Johannes Brahms: Klavierstücke

“As a young man, I had already studied and learned some of the late piano pieces out of love and passion. Yet even then I knew that I would have to wait before truly approaching them. They are the final thoughts of a man in old age, and they are so autumnal, so full of resignation…”

– Sir András Schiff

Late Brahms speaks in fragments, memories and subtle revelations. In these intimate piano works, every gesture carries the weight of a lifetime distilled into a few measures: songs without words, reflections that seem to emerge from silence and return to it. Here Sir András Schiff brings together the Albumblatt (an early piece, discovered in 2012), the Klavierstücke op. 76, the Fantasien op. 116, the Intermezzi op. 117, the Klavierstücke op. 118 and op. 119 in a recital that traces the inward arc of Brahms’s final decades. Rather than monumental statements, these are conversations with memory—music of extraordinary concentration, where tenderness and clarity coexist. Recorded in the Kammermusiksaal Hermann J. Abs in Bonn on a Blüthner piano from the 1850s, Schiff’s performance reveals the subtle architecture and poetic intimacy of these, for the most part late, masterpieces. Every phrase is shaped patiently, allowing Brahms’s music to unfold with quiet inevitability. The album follows Schiff’s previous immersion into Brahms’s Piano Concertos alongside the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (2021) (“Schiff and the orchestra breathe air and vitality into these pieces” – The New York Times) and the Clarinet Sonatas, with Jörg Widmann (2020) (“Schiff’s carefully matured experience with Brahms and Widmann’s flexibility in intonation and phrasing enter into a dreamlike symbiosis.” – Süddeutsche Zeitung).

The 2-CD album-accompanying booklet contains a liner note essay by Peter Gülke (1934-2026) as well as a performer’s note and additional comments on every piece by Sir András Schiff, all texts in English and German.

András Schiff - Piano

Tracklisting:

CD 1

1. Albumblatt – Allegro con espressione

Klavierstücke, Op. 76
2. Capriccio – Un poco agitato
3. Capriccio – Allegretto non troppo
4. Intermezzo – Grazioso
5. Intermezzo – Allegretto grazioso
6. Capriccio – Agitato, ma non troppo presto
7. Intermezzo – Andante con moto
8. Intermezzo – Moderato semplice
9. Capriccio – Grazioso ed un poco vivace

Fantasien, Op. 116
10. Capriccio – Presto energico
11. Intermezzo – Andante
12. Capriccio – Allegro passionato
13. Intermezzo – Adagio
14. Intermezzo – Andante con grazia ed intimissimo sentimento
15. Intermezzo – Andantino teneramente
16. Capriccio – Allegro agitato

CD 2

Drei Intermezzi, Op. 117

1. Intermezzo – Andante moderato
2. Intermezzo – Andante non troppo e con molta espressione
3. Intermezzo – Andante con moto

Klavierstücke, Op. 118
4. Intermezzo – Allegro non assai, ma molto appassionato
5. Intermezzo – Andante teneramente
6. Ballade – Allegro energico
7. Intermezzo – Allegretto un poco agitato
8. Romanze – Andante – Allegretto grazioso
9. Intermezzo – Andante, largo e mesto

Klavierstücke, Op. 119
10. Intermezzo – Adagio
11. Intermezzo – Andantino un poco agitato
12. Intermezzo – Grazioso e giocoso
13. Rhapsodie – Allegro risoluto