Do you like Brahms?

Show & Culture

Far from the epic tone of Chopin's Ballades, Brahms's Fourth Ballade appears as a gentle reverie. Do not be deceived by appearances: it is a dialogue between a mother and her parricidal son, inspired by an old Scottish ballad, Edward. This solo piano piece is a parenthesis between two powerful quintets: Granados's, with its dreamlike slow movement (a slightly Moorish melody and strings with mutes) and its finale with breathless gypsy rhythms; and the Brahms quintet—a pinnacle of the genre, a great epic brimming with melodic ideas and contrasts. Very sophisticated writing, with instruments superimposed in dense counterpoint, keeps the work captivating, carried by poetry and energy.