(Second Series)
Played by Howard Jones
Intermezzo in A Minor, Op. 118, No. 1
Intermezzo in E Flat, Op. 117, No. 1
Capriccio in C Sharp Minor. Op. 76, No. 5

The titles Capriccio and Intermezzo, with Rhapsody (thrice), Ballad, and Romance (once each), are the only names Brahms gave to the thirty pieces that constitute the bulk of his middle- and later-period piano music - a collection of works, mostly in simple forms, that abound in interest and vitality, and in emotional breadth and purity. Capriccio and Intermezzo broadly indicate the two types of piece-the one brisk and vigorous, the other quieter, sometimes almost grave. In this, as in most of Brahms's music, the emotion is not superficial. There are charms upon the surface, but some of the best must be sought a little beneath it.

Brahms was fond of internal melodies and cross-rhythms (for example, two notes to a beat in one hand against three to the boat in the other), and to the lyrical beauty of his music is added a bracing ruggedness of outline.
The first Intermezzo of Op. 117 is a special favourite. It is headed by a quotation from one of Herder's Folk Songs - a German form of the Scots cradle song known as Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament (to be found in Percy's 'Relics of Ancient English Poetry.' The lines (in the original Scots) begin:-
Balow, my babe, lye still and sleipe. It grieves me sair to see thee weipe.
Brahms writes a lovely little lullaby, the middle part of which, perhaps, reflects the darker sentiments of the poem (the lady, with her child, had been deserted).