Piano Concerto No. 2 in B‑Flat Major

Two decades after finishing his Piano Concerto No. 1, Brahms began work on the second in 1878. After setting it aside to write his Violin Concerto, he returned to the Piano Concerto No. 2, completing it in the summer of 1881. Symphonic allusions are clear—including the vast grandeur of its architecture across four movements, with a “Scherzo” placed second—but in many ways this is chamber music for expanded forces, where Brahms built on expertise honed in his piano quartets, the Piano Quintet and (most obviously apparent in the opening) the Horn Trio. The language is Romantic, personal and reflective, while the piano writing—even more challenging, if less obviously so, than in the Piano Concerto No. 1—offers a summation of Brahms’ developing relationship with the instrument, from youthful athleticism for public display to a more intimate means of private contemplation. The first movement, beginning with a lyrical dialogue between horn and piano, unfolds a web of interconnected ideas. The D minor “Scherzo” likewise brims with bravura, while the major-key trio section, reminiscent of Handel, reminds us of the importance of Baroque music to Brahms. The gorgeous chamber music-like slow movement, framed by an expressive solo cello, finds the piano embellishing rather than presenting the thematic material, which includes a quotation from Brahms’ song “Todessehnen” (Yearning for Death), written three years earlier. The finale is an intricate, dancing rondo with a lightness of touch that contrasts with the monumentality of the first two movements.