Composer: Johannes Brahms
Performer: Vienna Piano Trio
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: MDG
Catalogue: MDG9421962
Release: 2016
Size: 240 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Klaviertrio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8
01. I. Allegro con brio
02. II. Scherzo. Allegro molto
03. III. Adagio
04. IV. Allegro
Klaviertrio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87
05. I. Allegro
06. II. Andante con moto
07. III. Scherzo. Presto
08. IV. Finale. Allegro giocoso
Some compositions are so good that we wish we could have two of the same. The early Piano Trio in B major op. 8 by Johannes Brahms is one such work and one of music history’s greatest cases of good fortune: it has been transmitted in two versions. As we know, the overly self-critical Brahms otherwise completely destroyed all the early versions, sketches, and drafts of his works. The Vienna Piano Trio’s new Brahms edition in superior Super Audio sound on MDG opens with the late version of this work from the composer’s youth and then confronts it with his mature op. 87. The late version captivates the listener with a clearly concentrated design distinguishing it from the romantic and stormy first version.
But perhaps these quotations were only taken out because it became overly clear from them how much Brahms desired the wife of his fatherly friend.
There is no doubt that Schumann recognized these quotations – but to leave it to the world as a monument of an unrequited great love was probably unpleasant for Brahms.
Schubert:
Since that hour my body has been consumed,
The soul dies of longing;
The unhappy woman has poisoned me
Poisoned me with her tears.
Beethoven:
Take them then, these songs,
Which I sang to you, beloved,
Sing them again in the evening
To the sweet sound of the lute.