Two Rhapsodies for Piano Op.79

Brahms Two Rhapsodies for Piano Op.79

Brahms’s tempestuous “Rhapsodies” of 1879 (Op.79) are among his most frequently played works.  Writing to Clara Schumann, he called them “pieces on which you can go on a proper rampage”.  In fact, he had a hard time finding a suitable title for them, vacillating between “Piano Piece”, “Capriccio” (No.1) and ”Caprices”.  His hand was forced by the dedicatee Elisabeth von Herzogenberg, who welcomed the pieces with the salutation “Ye (to me) nameless ones in the nebulous garb of rhapsodies”.

Now Brahms expert Christian Köhn is presenting these popular pieces in an up-to-date new edition that remains faithful to the sources and reflects the latest findings of Brahms scholarship.  A reader-friendly engraving, fingering only where required, practical page-turns and notes on period performance practice meet all the needs of today’s performers.

- Scholarly Urtext performing edition faithful to the sources

- Reader-friendly engraving with practical page-turns and a fold-out page

- With fingering and notes on performance practice in Brahms’s day (Ger/Eng