Johannes Brahms
Symphonies no. 1 and 2, Arrangement for Piano Four-hands
In the 19th century, arrangements for piano four-hands were usually versions which people played at home if the works could not be heard in concert. In cases such as these Brahms did not, however, just make functional versions but creatively transcribed his works for the piano.
As the composer he allowed himself greater freedom than arrangers for publishers did. In this form his arrangements greatly contributed to the success of his works in musical life in the 19th century. It is on account of their creativity that Brahms’ arrangements have attracted new interest in musical circles over the last few decades. Our Urtext edition of the Symphonies nos. 1 and 2 for piano four hands offers a scholarly musical text following the recently published volume in the Brahms Complete Edition.
About the Composer
Johannes Brahms
His significant output comprises chamber music, piano works, numerous choral compositions and songs (including settings of folk-song lyrics), as well as large-scale orchestral works in the 1870s and 1880s. His compositions are characterized by the process of developing variation. He is considered an antithesis to the New German School around Liszt, and an advocate of “absolute” music.
| 1833 | Born in Hamburg on May 7, the son of a musician. His first piano instruction with Willibald Cossel at age seven, then with Eduard Marxen; first public performances from 1843. |
| 1853 | Concert tour through German cities; he meets Schumann, who announces him as the next great composer in his essay “Neue Bahnen” (“New Paths”). A lifelong, intimate friendship develops with Clara Schumann. |
| 1854–57 | Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15. |
| 1857–59 | Choir director, pianist, and teacher at the royal court in Detmold. |
| 1859–61 | Director of the Hamburg Women’s Choir. |
| 1860 | Manifesto against the New Germans around Liszt. |
| 1863 | Cantata “Rinaldo,” Op. 50. |
| 1863–64 | Director of the Wiener Singakademie. |
| 1868 | Partial performance in Vienna of “A German Requiem,” Op. 45 (the complete work premiered in Leipzig in 1869) |
| 1871–74 | Artistic director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of Friends of Music) in Vienna. |
| 1873 | Haydn Variations, Op. 56a, for orchestra. |
| from 1877 | His symphonic output begins with the Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 (begun 1862); composition of the Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73; the Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 (1883); and Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 (1884–85): cantabile themes, chamber-music-like style. |
| from 1878 | Travels in Italy. |
| 1878 | Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77, for Joseph Joachim. |
| 1881 | Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83, with a scherzo movement. |
| 1886 | Honorary president of Vienna’s Tonkünstlerverein (Association of Musicians). |
| 1897 | Four Serious Songs, Op. 121. Dies in Vienna on April 3. |
About the Authors
Robert Pascall (Editor)
Prof. Dr. Robert Pascall (b. Colwyn Bay, 1944, d. June 9, 2018) studied under Sir Jack Westrup at Oxford. He wrote books, analyses and editions of music from Bach to Schoenberg, with a special focus on Brahms. He was Professor and Head of Music at the University of Nottingham 1988-1998 and at Bangor University 1998-2005.
Until his death he was Honorary Professor of Music Philology at the University of Cambridge. He acted as Vice-chair of the new Complete Brahms Edition from its inception in 1991 and was then a member of its Beirat. He edited the symphonies for this edition, including Brahms’s own arrangements of them for piano duet, and advised conductors and orchestras on historically informed performance of Brahms’s music. He was President of the Society for Music Analysis 1996-2000, and was Corresponding Director of the American Brahms Society and an Honorary Member of the Royal Musical Association.
Andreas Groethuysen (Fingering)
Prof. Andreas Groethuysen, born in 1956 in Munich, studied music with Ludwig Hoffmann in Munich and, on a scholarship from the “Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes”, with Peter Feuchtwanger in London.
After several years as a soloist, Groethuysen formed a piano duo with Yaara Tal, which has now become the focus of his artistic work. The duo regularly performs in many European countries, in Israel, China, North and South America. In exclusive cooperation with SONY CLASSICAL the internationally acclaimed piano duo has released a great many CDs – 28 to date – almost all of which have been awarded prizes.
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