Top 10 Hardest Brahms Pieces for Piano
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In honor of Brahms' birthday,
In honor of Brahms' birthday, here are his 10 hardest works for piano!
Next to Schumann, Brahms is perhaps the most “subtly difficult” of the major composers for piano. Approaching technical difficulty as a necessity of the soundscape rather than a virtuosic display, his music contains difficulties that are not immediately apparent to the listener, unlike the music of composers such as Liszt or Chopin.
Brahms’ difficulties can be divided into three broad categories, all of which must be mastered in order to become proficient with his style of writing.
1. Double notes: Brahms often utilized double notes in order to increase the harmonic density of his texture. One must be able to play rapid octaves, 6ths, 4ths, and 3rds like it is a second language. This physically painful aspect of Brahms prevents all but the most mechanically gifted performers from playing his major works.
2. Leaping intervals: The intervals and arpeggios seen in Brahms’ writing often contain large and ungainly intervals, often stretching an octave or more. The left hand bears the brunt of many such leaps, and the risk of encountering wrong notes is high.
3. Symphonic textures: Unlike his idol Schumann, Brahms was all about being big. This is a musical problem as much as it is a technical one. The massive, symphonic textures (large chords, octaves, huge ideas) are not written pianistically; each note of these large textures was imagined as an entire section of an orchestra. The piano as an instrument cannot possibly recreate the dense and rich sound of a symphony, especially without becoming strident or bombastic. This means that the pianist must find a fine balance between vastness of sound and the harsh attack on the keyboard (which isn't nearly as much of a problem for strings or winds).
All three of these issues (especially 3) is why some of Brahms’ large-scale piano works are often admired from afar, with musicians acknowledging the powerful emotional and harmonic content while also seeing the writing as problematic. The piano masters who have embraced the struggle of playing Brahms face both idiosyncratic punishments and rich rewards.
10. Piano Sonata No.2, Op.2 (7+)
0:00 Jonathan Plowright
0:49 Jorge Federico Osorio
1:14 Sviatoslav Richter
1:45 Julius Katchen
9. Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op.9 (7+)
2:39 Maria Grinberg
3:14 Peter Rösel
4:00 Louise Lortie
4:29 Julius Katchen
5:15 Gabriele Carcano
8. Klavierstucke, Op.76 (7+)
5:50 Béla Bartók
6:24 Murray Perahia
6:54 Anna Vinnitskaya
7:56 Nicholas Angelich
7. 5 Studies, No.1, Anh.1a/1 (7++)
8:31 Georg Friedrich Schenck
6. Piano Sonata No.1, Op.1 (8)
9:18 Peter Rösel
10:10 Elisso Virsaladze
10:45 Lukas Geniušas
5. Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15 (8)
11:41 Radu Lupu
12:23 Alfred Brendel
13:11 Rudolf Serkin
4. Piano Sonata No.3, Op.5 (8)
14:07 Artur Rubinstein
14:35 André Laplante
15:31 Antti Siirala
15:58 Jon Nakamatsu
3. Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op.24 (8+)
16:55 Leon McCawley
17:29 Benno Moiseiwitsch
17:55 Solomon
18:26 Claudio Arrau
18:47 Murray Perahia
2. Piano Concerto No.2, Op.83 (8++)
20:17 Nelson Freire
21:04 Emil Gilels
21:38 Ivan Moravec
22:24 Rudolf Serkin
22:40 Krystian Zimerman
23:05 Wilhelm Backhaus
1. Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op.35 (8++)
23:39 Cécile Ousset
24:05 Agustin Anievas
24:34 Abbey Simon
25:10 Agustin Anievas
25:58 Evgeny Kissin
26:27 Abbey Simon
26:57 Minoru Nojima
27:45 Evgeny Kissin
Honorable mentions: The other 5 Studies, Hungarian Dances, Variations on an Original Theme Op.21, Variations on a Hungarian Song, Fantasies Op.116, Klavierstucke Op.118, Klavierstücke Op.119
*PATREON LINK*
a guy's gotta sleep somewhere
Patreon: calebhu
Next to Schumann, Brahms is perhaps the most “subtly difficult” of the major composers for piano. Approaching technical difficulty as a necessity of the soundscape rather than a virtuosic display, his music contains difficulties that are not immediately apparent to the listener, unlike the music of composers such as Liszt or Chopin.
Brahms’ difficulties can be divided into three broad categories, all of which must be mastered in order to become proficient with his style of writing.
1. Double notes: Brahms often utilized double notes in order to increase the harmonic density of his texture. One must be able to play rapid octaves, 6ths, 4ths, and 3rds like it is a second language. This physically painful aspect of Brahms prevents all but the most mechanically gifted performers from playing his major works.
2. Leaping intervals: The intervals and arpeggios seen in Brahms’ writing often contain large and ungainly intervals, often stretching an octave or more. The left hand bears the brunt of many such leaps, and the risk of encountering wrong notes is high.
3. Symphonic textures: Unlike his idol Schumann, Brahms was all about being big. This is a musical problem as much as it is a technical one. The massive, symphonic textures (large chords, octaves, huge ideas) are not written pianistically; each note of these large textures was imagined as an entire section of an orchestra. The piano as an instrument cannot possibly recreate the dense and rich sound of a symphony, especially without becoming strident or bombastic. This means that the pianist must find a fine balance between vastness of sound and the harsh attack on the keyboard (which isn't nearly as much of a problem for strings or winds).
All three of these issues (especially 3) is why some of Brahms’ large-scale piano works are often admired from afar, with musicians acknowledging the powerful emotional and harmonic content while also seeing the writing as problematic. The piano masters who have embraced the struggle of playing Brahms face both idiosyncratic punishments and rich rewards.
10. Piano Sonata No.2, Op.2 (7+)
0:00 Jonathan Plowright
0:49 Jorge Federico Osorio
1:14 Sviatoslav Richter
1:45 Julius Katchen
9. Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op.9 (7+)
2:39 Maria Grinberg
3:14 Peter Rösel
4:00 Louise Lortie
4:29 Julius Katchen
5:15 Gabriele Carcano
8. Klavierstucke, Op.76 (7+)
5:50 Béla Bartók
6:24 Murray Perahia
6:54 Anna Vinnitskaya
7:56 Nicholas Angelich
7. 5 Studies, No.1, Anh.1a/1 (7++)
8:31 Georg Friedrich Schenck
6. Piano Sonata No.1, Op.1 (8)
9:18 Peter Rösel
10:10 Elisso Virsaladze
10:45 Lukas Geniušas
5. Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15 (8)
11:41 Radu Lupu
12:23 Alfred Brendel
13:11 Rudolf Serkin
4. Piano Sonata No.3, Op.5 (8)
14:07 Artur Rubinstein
14:35 André Laplante
15:31 Antti Siirala
15:58 Jon Nakamatsu
3. Variations on a Theme by Handel, Op.24 (8+)
16:55 Leon McCawley
17:29 Benno Moiseiwitsch
17:55 Solomon
18:26 Claudio Arrau
18:47 Murray Perahia
2. Piano Concerto No.2, Op.83 (8++)
20:17 Nelson Freire
21:04 Emil Gilels
21:38 Ivan Moravec
22:24 Rudolf Serkin
22:40 Krystian Zimerman
23:05 Wilhelm Backhaus
1. Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op.35 (8++)
23:39 Cécile Ousset
24:05 Agustin Anievas
24:34 Abbey Simon
25:10 Agustin Anievas
25:58 Evgeny Kissin
26:27 Abbey Simon
26:57 Minoru Nojima
27:45 Evgeny Kissin
Honorable mentions: The other 5 Studies, Hungarian Dances, Variations on an Original Theme Op.21, Variations on a Hungarian Song, Fantasies Op.116, Klavierstucke Op.118, Klavierstücke Op.119
*PATREON LINK*
a guy's gotta sleep somewhere
Patreon: calebhu
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در تاریخ 1401/02/17 منتشر شده
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