place, in Bach and in Mozart, for example).

I just think those are fun, and I'm sometimes surprised that many musicians don't do more with them along with the rest of their exercises.