# Brahms Piano Four Hands reductions



## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Today, two CDs that I had ordered arrived in the mail. One had piano reductions of Brahms Synphony no. 4 and the Tragic Overture. The other had a piano reduction of A German Requiem. (Both arrangements were by the composer.)

I had read that before his Fourth Symphony was premiered, Brahms had privately played a two-pianos version for a group of his associates including the music critic Hanslick. So I wondered if that piano four hands version was still availiable. Youtube had a live performance with poor sonics. I wasn't wholly satisfied with it, but musically I could tell that the Fourth Symphony was suited for a piano reduction, because Brahms didn't rely on orchestral color as much as other Romantic and Modern composers. Piano reductions better reveal the structure of the Fourth Symphony than the full orchestral version, without losing much in emotional content.

So I ordered two CDs on Amazon. I wasn't sure if I would like the German Requiem reduction because I hadn't listened to it on Youtube beforehand; I was taking a risk. Earlier today, I enjoyed the two-piano reduction almost as much as I enjoyed the full orchestral/choral version.

Here are the CDs:


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

You're right the Symphony 4 is well suited for the piano for 4 hands. i just listened to it. I like it better than the orchestral version. I also sampled the beginning of Symphony 3, and the felt it wasn't well suited.


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## gvn (Dec 14, 2019)

Oh, I _love_ the Matthies-Köhn performances of Brahms's 4-hand transcriptions: the symphonies, the overtures, the concertos, even the German Requiem, which I too found much more effective than I expected.

Some of the things I like about them:

1. Very, very early in his career Brahms composed three big piano sonatas. But as time passed, his piano compositions became shorter and shorter. (I've seen this ascribed to the fact that they were intended for Clara Schumann, whose manual skills were increasingly limited by age and arthritis.) These transcriptions give me the chance to hear the really big mature Brahms piano sonatas that he never otherwise wrote.

2. The transcriptions give me a kind of X-ray of the skeleton within the orchestral score, and help me to appreciate details that I wouldn't otherwise notice.

3. In really good 4-hand piano performances, like these ones, each note is individually, personally shaped & inflected, in a way that rarely happens in orchestral performances, where the common denominator of the notes played by the various 1st violins (or whatever) almost inevitably comes out a little more bland and neutral (unless they've all been drilled minutely beforehand by some Toscanini).

4. In his orchestral scores, Brahms always clothed his sentiments in very dense, solid sonorities. Generally I love that, but in some moods I feel that the thickness of his orchestration conceals his true feelings like a formal suit & tie. Most of his non-orchestral music is much more lightly scored, and this is especially true of the works in which I get the impression I'm seeing deepest into his heart (the Clarinet Quintet, the 4 Serious Songs...). So, in some moods, I feel that there's more of the "real" Brahms in his 4-hand transcriptions than in the full orchestral scores of the same works. But I don't say that I generally _prefer_ the 4-hand transcriptions to the orchestral forms. On the contrary, I usually enjoy each for what it is, without seeing any reason why I should have to choose between them.

5. There's also a mundane practical consideration. When I open all my windows and let the fresh air in, I sometimes hesitate to play full orchestral recordings, for fear of annoying the neighbors during fortissimi. Piano transcriptions (even 4-hand ones) inevitably have a less wide dynamic range, allowing me to enjoy the pianissimi without any fear that my neighbors might hear the fortissimi.

To my mind, the main defect of Brahms's transcriptions is that they're so skilfully done that they appear to have no skill at all. Anyone could turn orchestral music into piano music like that, one finds oneself thinking. (But to quote the immortal words of Lauren Bacall to Humphrey Bogart, "Try it some time.")

I don't think Matthies & Köhn are necessarily world-beaters in the Haydn Variations, the Hungarian Dances, or the Liebeslieder Waltzes. 4-hand competition is pretty intense in those works! But in the symphonies etc., they'll do very nicely.

Haven't heard Brahms's 4-hand transcriptions of his chamber music (also recorded in the same series). Does anyone have any thoughts about those?


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Yes. I find them highly enjoyable and absorbing, to the point where (whisper it) I actually prefer some of those works in that form.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Very good! I was aware of these things but never listened. But if Symphony 2 is anything to go by, I was missing something special. Thanks.


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## Saxman (Jun 11, 2019)

gvn said:


> Oh, I _love_ the Matthies-Köhn performances of Brahms's 4-hand transcriptions: the symphonies, the overtures, the concertos, even the German Requiem, which I too found much more effective than I expected.
> 
> Some of the things I like about them:
> 
> ...


I have to disagree about their performance of the Hungarian Dances. That is an outstanding disc, arguably the best of the series in my opinion. I bought it around the time it first came out, and I continue to listen to it regularly.

The rest of the series (including the chamber works) is also very good. Maybe sample the disc with the second piano quartet (disc 14 I think) to test out a chamber work. I think it lends itself well to the piano treatment.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Many, many years ago, I was walking through a college Student Union and happened to be in the lobby when some student at a public piano upstairs was playing a two-handed transcription of the first movement of the Fourth Symphony -- and I was spellbound. Without the (very good) layers of orchestration, the extraordinary harmonies came through loud and clear and it was almost like listening to a different piece. I've never forgotten it.


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## gvn (Dec 14, 2019)

Saxman said:


> The rest of the series (including the chamber works) is also very good. Maybe sample the disc with the second piano quartet (disc 14 I think) to test out a chamber work. I think it lends itself well to the piano treatment.


Thanks very much for that suggestion. I listen to the orchestral transcriptions so often that I really ought to investigate the chamber ones too!



Saxman said:


> I have to disagree about their performance of the Hungarian Dances. That is an outstanding disc, arguably the best of the series in my opinion. I bought it around the time it first came out, and I continue to listen to it regularly.


I think that's a valid observation. I fully agree that the Hungarian Dances are at least as well played as the rest of the series, and quite possibly better. (I imagine an established piano duo would get much more experience playing them than transcribed symphonies!)

I certainly didn't intend to imply that the Matthies-Köhn Hungarian Dances are less well performed than other discs in the same series. My point was merely that in the Hungarian Dances etc. there are many other good choices, some from fearsomely superb teams, whereas in the symphonies etc. Matthies & Köhn have the field virtually to themselves.


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