Hey! I recently did a final recital for a degree and Op. 118 was the meat of my program. I found you through your Ravel videos (Alborada, Oiseaux, and Valleé) because I was preparing them for the same recital, and it was such a surprise to see that you started covering 118 right as I was undergoing final prep. Your playing is wonderful and your analysis superb. These videos are always a treat!
Thank you, Cole, for taking us on such a fascinating journey as you explored Brahms Opus 118: music of such great introspection and beauty. Written 131 years ago at Bad Ischl during his summer sojourn, these pieces are deservedly amongst his most well-known and loved works. Julius August Philipp Spitta, the German musicologist who wrote to Brahms after receiving the scores, stated: “They are the most varied of all your piano pieces and perhaps the richest in content and depth of meaning …”. Perhaps he saw in this set of miniatures highly condensed and expressive masterpieces - a sort of microcosm of Brahms' inner emotional world? Your performance of 'Romance' is just exquisite, and we can only wonder what Clara Schumann must have felt when she played this for the first time. And how you capture all the weight of the final 'Intermezzo', with its opening brooding mood and the sense of death that permeates the entire piece. As the music enters the second section, you ensure the mood transforms into that grand, solemn march, which almost seems to possess a heroic character. The emotions continue to culminate in your playing until the reappearances of the death motif, reminding us that death is inevitable! And how beautifully you let the work fade away in that final arpeggio. Such artistry in your performance, Cole - truly sublime! (And even though we lose visuals for a brief time at the end of the 'Romance' - how symbolic! - this is still another magnificent upload: B R A V O !)
This is so wonderful what you are doing. Perfection; emotionally and technically! Thank you Cole, you make me happy with your videos! Brahms in your hands is special and striking!
Video cuts out at 23:22, returns at 24:03, but it hardly mattered; your playing is marvelous. Your choice to go entirely sans pedal in the b section before the crescendo was so startling - I don’t think I’ve heard anyone do that before! When you apply the pedal leading into that crescendo, it REALLY hits. Fantastic nuance. Thank you!
Thank you so much, you’re very kind. I’m not sure what happened with the video. I must’ve accidentally deleted some frames without noticing during my editing. Oh well, I’ll just leave that as a little unavoidable blemish!
That is so interesting-I hadn’t thought of Opus 118 no 5 as referencing Dies Irae. It definitely seems plausible as a kind of foreshadowing of the next piece, even though it’s not so explicit. Good catch!
just in time! lol, thanks man, nobody else is doing this type of content with this amount of insight
Wonderfully beautiful playing Cole. I'm starting to appreciate Brahms more than ever because of these videos.
I’m so glad! Thank you for watching
Hey! I recently did a final recital for a degree and Op. 118 was the meat of my program. I found you through your Ravel videos (Alborada, Oiseaux, and Valleé) because I was preparing them for the same recital, and it was such a surprise to see that you started covering 118 right as I was undergoing final prep. Your playing is wonderful and your analysis superb. These videos are always a treat!
What a coincidence! My piano teacher's senior recital was op 118, miroirs, and Beethoven's op 101! Apparently you two have very similar taste!
Oh Cole! You really nailed those pieces. Brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you, Cole, for taking us on such a fascinating journey as you explored Brahms Opus 118: music of such great introspection and beauty. Written 131 years ago at Bad Ischl during his summer sojourn, these pieces are deservedly amongst his most well-known and loved works. Julius August Philipp Spitta, the German musicologist who wrote to Brahms after receiving the scores, stated: “They are the most varied of all your piano pieces and perhaps the richest in content and depth of meaning …”. Perhaps he saw in this set of miniatures highly condensed and expressive masterpieces - a sort of microcosm of Brahms' inner emotional world?
Your performance of 'Romance' is just exquisite, and we can only wonder what Clara Schumann must have felt when she played this for the first time. And how you capture all the weight of the final 'Intermezzo', with its opening brooding mood and the sense of death that permeates the entire piece. As the music enters the second section, you ensure the mood transforms into that grand, solemn march, which almost seems to possess a heroic character. The emotions continue to culminate in your playing until the reappearances of the death motif, reminding us that death is inevitable! And how beautifully you let the work fade away in that final arpeggio. Such artistry in your performance, Cole - truly sublime! (And even though we lose visuals for a brief time at the end of the 'Romance' - how symbolic! - this is still another magnificent upload: B R A V O !)
The keys of op 118 spell out a Lydian tetrachord, which might also explain the structural significance of that Lydian chord in no 5
This is so wonderful what you are doing. Perfection; emotionally and technically! Thank you Cole, you make me happy with your videos! Brahms in your hands is special and striking!
Lovely analysis. Your rendition captures the stark character and austere beauty of these pieces.
Video cuts out at 23:22, returns at 24:03, but it hardly mattered; your playing is marvelous.
Your choice to go entirely sans pedal in the b section before the crescendo was so startling - I don’t think I’ve heard anyone do that before! When you apply the pedal leading into that crescendo, it REALLY hits. Fantastic nuance.
Thank you!
Thank you so much, you’re very kind.
I’m not sure what happened with the video. I must’ve accidentally deleted some frames without noticing during my editing. Oh well, I’ll just leave that as a little unavoidable blemish!
thanks, great interpretation
Just realized op 118 no 5 references Dies Irae when you highlighted those bottom notes in the right hand.
That is so interesting-I hadn’t thought of Opus 118 no 5 as referencing Dies Irae. It definitely seems plausible as a kind of foreshadowing of the next piece, even though it’s not so explicit. Good catch!
Dies Irae : Music Vocabulary
ruclips.net/user/shortsd-MV8v8sAWI?feature=share