BRARMS PIANOFORTE Music (Second Series)
Played by HowARD-JoNES
Ballad (Op. 10, No. 2)
Scherzo from Sonata in F Sharp Minor (Op. 2)
T)RAHMS' Op. 10 consists of four Ballads, which, with the two much later Rhapsodies, comprise the composer's bigger pianoforte pieces, apart from the Sonatas and Variations.
Bards, in days of old, used to go about from one castle to another, singing ballads of romantic adventures. The term ' Ballad ' came to be used by composers for instrumental pieces that, though they have not usually any definite ' plot' behind them, yet by their contrasts of mood and general shape, suggest something romantic and story - like. The second Ballad, in variety, unity, musicianly resource and lovely melody, is not easily surpassed.
It has been noted that the three notes with which the piece opens, F (Sharp), A, F (Sharp), are the initials of a motto which Brahms chose' Frei, aber froh ' (Free, but happy)-his close friend Joachim taking another three-word motto, ' Free, but lonely.'
In the Scherzo of the early Sonata, the opening notes (a transformed version of the theme of the preceding Slow Movement) hint at the tune of an old song which had attracted Brahms.