Composed 1853-4, rev. 1889; 37 minutes

The Piano Trio in B, Op. 8 is both the first and last piano trio Brahms composed. He wrote the original version in 1853–54, publishing it soon after Robert Schumann had hailed him as a musical genius—“springing forth like Minerva, fully armed from the head of Jove.” Decades later, in 1889, when a new publisher acquired rights to several of his chamber works, Brahms took the opportunity to revisit a composition he had first conceived as a 20-year-old. “It will not be so wild as before,” he wrote to Clara Schumann, who had helped workshop the earlier version. He tightened its expansive style, clarified its structure, and transformed its themes into the foundation of what is essentially a new work, now a third shorter. That Brahms—who meticulously destroyed his sketches and early drafts—chose to revise a piece that had been in circulation for nearly 40 years is remarkable. Equally striking is how he preserved the youthful vitality of the original. “I did not provide it with a wig,” he said with characteristic wit, “I just arranged its hair a little!” This revised version, shaped by a lifetime of experience and nearly a hundred published works, is the one most often performed today. Brahms himself jokingly referred to it as his Op. 108 rather than Op. 8.

In the revised Op. 8, Brahms preserves the lyrical opening theme—instantly recognizable as his own, with its warm, burnished texture and wistful character. Its expansive nature, reminiscent of Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, ensures that the first movement retains its broad sweep, though little else remains unchanged from the earlier version. Other Brahmsian hallmarks—hemiola patterns and subtle rhythmic displacements—imbue the music with new energy, direction, and structural clarity.

The fleet-footed Scherzo, a nod to Mendelssohn, remains virtually unchanged from the 1854 version, its scurrying energy balanced by a gracefully lilting, waltz-like trio. The slow movement unfolds from a solemn, chorale-like opening, again recalling Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, but now infused with Brahms’s mature voice—especially in the addition of a newly composed, autumnal second theme. The finale begins with a searching B minor cello theme, introducing a sense of unease, but soon yields to a boldly assertive D major second theme that brings a valedictory tone. Though the work concludes in the minor, its mood is one of confidence and resolution hard won.

— All program notes copyright © 2025 Keith Horner. 
Comments welcomed: khnotes@sympatico.ca