Adagietto Published on Nov 23, 2014
Johannes Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15
00:00 I. Maestoso
24:06 II. Adagio
38:45 III. Rondo
Hélène Grimaud, piano,
Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra | SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Michael Gielen, 17.IV.2005.

Johannes Brahms was 20 years old when, in 1853, he first made the acquaintance of Robert Schumann through a letter of recommendation provided by the famous violinist Joseph Joachim. It was Schumann’s unabashed praise of the music that Brahms showed him that, more than anything else, provided the young composer with the courage necessary to begin work on a full-scale symphony the next year. That courage, however, fell short in the end — Brahms felt himself too inexperienced and was too haunted by the “footsteps of a giant” (Beethoven) to begin fruitful symphonic work — and Brahms reorganized the material he had written as a sonata for two pianos. By 1858, this sonata for two pianos had itself been reborn as the Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15.

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