BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Rudolf Serkin, Columbia, MM-584

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BRAHMS
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major (Op. 83)


Rudolf Serkin - Piano

With
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Conducted by Eugene Ormandy


Columbia Masterworks Set
MM-584

Complete on Six Twelve-inch Records

Matrix numbers: 12193 - 12198

Johannes Brahms (German: [jo?han?s ?b?a?ms]; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist.

Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable; following a comment by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow, he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs".

Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works; he worked with some of the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. Brahms, an uncompromising perfectionist, destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished. 

Brahms is often considered both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Baroque and Classical masters. He was a master of counterpoint, the complex and highly disciplined art for which Johann Sebastian Bach is famous, and of development, a compositional ethos pioneered by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and other composers. Brahms aimed to honour the "purity" of these venerable "German" structures and advance them into a Romantic idiom, in the process creating bold new approaches to harmony and melody. While many contemporaries found his music too academic, his contribution and craftsmanship have been admired by subsequent figures as diverse as Arnold Schoenberg and Edward Elgar. The diligent, highly constructed nature of Brahms's works was a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers.

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 by Johannes Brahms is separated by a gap of 22 years from his first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near Vienna. It is dedicated to his teacher, Eduard Marxsen. The premiere of the concerto was given in Budapest on November 9, 1881, with Brahms as soloist, and was an immediate success. He proceeded to perform the piece in many cities across Europe.

The piece is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (B-flat), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (initially 2 in B-flat bass, 2 in F), 2 trumpets (B-flat), timpani (B-flat and F), and strings. (The trumpets and timpani are used only in the first two movements, which is unusual.)

The piece is in four movements, rather than the three typical of concertos in the Classical and Romantic periods:

• Allegro non troppo (B-flat major)
• Allegro appassionato (D minor)
• Andante (B-flat major)
• Allegretto grazioso (B-flat major)

The additional movement results in a concerto considerably longer than most other concertos written up to that time, with typical performances lasting around 50 minutes. Upon its completion, Brahms sent its score to his friend, the surgeon and violinist Theodor Billroth to whom Brahms had dedicated his first two string quartets, describing the work as "some little piano pieces." Brahms even described the stormy scherzo as a "little wisp of a scherzo."

From the private collection of the late Dr. Harry Hammer, who was the Chairman of Macalester College’s music department from 1969-1977 as well as an avid collector for over 40 years. Dr. Hammer once served as a special hitting coach for the New York Mets. That was in August, 1965...hired to help the Mets' hitters follow the ball better, using a method he originally developed to teach musicians sight reading. All albums are from the late 20’s to early 40’s, and many are original, 1st editions containing pristine pressings from the golden age of 78’s. This collection consists of a nearly complete run of RCA Victor Musical Masterpiece Albums and Columbia Masterworks Album Sets.

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