# Some thoughts on Brahms, and his first piano trio...



## mfrontz47 (Nov 30, 2017)

The two versions of this trio are an enigma. They are both so beautiful and powerful, yet starkly different in their tone despite containing much of the same compositional material. It's impossible for me to pick a favorite, though I suppose you cannot argue that the revised version is more stylistically coherent as a whole (the oddly inserted fugue in the first movement of the original is a stark reminder that this IS an early work-he wrote the original version when he was only 20 years old!)
When I listen to the revised version in comparison with the original, I wonder how Brahms must have felt returning to the piece. The themes are so personal and heartfelt, and especially in their original context, they convey a certain sense of youth and often are presented as uncontained bursts of passion that emerge almost without precedence from the "connective tissue" of the music.
It should be noted that the year this piece was originally published, Brahms' best friend and colleague Robert Schumann attempted suicide (he would die two years later). Brahms also was head over heels in love with Schumann's wife, though this never amounted to anything for him... While I would NEVER base an interpretation of a piece of music from a specific event or story, it cannot be denied these are heavy events coinciding with Brahms' early career. Brahms expresses such passion in this piece; it is sorrowful, compassionate, heartfelt, and truly youthful. It is a whirlwind of different emotions, and in some cases, he fails to separate thoughts and themes from each other, choppily transitioning from idea to idea... compositional shortcomings perhaps, but also resemblant of the tumultuous waves of emotion younger people experience; every event is THE event to end all events. Beauty gives way to madness, sadness is guttural, and ecstasy sweeping...
If the original version is youthful, the revised version is something of a reflection on that youth. How must the 55-year-old composer felt looking at his old score? What must have gone through the composer's head, as rewrote the themes he wrote 35 years ago? This was only his eighth piece, 45 minutes of sweeping themes set amongst such an intimate setting... the first piece he ever wrote for strings (his first 7 pieces are either Lieder or solo piano works), and his most symphonic piece of his early 8 works (also the most symphonic of the three trios)... And what prompted the changes he would make later on?
Of course, the revised version IS a technical improvement on the original. But its emotional core differs VASTLY. The climaxes are less sweeping and they resolve more solidly. It is more mature, and yet it also has a greater sense of loneliness, and perhaps nostalgia. To compare the two, examine the ending of the 1855 version's 1st movement; the violin reaches a high climax in a subtle variation on the original theme- the instruments crash together in waves of ecstasy before pulling back just slightly before resolving the major chord on a forte. The 1889 version, however, includes a quiet reflection in a lonely minor melody which starts in the solo piano. This eventually gives way to major, and it ends triumphantly, but it is a different sentiment, one which reflects on sorrow and pain before recognizing the overall beauty within... It seems as if Brahms is looking back on his life; of his loves, his losses, and trying to make sense of it in context of what he now knows came out of his experiences. This sense of reflection is the core of the revised version, and what makes it so powerful yet difficult to understand and approach, especially for younger players!
I suppose it is difficult (and somewhat dangerous!) to try and put into words what the two pieces mean to each other. After all, anyone with minimal knowledge of Brahms' life can claim what one event means to a piece. Perhaps he wrote the revised version only to fix what he viewed as a compositional shortcoming (though to that I would point out that he did NOT withdraw the original version or renumber it from his list of publications). Nevertheless, I would say that perhaps one can gain something from my analysis by listening to the two side by side- they both are beautiful even without background information.
One final thought to tie this all together; I was once spoken to by a conductor about the value of age to performance- it was a reference to a different piece but it still applies. He spoke of the ability of young people to comprehend works bursting with emotion because of our hotbloodedness, our passion, and our immaturity. "Everything is a big deal when you're young," he said, "in contrast to when you're older and have already gone through so much that you no longer feel such wrong emotion"... well I haven't lived to experience the older person's view of emotion, but I can attest to the former and I think that it applies here as well. The original version is a turbulent whirlwind of emotion, while the second a reflection on events past- and perhaps a bit of an attempt to reckon with that fire, to control it and place it in a more thoughtful context.
I think about the emotions I feel now; how will I view them later in life? And will I cast them aside as the thoughts of an immature young man, or will I reckon with them and think of these events in a new light?
Of course, I doubt that anyone will care how MY emotional language changes over time; I'm no Brahms!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

As far as I remember I've only ever heard the revised version once, and I didn't come away with a positive impression - this may have just been my mood or the performance. Anyway, your post makes me keen to hear it again, can you (or someone else) suggest a recording to try, one that does it justice? It's not in any of the Brahms CDs I own.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Maria Joao Pires recorded my favourite version. Seriously Romantic, vigorous, wonderful.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Tallisman said:


> Maria Joao Pires recorded my favourite version. Seriously Romantic, vigorous, wonderful.


I assume she hasn't recorded the op. posth., the Trio No 4, the revised op 8. Most trios seem to have rejected it, BAT being a significant exception I think.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Mandryka said:


> I assume she hasn't recorded the op. posth., the Trio No 4, the revised op 8. Most trios seem to have rejected it, ABQ being a significant exception I think.


I'm not sure you've got the trios straight. (I may just misunderstand you.) To my knowledge, the revised Op. 8 in B (originally written c. 1854 and revised c. 1890) is the version most frequently recorded. The posthumous trio in A is not a revision of Op. 8. I have one recording of the posthumous work. It's by the Beaux Arts Trio, which is the group I assume you meant. (The ABQ would not be performing a piano trio. ) I could have sworn that Swafford gives some credence to the attribution in his biography, but I couldn't find it.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

From wiki



> Brahms produced a revised version of the work in summer 1889 that shows significant alterations so that it may even be regarded as a distinct (fourth) piano trio. This "New Edition" (Neue Ausgabe), as he called it, was premiered on 10 January 1890 in Budapest and published in February 1891.


I assumed that the 1890 was what mfrontz47 had in mind, though I must say having seen that I'm a bit surprised that in the BAT set of Brahms trios the 4th is labeled op posth. (he didn't die till 1897) Maybe I am wrong to think that the 4th trio is the revision of the 1st!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

jegreenwood said:


> I'm not sure you've got the trios straight. (I may just misunderstand you.) To my knowledge, the revised Op. 8 in B (originally written c. 1854 and revised c. 1890) is the version most frequently recorded. The posthumous trio in A is not a revision of Op. 8. I have one recording of the posthumous work. It's by the Beaux Arts Trio, which is the group I assume you meant. (The ABQ would not be performing a piano trio. ) I could have sworn that Swafford gives some credence to the attribution in his biography, but I couldn't find it.


Ah yes I see we're cross posting and thinking in a similar way.

BAT, ABQ . . . this must be my first "senior moment"


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## Pjotr (May 2, 2018)

I know this is an old topic, but I'm listening to Brahms first piano trio now. I already knew the first movement, but for some reason I never listened to the rest of this piece. Glad I did now. That flood of emotions from the opening theme doesn't stop and continues in the next movements. The second movement is so typical Brahms. Those energy bursts that are alternated by emotional parts that instantly grasp you. Wonderfull.


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## Eusebius12 (Mar 22, 2010)

Thanks for your insights, very interesting. I prefer the first version, I find it more authentic, the revised is more of a recomposition. I wish it was given a seperate number, the early version is almost blotted out of history. It doesn't deserve that. And the revised version certainly deserves playing it is a wonderful piece in its own right, but it overshadows the original to an unfortunate extent.


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