Brahms Op. 119 No. 1

In the roughly 6 years of experience that I've had with classical music (which isn't much, I know), Brahms has seemed to be one of the most underrated composers among pianists. I think that much of it has to do with the subtlety of many of his piano works. He was a Romantic composer, and wrote fairly prolifically for piano. The fact of the matter is, when pianists think of Romantic era piano music, they think of Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt, etc. This is totally legit, I do the same thing. I had never given Brahms a second thought until I was forced to learn a pair of impromptus during my freshman year. Actually, "forced" is a strong word. I was more coerced. I obliged begrudgingly. But like so many people, I thought that Brahms was kind of boring. I was so terribly wrong.

The things that I love about Brahms are general, not specific to this one piece. However, I'm going to focus on just the one piece, because I want to give specific examples of the general things that I find absolutely amazing. Before anything else, listen here. (Richter is a great pianist, by the way. So sensitive.) Most people are not blown away by this little impromptu. It's not exactly spectacular. But there are two things in particular which I want to bring to attention--the harmonies and the counterpoint. I chose this particular recording of the piece because Richter takes a slow tempo, so the harmonies can be heard, and because he doesn't use too much pedal, so it's clear enough to hear the counterpoint.

First things first. That oh-so-luscious harmony. One can listen to the piece without much thought, but if one listens carefully, the harmony almost never does what is expected. It sometimes goes unnoticed because Brahms is so good at making all of the music just melt together. It's unconventional, but nothing feels out of place. Here I'm going to delve into some pseudo-technical discussion, for those who can follow what I'm saying. If not, pay attention to those parts in the music and savor the delicious sounds. The first five notes roll out a Bm7 chord, starting at the top and falling to the root. There's a split second to hear all of the notes ring out together before the same thing happens, this time with a DM11 chord. I'm not joking, it's beautiful and amazing and wonderful. This is followed by a GM11 chord, also rolled out from the top in this ambrosial arpeggio. I know I'm getting really heavy with my adjectives, but I love this stuff so much, I can't help it. This is all in just the first three measures. I could go on and ecstatically analyze the whole piece like this, but I won't for the interest of time and space. This is enough to pique interest. Listen also especially towards the end, when the triplets come in, around 2:15.

The counterpoint is equally wonderful. Brahms was a fan of Baroque music and, as a result, used a lot of counterpoint in his works. It's hard to believe that this piece is full of counterpoint. It certainly doesn't sound like Bach. The piece is so liquid-sounding, almost anti-structured. But the counterpoint is there, I promise. Granted, it's hard to pick out the different voices just by listening (it's easier for me because I have a score sitting in front of me right now), but Richter does just about the best job I've ever heard. So listen carefully, and they'll make themselves known. The melody is very simple, almost childishly simple. Just a hint, most notes are not the actual melody, but are rather countermelodies. For example, in the Bm7 chord, only the first note of the arpeggio is actually part of the melody. Also, listen especially to the middle section, which starts around :53. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.