Gerhard Oppitz performs Brahms’ Complete (Published) Piano Works, Ozawa
Hall, July 2012

July 18:
Sonata no. 3 in f, Op. 5
Scherzo in e-flat, Op. 4
Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79
Four Pieces, Op. 119
Wiederkehr ans Leben: Brahms’ Piano Music, Part I
July 19:
Four Ballades, Op. 10
Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21 no. 1
Variations on a Hungarian Theme, Op. 21 no. 2
Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 5
Sonata no. 1 in C, Op. 1
So Brahms is in the next world, lounging around the heavenly Viennese café
drinking beer, eating liver sausage, and listening to the band play Gypsy music
and Strauss waltzes, when St. Peter arrives with a message: Tanglewood
programmers are praying that Brahms return to earth to perform his piano music,
some of which is in danger of being totally forgotten. They feel that, of all the great
music by all the great composers, Brahms’ early work has been the most
egregiously neglected, and furthermore, Brahms’ unique style of playing has been
long out of fashion and is almost forgotten, replaced by note-perfect, squeaky
clean but emotionally sterile performances of pianists stamped out by the
conservatory music factories for the purpose of being recorded digitally and
listened to on cell-phones. Tanglewood can promise that there will be an elite
group of music lovers and dedicated students who will sit worshipfully at the
master’s feet if he would only agree to share his music once more on earth. St.
Peter himself can think of no more important reason to breach the boundary
between heaven and earth than to offer loyal music-lovers this worldly/otherworldly
experience.
