Thank you so much, Cole, for your clear and insightful analysis of these 3 masterpieces and the equally clear and well thought through performances you give of them. Your channel is an inspiration to me as a pianist!
I'm so happy you're covering and performing this piece. It's so dark and wistful, and it's my favorite late Brahms piece (and one of my favorite Brahms pieces overall). As always, wonderful performance!
Brahms piano pieces are all so good. Even the set that is a bit earlier is so good (op 76) This one in particular is magical and masterfully played Cole
Very nice. One of the interesting things about this piece is that it's monothematic. The theme of the B section is the same as that of the A section, other than being in the major and having sixteenth-note motion rather than thirty-second notes.
You seem to have resisted unpicking your Latin quote (hopefully not just 'clickbait'!). Life is certainly ephemeral, or so it seems the nearer we get to the end of it, as I now appreciate only too well. This fleeting music of plaintive delicacy by Brahms certainly succeeded in melting my heart in your recording, Cole - especially with such exquisite playing: bravo! I have read that Brahms very much had Clara Schumann in mind when composing the three Intermezzi Op 117, as she had been destined to be the first pianist to see them: their moods, even as lullabies, are late autumnal, as befits the expression of nearly forty years of love (unrequited?) and friendship. Oh, how the music is filled with such affecting and wistful nostalgia. We can see Brahms displaying his mastery of ambiguity in this B-flat minor Intermezzo as he makes us feel as if we are being led in different directions simultaneously, overlappingly. The twists and turns in the harmony rarely give us any sense of certainty, which is probably why Glenn Gould said he liked Brahms' Intermezzi for their “atmosphere of improvisation.” The Austrian music critic, aesthetician and historian, Eduard Hanslick, described these brief works as “monologues” of a “thoroughly personal and subjective character . . . pensive, graceful, dreamy, resigned, and elegiac” and Brahms himself once described them as “three lullabies to my sorrow.” It seems fitting to let Clara have the last words here when she noted: “In these pieces I at last feel musical life stir once again in my soul” (so maybe your preface should have read: 'vita incitat anima mea'?)! Happy New Year!
I believe that "G-flat" minor" is actually a double appogiatura to F major, a dominant, without resolution to it back. So, the spelling of the might be correct.
Thank you so much, Cole, for your clear and insightful analysis of these 3 masterpieces and the equally clear and well thought through performances you give of them. Your channel is an inspiration to me as a pianist!
I'm so happy you're covering and performing this piece. It's so dark and wistful, and it's my favorite late Brahms piece (and one of my favorite Brahms pieces overall). As always, wonderful performance!
Brahms piano pieces are all so good. Even the set that is a bit earlier is so good (op 76)
This one in particular is magical and masterfully played Cole
Very nice. One of the interesting things about this piece is that it's monothematic. The theme of the B section is the same as that of the A section, other than being in the major and having sixteenth-note motion rather than thirty-second notes.
You seem to have resisted unpicking your Latin quote (hopefully not just 'clickbait'!). Life is certainly ephemeral, or so it seems the nearer we get to the end of it, as I now appreciate only too well. This fleeting music of plaintive delicacy by Brahms certainly succeeded in melting my heart in your recording, Cole - especially with such exquisite playing: bravo!
I have read that Brahms very much had Clara Schumann in mind when composing the three Intermezzi Op 117, as she had been destined to be the first pianist to see them: their moods, even as lullabies, are late autumnal, as befits the expression of nearly forty years of love (unrequited?) and friendship. Oh, how the music is filled with such affecting and wistful nostalgia. We can see Brahms displaying his mastery of ambiguity in this B-flat minor Intermezzo as he makes us feel as if we are being led in different directions simultaneously, overlappingly. The twists and turns in the harmony rarely give us any sense of certainty, which is probably why Glenn Gould said he liked Brahms' Intermezzi for their “atmosphere of improvisation.”
The Austrian music critic, aesthetician and historian, Eduard Hanslick, described these brief works as “monologues” of a “thoroughly personal and subjective character . . . pensive, graceful, dreamy, resigned, and elegiac” and Brahms himself once described them as “three lullabies to my sorrow.” It seems fitting to let Clara have the last words here when she noted: “In these pieces I at last feel musical life stir once again in my soul” (so maybe your preface should have read: 'vita incitat anima mea'?)! Happy New Year!
Beautiful performance as always.
Wonderful performance. In a way, perfect for my New Years in New York City! Wishing you all the Best for 2024!
I played this piece many times. Its my favorite small piece from Brahms
I believe that "G-flat" minor" is actually a double appogiatura to F major, a dominant, without resolution to it back. So, the spelling of the might be correct.
What do you think of Gould's intermezzi cycle?