Brahms: Sonata No.2 in F-sharp minor, Op.2 (Zimerman)

[@durcheinander5554]

Zimerman's sound is always so balanced: open and full, yet soft and elegant. That's something I've hardly heard in any pianist. Holy shit, I really can't get over how amazing he is.

[@asdffdsaasdfdsasdfds]

durcheinander Overacting

[@hipocoristico15]

@@asdffdsaasdfdsasdfds 😮

[@mvmarchiori]

I agree. Sometimes I think he could use a little more passion, but overall it's all so measured and elegant, in a very good way 👍

[@herobrine1847]

I can’t get over how consistently crisp his chords sound

[@Brian-on1zo]

What a dumb comment

[@AshishXiangyiKumar]

Re the reupload queries: there were some terrible sync issues with the exposition of the last movement in the previous video, so you gotta do what you gotta do.

[@Qee7en]

Thanks so much for these! You're awesome :)

[@danmaia455]

Ashish Xiangyi Kumar Thanks bichinha 😊

[@calebhu6383]

1st movement has elements of Liszt, 3rd has Schumann, 4th has Beethoven

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

True

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

And also, the third movement opening (the A-section, before the trio) sounds very much like the second movement, and might as well be written as a variation of the latter.

[@calebhu6383]

@@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji I think that was the intention, to be a continuation of the 2nd movement

[@HikariKrome]

What about the 2nd?

[@haruna_m_pf]

Really? I didn't know that

[@merekr439]

When the Schumann's heard this and the actual 2nd piano sonata, Robert was overwhelmed by the orchestral nature and maturity of Brahms. Even at a young age (actually composed at 18 yrs - Swafford ) Brahms shows such an acumen for structure and form. What it must have sounded to hear such a young genius play this masterwork!

[@anelamujkovic1633]

00:00 i 06:09 ii 12:28 iii 17:01 iv

[@canon_overture]

When I hear the beginning of this piece, it always reminds me of the schumann sonata

[@okinawamole2655]

Because two men loved one 'same' woman..

[@canon_overture]

@Ismael Carlos piano sonata 2

[@canon_overture]

@@okinawamole2655 oh yeah

[@florestan8333]

I thought the same thing! Mvt 1 is very much like Schumann 2nd sonata - the opening, and the way it leads to the more "Romantic" theme

[@ihaveacoolnickname]

I've never heard Brahms write anything like the second movement to this. Extraordinary. Crystalline and atmospheric; richly colored with chromaticism and punctuated with dissonance, it pulses with a sort of ethereal energy that glows and quivers in the darkness. The depth of emotion here is quite unbelievable when you look at the conciseness of the construction. Again. Extraordinary.

[@felixmladenov5428]

Check out his ballade op. 10 no. 3, you will love its B section!

[@mobilephil244]

One of the greatest masters finding his musical feet. Intriguing and beautiful and full of promise.

[@JohannesLMBauer]

This wonderful masterpiece dedicated to Clara Schumann interpretated by an master on the keys! Very impressive 👍👍

[@LS-px2fu]

Brahms wrote this masterpiece when he was nineteen years old. Brahms himself, who was a virtuoso pianist, gave the first performance of this work. He used neither computers nor recording studios to conceive this piece of art. I think a lot of people do not realise how difficult creating ambrosial music without using technology is. Difficult for regular people, but "easy" for geniuses like Brahms. It is not a sonata as pianistic as other works, but I think Brahms´ greatest merit, in terms of pianism, was to commence moulding his unique style at a very your age, in an epoch were 90% of composers pianists were deeply influenced by Chopin. Zimmerman´s reading is remarkable.

[@danmaia455]

LS True. High five

[@nicolaslucon2233]

??

[@minka866]

Brahms played his own pieces, but he was known to conceptual composer instead of virtuose.

[@jordidewaard2937]

I agree with the entire analysis. This is surely my favourite Brahms sonata and it is SO misunderstood. I immediately heard that variation in the third movement, but there are so many small intricacies that you have to truly understand in order to appreciate this piece.

[@miguelfontesmeira]

I love the sound of this piano!

[@manuelbes]

Zimerman's playing is so recognizable

[@yannickm5237]

Just to summarised the comments below-non mandatory :), reading all the comments gives me the feeling that Brahms just copied the whole Sonata xD ​2:26 Till Eulenspiegel's funeral march 6:09 Mvt 2 it´s A theme based on a German song ("Mir ist leide"). ​10:10 - ​10:16 is quiet similar to the end of the second theme in Schubert's Piano Sonata 20 (2nd mvt) 20:43 Beethoven´s 5th Symphony 26:28 Surprisingly changed atmosphere to Liszt's Rhapsody 27:18 Schumann ´s Allegro

[@minka866]

When you say Till Eulenspiegel are you referring to the symphonic poem from Richard Strauss?

[@tomswiftyphilo2504]

I'm not sure about your comment on 'sugary melodies.' Brahms loves a good melody. I'm not sure what you mean is all. Is there something different or special about his broad, sweeping, beautiful melodies? I'm not sure there is but i"d be happy to hear your take if you ever come back to this comments section. There are almost too many examples to cite but the ones that come to mind are: -Violin Concerto 2nd movement -Double Concert 2nd movement -Der Gang Zum Liebchen (song) -Symphony 1 4th movement -Symphony 4 2nd movement...

[@WoutDC]

The dissonances in the last section of the second movement are amazing!

[@guykruger1]

This is sooooo beautiful!!!! I love Brahms so much!!

[@dereksuszko728]

Once again your musical analysis is spot on and thank you as always for your excellent videos. I would like to contest on one point that you mentioned in your write-up and it relates to the tendency for admirers of Brahms to treat his somewhat frequent aversion to obvious and re-callable melody as some kind of virtue setting him apart from less intellectual composers who were obsessive melodists (most prominently Schubert). I think what is missing when people say this is that Brahms actually tried to mimic the melodic orientation of Haydn, Mozart and Schubert throughout his career but often failed to do so. Brahms famously mentioned that he would like his culminating work to sound like the Largo from Haydn's Symphony 88, a movement that has a melodic clarity Brahms almost never achieved. You can have opinions one way or another on whether "simple melodies" make a composer greater or lesser but we shouldn't act as if Brahms intentionally set out to subvert melodic supremacy in his works. Rather, he often wrote in such a way that he was disappointed at not meeting this standard.

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

15:45 deliberately inane transition back from the trio to the A-section. And that was indicative of Brahms' humor which I am really fond of.

[@calebhu6383]

5:05, 9:09, 14:55, 26:28

[@giorgiociomei5030]

Esecuzione fantastica, e ovviamente bravissimo Brahms che a soli 19/20 anni ha composto questa sonata!

[@gerardbegni2806]

These "young" sonatas were greatly admired by Schumann during Brahms' first visit, and actually they mis a given spirit of romanticism ( sometimes dreamy or fantastic) with an architecture firmness which openly comes from >Beethoven. This makes them difficult to interpret in a balanced and convincing way, which Zimmermann succeeds to achieve perfectly here. He is a very great pianist, both in large architectures and miniatures, in the utmost varied styles (hear for instance his rendering of Debussy's preludes). He is clearly not interested in virtuosity in itself.

[@Vida-Erudita]

O primeiro movimento é encatador, isso me enche de alegria.

[@annamariamanfredi6624]

Stupenda ❤ Grazie ❤ Buona giornata ❤

[@naturefruitmineralwater6307]

고맙습니다

[@쉽게풀어보는수학이론]

Parts from 1:47 somehow makes me think of Franz Liszt. (if you have listened to Vallée d'Obermann, you'll understand.) Quite interesting because Brahms(and Shumman) was not that friendly with Liszt...

[@calebhu6383]

Yes, I agree that this sonata has a lot of influence from Liszt

[@pietroanedda2894]

Well Robert Schumann was a great friend of Liszt. Clara wasn't

[@spiritualneutralist2597]

The notes at 10:10 - 10:16 sound similar to the end of the second theme in Schubert's Piano Sonata 20 (2nd mvt)

[@miniwanko41]

2:40 展開 2:58 第二 3:23 第三 3:30 第四 4:48 再現 5:31コーダ

[@ilovemycatrussell9298]

Oh well that escalated quickly.

[@norminvienna1046]

Once again, thank you for your excellent choice of artists; they are all exceptional. And your perceptive and informative notes remind me (a bit) of Donald Francis Tovey's essays.

[@adamcolbertmusic]

6:00 gotta love the "puna corda" on the last two measures 😜

[@michaelbrady2552]

There's a motive in the first movement that I swear is from a movie, but I can think of what is is (Do, Re, Me, So, Do, Re, Me, Le). Can someone help me out?

[@martinriha3729]

Nice sonata, easy yet quite complicated. I got the book of B's piano sonatas for christmas and this one immediately caught my eye, I sightread the 1st two pages and it got immeditely stuck in my head, after playing it two times it's already firmly in my memory. That's very strange to me because I usually struggle with that(trying to memorize Bachs WTC in d for past 2 months and still I suck at that). I guess I'll learn that as soon as I do the exams.

[@matthewbak2040]

0:00 Allegro Non Troppo Ma Energico: (F# Minor) 6:10 Andante Con Espressione: (B Minor - B Major) 12:29 Scherzo Allegro: (B Minor) Trio- (D Major) 17:03 Finale: (F# Minor - F# Major)

[@limesquared]

Love your explanations so much! All the music is wonderful...especially with breakfast! : )

[@АндрейЕрмилов-х8п]

How these notes in the third tact of left hand should be played? First time i see this

[@GICM]

its called a tremolo (just google it)

[@khool63]

brahms est un musicien dont l'éxécution est la plus complexe ,, son exigence extrême dans l'art de la composition explique peut être que très peu de musiciens ; y compris les plus grands , les incontournables , bien peu parmi ces maîtres arrivèrent à trouver un tempo exact ou à peu près , une sensibilité sans trop ou trop peu d'effet , un rubato délicat mais sans plus , une alchimie , une grâce humble qu'eut exigé yohannes brahms , il était de la ville et adorait les balades à la campagne , il jouait enfant pour quelques pièces dans les bordels de hambourg , au milieu des cris de marins ivres et voix aigues et féroces des filles de joies , avinées , râleuses bestiales qui réclamaient leur dû , et les narrations fascinantes des aventuriers fantasques qui écumaient le monde , éxagérant les virées morbides à la recherche de trésors imaginaires et pour retrouver le silence l'inspiration brahms s'en allait errer sur les bords entre les ajoncs de la mer du nord sous les rouleaux immenses de lumières ocres , les flammes vespérales , brunes , violettes qui dans la douceur celtique des vieux septentrions venaient étreindre les ramures de nuages translucides , il dût tomber amoureux souvent le jeune brahms qui découvrait la vie ,, avec ses femmes si belles et jeunes parfois qui embrassaient l'enfant pianiste devenues pour ces âmes dites légères le talisman musical qui atténuait leurs affres ,, comprendre brahms c'est devinaer l'homme du nord de l'allemagne ,, amoureux du pays jusqu'au nationalisme primaire ,,,, brahms était un terrien qui avouait une force immanente , une foule de vibrations métaphysiques qui inondaient son coeur quand il se mettait au pupitre ,, toute sa vie il garda le mystère , et s'enfuit pour vienne après avoir aimé clara s'un amour platonique , cela est mon avis , que chercha sinon la passion qu'il ne trouva pas à vienne ,, il lui resta les filles de joie celles de son enfance qu'il connaissait mieux que personne et dont il connaissait les souffrances , leur déchéance existentielle , dans ce sens il s'approcha de van gogh , un presque contemporain , qui s'en alla vivre avec une catin surannée et toute sa marmaille ,, brahms était bien trop pudique pour avouer une faiblesse douloureuse , lui génial aussi exigeant en musique qu'en amour , il offrit à la postérité et au monde des joyaux inouis ,,mille merci yohannes ,,

[@adanayup9268]

Extraordinaria composición...

[@alegaraffi113]

I think sibelius for his violin concerto took the theme of 1:45 for orchestral part before the last solo of violin

[@benthepen3336]

I think so too

[@GBN_01]

lol 2:26 sounds like Till Eulenspiegel's funeral march!

[@portwineMusics]

First page of last movement reminds me so much of Beethoven Cello Sonata A major, first movement.

[@msurocks1973]

Recently saw this performed at the Gilmore Festival in Kalamazoo. Excellent piece and performance. The performer scratched Schumann’s (my musical hero) 3rd Piano Sonata and played this instead. Must have been afraid of dem triplets! 😎. I forgave him after the first few notes of this Sonata were struck. Clara and Robert helped him write it anyways I said to myself.

[@RoyBrener]

Probably the greatest pianist in history.

[@elionthekeys]

The beginning of the fourth movement sounds so Lisztian

[@catherineloriotahahah6614]

Zimerman's tjs aussi élégant et expressif

[@dreamsdreams9493]

20:15 - 20:20 = Beethoven's Pathetique.

[@madsvold5403]

Where in Pathetique is that?

[@pookz3067]

@@madsvold5403 more like the tempest

[@miguelfontesmeira]

I love this sonata!!!!!!

[@이승준-r2w]

27:18 Schumann Allegro

[@minka866]

Young Brahms showing that he'll be himself and not a copy of Lizst.

[@NisLocashooter]

actually the song is in the Trio.

[@HuyenTran-iv7vk]

How fantastic it is! Can I share this by reposting your channel on a nice platform named Gan Jing World? For sure that I will not change anything. If you are fine with that, please let me know. Thank you

[@AshishXiangyiKumar]

Sure, as long as you acknowledge the source!

[@HuyenTran-iv7vk]

@@AshishXiangyiKumar thanks you somuch!!!

[@PieInTheSky9]

When the hell are you going to upload the Brahms first sonata? :)

[@j4mad]

Yes please. I would love to hear this. Thank you for all your work.

[@segmentsAndCurves]

Looking forward to this.

[@jesemepardens9151]

The trio from this Scherzo is strangely almost identical to the one from Beethoven's 7th symphony

[@wcsxwcsx]

To me, it sounds as if Brahms was composing in the shadow of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier."

[@andreauribe6454]

I remember when cut a pianostring with this😅

[@robertoperez8453]

Obra enigmática para mi, no la comprendo mucho, no así la primera y tercera sonata, igualmente, excelente pianista.

[@Schubertd960]

1:50 I would believe this was Liszt. Same for 4:00.

[@calebhu6383]

1:24 is also Liszt. But everything else is Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann

[@marcozanda9241]

Why the comments below are like “oh, thats a b flat, Brahms must cheat off of Tchaikovsky”?

[@sinfonie291]

Diese Sonate gehört leider nicht zu den stärksten Werken des Komponisten.

[@dragoonstorm4978]

Timestamps for Class: 4:20 0:34 5:30 24:58

[@timmycorbitt5870]

Astonishing play ing, and a pretty beefy sonata from young brahms!

[@MrGar11]

22:52

[@NisLocashooter]

The german song of the second movement is "Du liegst mir im Herzen" kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJ3Ciox7a7CdpZo

[@수영이의잡것세상]

굿

[@singtatsucgc3247]

My favorite version is Richer. This is a close second.

[@jameslorenz3718]

Why are Brahms tempos usually so much slower than other composers?

[@teodorlontos3294]

As we don't have full knowledge on how fast Brahms played, a better question would be "why do pianists choose to play Brahms slower than other composers?"

[@jameslorenz3718]

@@teodorlontos3294 that is quite correct. Maybe if I ever possess the skill, I will learn a Brahms piece that people play oddly slow, and play it more according to the tempo mark and see if it sounds better at the normal tempo, or the slow tempo

[@teodorlontos3294]

@@jameslorenz3718 Has Brahms written metronome marks? I have never seen any...

[@jameslorenz3718]

@@teodorlontos3294 that is not what I am referring to. When someone writes, say, an adagio, it is nornally around 60-70 if I had to guess. I hear people play something of Brahms that is marked adagio and they will play more around 40-50. I very much enjoy listening to Brahms, I just find it an intersesting topic that his music is taken by pianists at such a low tempo.

[@teodorlontos3294]

@@jameslorenz3718 There are no exact definitions for tempi. Unfortunately, many schools perpetuate that an allegro = 120 which is simply wrong. One must look at (according to Czerny and CPE Bach) the fastest note values and harmonic rhythm to find the proper tempo. So the reason for pianists choosing lower tempi might just be that they find Brahms to be more complex and therefor lower the tempi.

[@hind3908]

pov: you just started do you like Brahms?

[@ketku1254]

Started what? Listening to Brahms? Yes I love it :D

[@user-be5ug2lt7w]

0:01

[@melorie8315]

0:02

[@rwinkler4321]

0:04 just marking where I left off to continue

[@monition5655]

Power

[@MrGar11]

16:19

[@pianoman1857]

Why reupload ?

[@vip878]

Ads...

[@pabloseena8278]

11:30

[@danielzarb-cousin5945]

I hear Til eugenspiel...

[@catherineloriotahahah6614]

Pour jouer du Brahms il faut une grande main et de la poigne !

[@fulviopolce9785]

Questa sonata è il Brahms campione della musica assoluta , contrariamente a quella di Liszt , ne è un giovanile esempio per gli anni futuri.

[@harryandruschak2843]

Strange that Brahms never wrote a 4th piano sonata.

[@compositeur8455]

Like Chopin I guess they went for quality over quanitity.

[@FirstGentleman1]

Brahms, Chopin and Schumann, they all wrote only three piano sonatas. Maybe they did it due to the fact that it is difficult to write piano sonatas after Beethoven.

[@robbydyer4500]

Brahms wrote at least two earlier sonatas which he destroyed. We know that one was in G minor.

[@RobinLSL]

It has nothing to do with Beethoven. Chopin didn't even like Beethoven's music, and certainly had little care for the importance of the 32. Chopin wrote few sonatas because sonata form doesn't fit him in general, and he has great difficulty composing for it. Brahms on the other hand wrote his three sonatas very early in his life and then decided he was more interested in other kinds of music.

[@steffen5121]

Just like Schumann and Brahms only wrote 4 Symphonies, when Beethoven wrote 9 (Haydn even 100+). I think they praised Beethoven a little too much. I I would've loved to hear more Schumann and Brahms Symphonies!

[@browne8688]

so many ads i cant listen

[@ketku1254]

THIS - pls youtube let me listen to great music without putting them everywhere - put the ads to pop or somewhere like NOT HERE

[@stevehinnenkamp5625]

Admire BRAHMS very much, however this sounds forced. Too many diminished chords like silent movie music.

[@steffen5121]

Yet it is more possible that silent film music sounds like this piece of Brahms than the other way around...

[@christophernewman5027]

I don't know about you but ugliness l can shrug off. But beauty l can't bear...

[@Kalen1457]

After listening to several Brahms pieces, this one included, I'm find myself just not as impressed as I am with Liszt, Chopin, Alkan, and Thalberg. Something about this music is just lacking. Yes it is harmonically complex, almost Wagnerian at times, but they just lack the "flair" the other pianist composers such as the ones I mentioned have. Sadly I don't think I'll ever hold him in as high regard as I do Liszt, Chopin, Alkan, and Thalberg.

[@Nintensonsoft]

Have you been mostly listening to his piano works? That could be a part of it.

[@lucassha576]

+Kalen1457 I respect your opinion but I can't believe that as great a musician as you (which you certainly seem to be based off of your videos) would consider mediocre (in my opinion) composers such as Alkan and Thalberg above Brahms, Liszt, and Chopin. I'm currently learning the Op.79 no 1 (by Brahms) and I like it much more than anything I have heard than Alkan and Thalberg (whose music I feel like is Czerny on steroids).

[@MikeN275]

Hey, nothing wrong with that. I think this is probably at least my 10th attempt over 3 years to sit down and have a listen to this sonata and only now am I drawn in. Maybe you'll enjoy these more pianisticly conservative idioms, or you won't. No issue either way.

[@samuel723]

Kalen1457 ouch rough opinion

[@jezyna12]

Liszt's sonata > this

[@seanmchugh840]

Lisztian lurching around and clattering in the first movement, Beethovenized and overstated, far from the music’s subtleties. Enquiring and luminous at times but forceful- understands the sections and overall architecture but places the work in mainstream romantic sonata design when the music is more elusive. As with most Brahms interpreters beyond Katchen and Beethoven interpretaters beyond Kempff this is almost unlistenable, unpleasantly distracting, and very nearly had to switch off. They just don't understand.

[@popnocturne7909]

Obviously an amateur work, Brahms later wrote many masterpieces. Question is why the hell is Zimmerman and Richter bothering with it?

[@elionthekeys]

Imo ,because the introduction of the final movement.

[@debwagner7505]

Pop Nocturne That says more about you than about Brahms, IMHO.

[@diegomartinez8998]

Esto no tiene gracia ni pasion ni sentimiento de ningun tipo,es algo totalmente insulso!

[@pabloalfonsoechaurren6406]

I'm a Zimerman fan but i didnt like this rendition. Summarized in one word: boring. This is what happens when you don't understand or are not willing to accept that popular gypsy music works on different values than those of classical music. Brahms is FULL of gypsy influence, which you can clearly identify here. This just lacks the characteristic vulgarity of gypsy music. Compare with Arrau :).

[@HikariKrome]

BLEAH 🤮

[@vladtepes3123]

i love Brahms but this sonata is bombastic and tasteless , first movement seems like parody Beethoven 5 symphony .

[@CanelonVegano]

Vlad Tepes xd I'm sorry you don't enjoy it as I do.

[@benzandpour]

This Brahms guy is kind of weird…

[@ketku1254]

And that's the sublety of the whole thing

[@segmentsAndCurves]

Elaborate? I am interested (no sarcasm).

[@TonyStark-eq3jv]

The Piece is not good !!!

[@Dichweed]

This is just noise.

[@TonyStark-eq3jv]

Of Course