The Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118, represent the apex of Brahms' late piano style, characterized by autumnal and melancholic feelings of longing and regret.
Composition History
The first of Brahms' Four Ballades, Op. 10, was inspired by the Scottish ballad 'Edward,' a story about a son who murders his father and curses his mother.
Compositional Technique
The Four Ballades, Op. 10, are intimately intertwined and designed to be experienced as a whole, with a conspicuously constricted tonal landscape almost exclusively in variants of D and B.
Recording & Production
This album was recorded in the Perelman Theater of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, a 650-seat multi-use recital hall with a unique turntable stage.
Composer Biography
The Scherzo, Op. 4, is among the earliest surviving works by Johannes Brahms, a composer whom Robert Schumann described as a genius who would emerge fully formed.
Composition History
Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Robert Schumann, Op. 9, were composed during the tense weeks following Robert Schumann's suicide attempt, expressing tender affection for him and his wife Clara.
Album & Artwork
This album combines three early, rarely heard works by Johannes Brahms with his famous late pieces from Op. 118.
