Johannes Brahms: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2, Variations on a Hungarian Song & Klavierstücke

Featuring

Sviatoslav Richter
Johannes Brahms

Did you know?

1/7

Interpretation

Sviatoslav Richter conceived Brahms's first two Piano Sonatas as belonging to the classical period, deriving from both Bach and Beethoven.

Composer Biography

Johannes Brahms was deeply interested in didactic and technical questions related to the piano throughout his life, even compiling 51 Exercises for the pianoforte in 1893.

Compositional Technique

Brahms's first two Piano Sonatas have a symphonic style of writing, which led Clara Schumann to exclaim, 'But who is playing four hands in here?' when she heard him play.

Performer Biography

Sviatoslav Richter's childhood musical 'trigger' was Chopin's Nocturne no. 5, which he heard his father play, leading him to choose music as a career.

Performer Biography

Sviatoslav Richter, the pianist on this album, was born in Zhitomír, Ukraine, to a German father and a Slav mother, and displayed an astonishing gift for both music and plastic arts.

Composer Biography

Before the age of thirty-five, Johannes Brahms frequently appeared as a concert pianist, playing works by other composers like Bach, Beethoven, and the Schumanns.

Performer Biography

Sviatoslav Richter made the acquaintance of Prokofiev, the Russian composer, and gave the first performances of his Piano Sonatas no. 6, no. 7, and no. 9.