Helene Grimaud Brahms Piano Concerto No 1 SFO Brilliant!

Heard Helen Grimaud play Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor Opus 15 (1858)  What a complex work!   Everyone remembers that Brahms was a protege, so to speak of Robert Schumann, and fell in love with Clara Schumann, though each stayed loyal to their spouses.  Robert Schumann unfortunately died early on, in an asylum.  Clara and Brahms remained friends all through their lives. The D Minor sonata was born in these years and shows the strains and stresses and complex emotions of this period. It started life as a symphony "idea" and then a concerto for two pianos and then this final version.  The premieres in Hamburg and Leipzig were not promising; the emotional directness was overwhelming for the audiences.



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