Brahms Intermezzo in A major Op. 118 no. 2 - Analysis: All is forgiven

This is one of my absolute favourite piano pieces. Brahms is such a master of knitting the musical material together tightly, and he does so in this Intermezzo over a nostalgic but forgiving backdrop. The middle section is a reminder of sorrow and pain, but in the end everything is all right.
Henrik Kilhamn, piano.
0:00 Anecdote
0:50 Music
1:19 About
3:23 Analysis
7:20 Secondary motif
16:01 Middle section
23:22 Main motif return
No full performance in this video.
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Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 no. 2 (1893)
📄 Score: C. F. Peters edition, (1910) editor: Emil von Sauer, imslp.org
Emoji artwork provided by JoyPixels, joypixels.com

[@SonataSecrets]

Check out my Easy Arrangement of this piece: sonatasecrets.gumroad.com/l/brahms-intermezzo-1182 💲 -15% DISCOUNT Code: "secretseeker" ▶ Sample video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKiuZmqCmaySja8 More arrengements: sonatasecrets.gumroad.com/

[@VinsonMusic]

Very nice video. This intermezzo has so much: late romantic chromaticism, Mozartean phrase construction, Bachian counterpoint, Renaissance attitude to meter. Yet if you don’t know any of this, it just sounds good and draws the listener in. A true masterpiece.

[@SonataSecrets]

That's a really good way of framing it! I'm not big on Renaissance music at all, but it seems right about the functioning of the meter from the little I've heard.

[@VinsonMusic]

@@SonataSecrets Do you know the organ prelude on “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen”, op 122/8? It’s playable on piano. The melody is by Praetorius. Like this intermezzo, sounds romantic but uses many antique devices. Also the first phrase of the melody is very close to this intermezzo.

[@SonataSecrets]

I didn't know about it, thanks for the tip!

[@loveispatient0808]

@@VinsonMusic yes, love it, it’s popular at Christmas time as often sung as a carol as well!

[@cageynerd]

When I first heard this in theory class I cried -- Radu Lupu was playing it. And it made everyone else cry when I pointed out the beautiful lines because I am a Bach-hardcore fan and he did the same thing but in Brahms, it was so sweet and sentimental.

[@Poeme340]

I first heard this piece, long ago, after a breakup, and it captured my deep sadness-it proved to be cathartic. I think only Brahms can be this sentimental and tender.👌

[@trevrockgw]

The video is littered with examples of this but I love how easy it is to see the joy and enthusiasm in your face as you walk us through this beautiful piece. I've only been learning for 10 months and I don't know anything about music theory but I just love this music.

[@richardcasey4439]

I’ve played this piece my entire life and this is the finest interpretation and explanation I’ve ever seen. Just superb.

[@2cupojoe136]

I know virtually nothing about Brahms. This piece of music was used in Tom Selleck movie series called Jesse Stone. It moved me, I did some research, and now I am here. I will, hopefully, learn how to play this sometime. Thanks for these analyses.

[@SonataSecrets]

The music can really draw you in, happy you found your way here :)

[@tealtides]

I started working on this piece 2 or 3 weeks ago, and I really enjoyed this analysis. At the end of the "A" section (and again at the very end of the piece), you said the melody finally steps down to A, instead of leaping the seventh; my first impression was that it DOES leap the seventh, to the higher A, and I hadn't considered your perspective. For me, there is a newfound beauty in the ambiguity of this ending, knowing that the resolution can be found in one voice or the other, or even both. My appreciation for Brahms can only ever grow.

[@robertrisk2971]

Splendid tutorial on perhaps Brahm’s most beautiful Intermezzo.

[@j.rohmann3199]

My favourite Intermezzo! This piece means quite a lot to me, since I first heared it in times I really needed such a beautiful masterpiece... it is one of the only pieces that are capable of making me cry... amazing work of Brahms... Also just about the right Time you posted this, since I will start practicing it soon. Thank you for posting this!

[@SonataSecrets]

Thank you, and good luck with it!

[@loveispatient0808]

It brings back memory to me when I first learn this in my sophomore year as a student at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago in 1977!😊🎹 at the moment now in 2022, I am reviewing it and trying to memorize it now!

[@seojeongjoo]

Amazing video, thank you so much! This intermezzo has been one of my best favorites all the time. Everytime I listen to this I somehow feel very nostalgic about something that I am missing - which I do not even know. I have been keeping this piece away from my repertoire as I did not want to butcher it with my hobby-level piano skills, then this April I started to work on it for the first time. Your video helped me a lot to understand the structure of this piece, and I love your rendition and how you appreciate this music. Keep up your amazing work! ❤️

[@jgreen5849]

I have been hoping you would do this piece! I have played this for 18 years and always find something new in it. I appreciate the theoretical analysis.

[@SonataSecrets]

I'm glad you liked it!

[@michaos1]

Thank you so much, what a nice story in the beginning about you hearing it for the first time. The analysis is as beautiful as the piece:) It helps understand and enjoy it even more.

[@contextosmusicais2.018]

Thanks a lot. I agree. I am playing this intermezzo and it makes me feel so well. It’s maybe the most beautiful and rich piano work I have ever heard. It speaks directly to our soul. Your analysis is great, clear, complete, inspiring…and it’s very kind from you to share this great work you make with us. Thanks a lot ✨

[@nickk8416]

I've played this piece for many years and loved how you broke it down and talked of its construction. The love you have for this piece shines through. It really is an extraordinary masterpiece of music. You've inspired me to go back and revisit it to fall in love with it all over again. Regards.

[@easterbrookmike]

"Everything will be alright.." Think of Jessie Stone movies and books. Disabled baseball player, fired LA detective, now trying to survive without drinking. A kindly woman who heard the rumors of his drinking recommends Brahms. Jessie buys a record with this piece.

[@kirktaylor8144]

“Thank you” feels inadequate to express my gratitude, sir. I don’t know how you do it-somehow you connect with some very deep emotional material -“all is forgiven”-here along with the technical analysis, so that I was actually tearing up, profusely at times, for almost the whole thing. That was wonderful and totally unexpected! I have loved this piece for much of my life at the piano, I love it even more now. I am deeply grateful and I wish you all the best

[@fagelsinnet]

I play the piano, love classical music and am trying to get better at understanding and analysing it so I really appreciate your videos. They are extremely helpful, insightful and interesting and I learn a lot from them. Thank you for sharing them with us.

[@GuntherWolfen]

I was looking forward to this video. The wait was worth it. Thanks for the review and keep up the good work! 👏🏻❤️

[@You4Own]

I just started playing about a year ago, at 24. I love playing and I enjoy practicing, currently trying to study the first Arabesque by Debussy, which is obviously very difficult for me but I am making it work. I think your "Easy Arrangements" are perfect for somebody like me, and I'm gonna buy it when I am looking for my next piece. Thanks for these videos, they are an absolute pleasure to watch, also - needless to say - lovely playing.

[@SonataSecrets]

Thank you so much!

[@bettyjalpa7858]

Thank you for posting this beauty! This piece has a special place in my heart. I performed it for a piano exam at Foothill College long, long time ago. Brings good memories.

[@loveispatient0808]

Me too, lots of memories to my junior year at the music conservatory in Chicago in 1970s! As a foreign student, I recorded it and sent it back to my mom who loved music, telling her it is a “love “ song as a reminder that I missed her and the family!😄

[@vocalchords3609]

What a joy! I love all you bring to us - thank you so much for sharing in the beautiful way you draw us into the music you choose.

[@foljamb]

i'm stunned--wonderful lecture-demo on the a major intermezzo: he plays it, he tells us about it, he plays it, he tells us more...--for me: he can play and keep talking in lecture mode and full-out playing-interpretive mode at same time: that's something rare--students: if you're working on this piece keep this youtube video close and pay attntion

[@uwufffsunchez2626]

I can fully understand you. This piece is truly pure genius, with all the sweet melodies and their clean transitions. "wow"

[@literaine6550]

I woke up hearing this Intermezzo in my mind this AM. 😊

[@eqon1234]

Just in time for my morning coffee! I enjoyed it tremendously

[@lorrainesilvers]

Bravo on your analysis!!!

[@haroldbridges515]

It's interesting that Henrik begins by recounting his reaction to his first hearing of this piece. For me the piece is also forever tied with the first time I heard it. I had just tuned the piano for a client, a pretty young woman. She sat down to try it out as clients sometimes did by playing in a more or less perfunctory way, but she played the A Major Intermezzo. It was completely unexpected and stunned me. I was then a young man myself. Now as an old man I appreciate the autumnal aspects all the more. Wonderful analysis. I can see that the density of the music poses challenges for the pianist. And yet the piece always seems to work. I have never heard a performance that was not full of feeling. The Intermezzo evokes deeply personal emotions directly in a way that I find more often in pop music than classic. For instance, the Cream's piece "Layla" has a bi-partite structure the first section of which is an expression of strong sexual desire, but then the second section with entirely different musical material, full of unforeseen tenderness, resolves the earlier tension in a way that reminds me of the emotional arc of the Brahms.

[@michelhouben4233]

Beautiful. I played this piece during my second year at a conservatory in Belgium. I consider the part in F# major to be a religious chorale. A moment of reflection between the painful minor episodes.

[@SonataSecrets]

Yeah, it's definitely a chorale.

[@russelldeitch5765]

Small correction - it's F# minor. See also the second movement of Mozart piano concerto no 23, K488.

[@michelhouben4233]

@@russelldeitch5765 Small correction - it's F # major in that section. We're talking about the choral after the F # minor episode.

[@russelldeitch5765]

@@michelhouben4233 Oh. Thanks.

[@yiweisun4583]

I'm learning this piece very soon. This incredible analysis video will defo help me to study it quicker and more efficiently. Thanks a lot!

[@randykern1842]

Brahms wrote some of the most tender, sentimental and poetic piano music in the entire repertoire - what he did with the lower tenor range of the keyboard is one of his defining traits. No other composer comes close for me.

[@tia904]

Well done. Informative and beautifully played. Tack !!

[@Soundscape123]

Just so thoroughly immersed in your video analysis. So interesting and helpful. Thank you!🙂

[@grassgrees6728]

thank you for this, i think i start to appreciate more brahms

[@pennypenpay]

Lovely analysis of this treasured Brahms composition. ❤

[@michelefasciana8008]

Iyt's amazing the way you explain,looking for the feelings instead of just notes and chords. I love it,thank you so much!!!!

[@carlnikolov]

The little emojis in the music are a nice touch and very funny

[@HaliPuppeh]

I can see why this piece would inspire you. It's very beautiful!

[@micste3]

Underbart inspirerande! Tack!

[@margarethansen7480]

Absolutely beautiful❤👏👏👏

[@nachobioteck]

I love that I'm learning this through you book!

[@AndyRubio1]

Great post thanks!

[@suzakukururugi6613]

Beautiful and well explained

[@fho4316]

Love the faces with expressions along the way.

[@cayrab1]

So so beautiful ❤️

[@jonnsmusich]

Yes, this is truly beautiful. Hard to play well, without over doing the pathos. Needs restraint and felt deep insight. Which is why your vid is much appreciated.

[@franciscobarnes6602]

Fantastic!

[@johnfrobin]

Beautiful explanation!

[@HermannCampbells]

Thank you Maestro. A very useful video to reach awareness in a correct interpretation.

[@mogret7451]

Fantastiskt stycke! 😊

[@weisslin]

thank you so much

[@Solfonny]

Wonderful analysis Henrik - you've really deepened my appreciation for this piece. I hope one day you do an analysis of Op. 117 No. 1. That is my favorite of the Intermezzi.

[@SonataSecrets]

I have Op 117/1 on my list for the future.

[@jeffreywise4807]

Thank you for bringing out the multiple interlocking components and nuances of this densely rich and gorgeous work. Would you consider also doing a video on how to pedal this piece? Given the rich and dense harmonies, multiple voices, frequent resolutions and abundant use of chromaticism, pedalling seems as challenging as it is necessary and your advice on how to do it artfully would be appreciated!

[@sabamhutajulu2175]

Thank you very much

[@declarkson]

I found Brahms later in life - perhaps as needed to capture the full breadth of its beauty - what an exceptional presentation - many thanks for the inspiration, truly, truly !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Whatismusic123]

You needed dementia to grasp the delusion needed to enjoy this "music"

[@randallrose6248]

Great explanation

[@suzakukururugi6613]

Beautiful

[@marysdogsrescue]

Thanks!

[@johboyer]

Excellent.

[@DeflatingAtheism]

It’s funny you mention a lounge piano, since that’s the association I made with the opening bars. There is a bit of sentimentalism to the music, but in the hands of a master like Brahms, it's an _earned_ sentimentalism.

[@colettescobie1878]

thank you so much for this analysis of this lovely piece I am learning it for a while now as a very mature piano student .I have also got your easier arrangement and find that very helpful too.

[@SonataSecrets]

Thank you Colette, I'm so happy to hear that!

[@user-ih7vp1uh3l]

i love classical music

[@danielsumlin6409]

Thank you for making this video! I first heard this piece in the Chinese movie Lust, Caution and fell in love with it. My appreciation for this piece is exponentially heightened after your analysis!

[@axelakerman4597]

Tack så mycket för analysen den var mycket intressant! Hälsningar från musikhögskolan i Örebro. ☺️☺️

[@meisterwue]

Channel subscribed ❤Brahms ....know him so long......thanks for sharing Your explanation ❤

[@joshuadellinger8279]

I'd never heard that one before. Really nice I'd love to hear the Dies Irae Intermezzo, no 6., next.

[@Jcabsa1]

Excelente a explicação.

[@enriquegoberna3910]

Thanks, thanks, thanks...

[@susanhawkins3890]

I played that too! Loved it then & now…,

[@susanhawkins3890]

Brahms Requiem is the very best of all Requiems!!

[@SonataSecrets]

Love Brahms requiem.

[@davidwhite2949]

Just the stuff I’m studying right now. How structure and development relate to emotion and storyline.

[@souverain1er]

Great analysis even though I don’t understand most of it

[@yiweisun4583]

@sonatasecrets Could you please do an analysis video on Scriabin Op12 No2? I watched your shorts the other day and decided to learn it cuz it's simply amazing. It'd be very much appreciated if you can make that happen!

[@SonataSecrets]

Yes, I think I will do it soon.

[@drtmuir]

It means a lot to a lot of people.

[@miguele.colonp1567]

Excelent video! I’d like you to analyze Brahms ballade op.10 no.2 in D major

[@whitneysheng]

plz do a op 116! it doesn't get enough love :((

[@mag.eberhardproschl8804]

❤❤❤❤❤!!!!!!!

[@antoineroche2073]

15:55 No, I think it goes up !

[@carlnikolov]

I wonder why he didn't put an octave in the left hand at 22:17. You think it would add to the sonority and finality of that section

[@esthertevaarwerk6410]

To me this piece expresses longing for redemption and achieving it. Btw: It sounds very "modern" in sense of an elaborated Rock/Pop-Ballad in a Billy Joel/Bruce Hornsby-Style.

[@jouezmoi]

@Sonata Secrets - I think that chord at bar 5 is more A7 than Em6. A7 leads to D in bar 6, like V7 - I.

[@SonataSecrets]

Hmm, there's just no A in it, but maybe instead C#dim as vii(dim) to D would somehow be functionally closer than Em6. The reason is I hear more of the major third to minor third switch than I do a V7-I relationship to the next bar. But Brahms writes melodically even for the inner voices so the harmony can sometimes avoid being pinned down, and then you could argue for it as a V7 (without root) still.

[@jouezmoi]

@@SonataSecrets Yes, a dim I think is better than the m6, except my ears are just hearing a dominant 7th. Let me think about this more.

[@carlnikolov]

It's funny how he writes tre chorde later on. I guess he forgot to write una corda on the f sharp major section. Brahms was a huge fan of the una corda pedal.

[@FoxyJohn]

Where is your complete performance????

[@kingyerghin7025]

Great video as always :) You’re tall 👀

[@SonataSecrets]

Or my fellow students are short...

[@atmadeepmukherjee5550]

খুব সুন্দর, হেনরিক মশাই! আপনার বাজনা ও তার বিশ্লেষণের তুলনা হয় না। দয়া করে এই কাজটি থামাবেন না! Your analysis was so nice that I could not help but write in my mother tongue, Bengali (also called Bangla). If you reply me back in Bengali, it will mean a lot to me.

[@SonataSecrets]

ধন্যবাদ Atmadeep!

[@atmadeepmukherjee5550]

স্বাগতম্ মশাই!

[@idrisbalavakos]

Reminiscent of Beethoven's Op 101

[@bifeldman]

The challenge I find with this piece is it really has to stand up. It comes so dangerously close to being too pretty. Brahms writes in plenty of rubato so I try to not add any more.

[@SonataSecrets]

Yes, it comes close to being sentimental which is why it's so popular I think, but still Brahms never crosses the line. There is always interesting music going on even with the pretty melodies.

[@markharder3676]

F,ck YT! I was finishing a long c0mment on my phone and it decided to cut me off and erase it all.

[@safarygirl]

Is there a Pay Pal option?

[@hiyorioh]

Yes! I can send you my PayPal information, and you can send it there.

[@carlosrobbins9178]

Is this piece hard? I didn't think it was hard. I mean, there's a lot going on. My senior year in college I audited a master class where I played this. On the second week, I imitated Glenn Gould's interpretation to the utmost. The professor said she'd never seen such an improvement in one week's time! LOL. As I lack a music theory background, it's nice to learn the dynamics of music.

[@SonataSecrets]

It's all relative, it's not hard compared to virtuosic pieces, but it still requires you to read multiple individual voices simultaneously, which is an advanced level. Then there are a few bars after the middle section that I find really tricky for the LH to several positions quickly. But it seems you didn't have much trouble with it, so good for you!

[@carlosrobbins9178]

@@SonataSecrets Very true. Very true. And my teacher encouraged me to learn Brahms Intermezzo in A major Op. 118 no. 1. But that piece scared the peanuts out of me! Other pieces, like Chopin's etude of the black keys, didn't intimidate me. I saw that as a challenge. But sometimes music is a big bully, and I crouch down in fear. Maybe if you explained to me what's going on, it will cut the piece down to my size.

[@joesoy9185]

Excellent English ! BUT a motive is not a motif, the accent is on the second syllable.

[@senchuanzhang3953]

i really do not know how to enjoy this piece...

[@mohammadbayazid5064]

israel is not a country, Palestine is. israel usurped Palestine, and continues to. However, Brahm's music is sublime, and your analysis is just as always, great.

[@surr3al756]

Actually, Israel is recognized as a country and Palestine is recognized as a state. So you have it mixed up. I know this is a delicate subject, but that is what has been established, and he has correctly called Israel a country. I do not condone what Israel has done to Palestine, all I'm saying is Israel is a recognized country and if he calls it a country he's not wrong. You don't need to bring politics into this in the first place anyways, not really the time nor the place for it, and to be honest it's a complex situation so its hard to determine what side is right or wrong or a country or not anyways.

[@mohammadbayazid5064]

It's quite clear to me which side is right, as It should be to eveyone. I do agree that this isn't the place to discuss this topic.

[@surr3al756]

@@mohammadbayazid5064 Ok, sorry if I came off as rude. I respect your viewpoint.