Recording first released in 1987 on the MusicMasters Label

Johannes Brahms began his musical life studying the piano, and his earliest, truly great compositions were solo piano works, both presented here. The Scherzo in E-flat minor, op.4, is the earliest surviving composition by Brahms. He wrote it in November 1851 when he was 18. He published it as Op.4, rather than Op.1, because, he explained to a friend, “when one shows one's self for the first time, people must first see the head and not the feet.” Musical scholars feel that, despite the composer’s denial, it obviously shows a “dependence” on Chopin’s scherzi, and quotes from Heinrich Marschner’s Hans Heiling at bar 46 as well. According to Michael Musgrave’s The Music of Brahms: “Though the young composer’s structure is very square, the subtlety of the retransition from the second trio is already masterly. Moreover, the way in which the first theme is developed and the new material generated by counterpoint is prophetic ... the skill of the retransition and the motivic emphasis in the ‘più mosso’ coda (an emphatic treatment of a diminished variant of the Marschner theme inverted in augmentation) clearly reveal the organic nature of Brahms’ thought.”

It is certain that Brahms had composed the Scherzo of the F minor Piano Sonata in November 1852, before meeting Schumann and Liszt, but the same scholars feel bars 105 through 111 of this Scherzo unmistakably show the influence of Liszt’s music with “striking parallels.” The Sonata was completed just after Brahms’s visit with Schumann, and it would be easy for us to see Schumann’s influence in retrospect: the extra movement, an Intermezzo entitled “Rückblick” (a look back), which presents the Andante’s main theme in a wistful, sad mood, commentary. Not forgetting the lines from a poem of Sternau that Brahms chose to preface it with: “Evening is falling, the moon is shining, and two hearts are folded together blissfully, united in love.” But it is most certain that this Intermezzo too was already composed when Brahms met Schumann. It was definitely during Brahms’s five-week stay with the Schumanns that he completed the Sonata’s Allegro, Scherzo and Finale. The problems Brahms had set out to solve in composing piano sonatas were apparently solved in this flashing, tempestuous, romantic, tense but coolly intellectual work – for he later wrote only short piano pieces.

Internationally recognized as one of today's most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors and recital series. His commanding technique, power and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike.