Of these dozen pianoforte pieces, six comprise the KALVIERSTUCKE Op.118, which together with the Op. 119, and the two books of Technical Exercises for the piano, were composed in the year 1832. One reason for their somewhat slow-in-coming appreciation, particularly when one considers the universal affection afforded the music of Chopin, and to a lesser extent, perhaps that of Schumann, might be their structural ambiguity -and a twining content not entirely commensurate with their length. But therein lies their greatness, in that their development and configurations reach horizons far beyond the modest terrain assigned them.
Having witnessed the crowds of onlookers at the funeral procession some months later of Dr. Billroth, Brahms wrote to a friend: "we do not wear such open hearts nor show such pure and warm affection."
Perhaps too, there is something in this, although one could hardly say Brahms's music is without warmth or affection.
The first INTERMEZZO of the Op. 118 -allegro non assai ma molto appassionato - is an outpouring full of passion supported by an iron-will determination. Its energy is at once apparent, through overlapping arpeggio figures and long-sweeping ascensions. It has within its diminutive form a surge and swell as much the same as any of the arpeggio Etudes by Chopin, and is equally stimulating to player and listener alike. It is perhaps the more freer spirit of a Chopin tempered by the classical constraints of a Beethoven which has found its voice here mighty in Brahms.
The second piece of this opus is the INTERMEZZO IN A MAJOR. The mood of this piece is "teneramente". It is a fueillet d'album of tireless charm, and one which might be considered feminine in character. It is a miniature of great beauty and breadth defying brevity. There is a certain wistfulness in these measures and moon-mystic moments more melancholy still. Arthur Rubinstein's face alone - so entranced was he when playing it -was enough to convey to any observer the frail-thin wonders woven within.
The third piece in the set is the BALLADE IN G MINOR. It is a small and energetic work with little defining it from a rhapsody. It seems likely that this ballade was composed around 1879 and later included in the opus. Its rhythmic impetus and detached chords lend it a character at once heroic, even militant, with a sustaining melodic line which can only serve to strengthen, brought to a halt all too briefly by spear-head sforzandi jabbing mid-measure. The middle section,with its melody both generous in length and legato lines, and in such a contrasting key as B major, is what really makes this Ballade a small rhapsody. B major is a key of which Brahms was particularly fond, and one which here brings to the more energetic aspirations of the opening text a feeling of repose. Four bars, poco a poco in tempo -lead us through subtle harmonic detail to the second exposition of the theme until the entire work is brought to a close with a rekindling of delicacies and a somewhat eccentrically placed pause over a quaver rest.
The INTERMEZZO IN F MINOR - allegretto un poco agitato -is a little more ambiguous, possibly even cryptic,if music can be so. Lightly articulated triplets provide a gentle pulse which is its motive and mainstay. Intricacies abound - hidden treasures- none the least of which is the hushed dialogues between its parts and canonic passages, gently ebbing with an undercurrent faintly forlorn. Classically wrought, the shadow of Beethoven looms ever near. The distant rumblings of inclement skies, a butterfly fluttering by, and near motionless moments of gossamer-thin threads so finely wrought as to almost vaporize at a touch. I am reminded of the following lines from Virginia Woolf's THE DEATH OF A MOTH:
"It was as if someone had taken a tiny bead of pure life and decking it as lightly as possible with down and feathers, had set it dancing and zigzagging to show us the true nature of life. Thus displayed, one could not get over the strangeness of it"
The long and longing melody of the ROMANCE strongly brings to mind a volkslied and has at its centre, a counter-melody doubled at the octave. The middle section -allegretto grazioso -is a set of variations poured lightly over a pedal note. The variations themselves flow quietly along, almost meanderingly in idyllic charm, which by way of cloudless trills and translucent scale passages bring us back to the opening theme. With so little emotion, refined so as here, still waters run deep.
The opening phrase of the INTERMEZZO IN Eb MINOR has a feeling of such futility about it, that one's thoughts, indeed, one's entire being are near numbed by it. Every breath, every nuance and subtle turn of phrase is in an undertone -sotto voce - intensified by the swellings of a configuration made up solely of a diminished seventh chord assigned at first 'pianissimo' and then 'perdendo' to the left hand. The middle section, not unlike the cavalric opening of the BALLADE IN G MINOR, unfolds and becomes such a tour de force, that when played well,makes of this piece a small symphony.
It has been said that the "exceptional melancholy" felt by Brahms at the time of Elizabeth von Herzogenberg's death is what weighs so heavy here.
PHILLIP WILCHER
February 2003
(Article published by Music Teacher Magazine)
