Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 by Johannes Brahms is separated by a gap of 22 years from his first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near Vienna. It is dedicated to his teacher, Eduard Marxsen. The premiere of the concerto was given in Budapest on November 9, 1881, with Brahms as soloist, and was an immediate success. He proceeded to perform the piece in many cities across Europe.

Background

The piece is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (B-flat), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (initially 2 in B-flat bass, 2 in F), 2 trumpets (B-flat), timpani (B-flat and F), and strings. (The trumpets and timpani are used only in the first two movements, which is unusual.)

The piece is in four movements, rather than the three typical of concertos in the Classical and Romantic periods:

Piano Concerto No. 2

Piano Concerto No. 2 refers to the second piano concerto written by one of a number of composers:

See also

Piano Concerto No. 2 (Kabalevsky)

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 23 by Dmitry Kabalevsky was composed in 1935 (just a few years after he joined the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory) and then revised in 1973. It is considered in some quarters to be the composer's masterpiece. Its first performance was given in Moscow on May 12, 1936. It consists of three movements:

Though heavily influenced by Prokofiev, the composer nevertheless maintains his own distinctive style throughout the work: sharp, bouncy rhythms and concise thematic building blocks, a well-spun, clever lyricism when the music turns from activity to melody, a clear-cut tonal scheme that nevertheless has room for more surprises and dramatic turns than one might at first suspect, and of course utterly idiomatic keyboard writing. The work demands a player with formidable technique.

Piano Concerto No. 2 (Bartók)

Béla Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Sz. 95, BB 101 (1930–31) is the second of three piano concerti, and is notorious for being one of the most difficult pieces in the repertoire. The composer intended the second concerto to be more attractive than the first.

Composition

In approaching the composition, Bartók wanted the music to be more contrapuntal. He also wanted to simplify his music (like many of his contemporaries), but his use of counterpoint in this piece makes for an extremely complicated piece of music. This aspect had proven particularly troublesome in the First Concerto, so much so, in fact, that the New York Philharmonic, which was to have given the premiere, could not master it in time, and Bartók's Rhapsody had to be substituted into the program. The composer himself acknowledged that the piano part was arduous and later said that the concerto "is a bit difficult—one might even say very difficult!—as much for orchestra as for audience." He apparently tried to offset that with the Second Concerto, which has enjoyed both critical acclaim and worldwide popularity. Indeed, Bartók himself claimed in a 1939 article to have composed this concerto as a direct contrast to the First.