Brahms Intermezzo 117.1
To get the recording train rolling, here’s a recording of a lullaby of Brahms, one of my favorites. I made this recording to play with equalization settings, but liked the performance enough to keep it.
Johannes Brahms
Intermezzo Op 117 No 1
MP3 (5:58 / 6.8 M)
Thanks go to my good friend Geneviève, who introduced me to this piece about five years ago. She played it marvelously, and I’ve wanted to learn it ever since, though it took me until this spring to get around to it. So, finally, here it is. Enjoy.
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Paul, that’s so beautiful. This is a great idea. Looking forward to more installments…
Hi Paul,
Great site. It worked fine and at the moment I am reading a Brahms biography to make it all the more serendipitous.
Dear Auntie Audio,
I bought new headphones (the Grado SR-80, perhaps), so I could listen to the Brahms my son posted to his musiblog. The quality is, um, somewhat improved from that of the built in laptop speakers. Now all I need is a longer cord, so I never have to take them off! But I am a little worried: Is there any danger that all the sound that wasn’t coming out through the speakers is still in the laptop, and may someday explode, or go back down the wire and block my toilet or something?
Frightened in the Fort
Dear FitF,
If you are as creative in problem solving as you are in problem invention, you have nothing to worry about.
Beautiful! I played this one half-assed-ly a very long time ago and am very fond of it. It was the piece that first made me associate the key of A major with sunlight.
BTW - Is there any way to make the sound a bit louder in your mp3s? I find myself leaning over with my ear to the computer speaker even when all the volume controls are cranked.
Oops – it’s e flat major, isn’t it. What a fine thing memory is.
Ahree — it is indeed in E flat. There’s a really gorgeous one in the 118s in A major. Interestingly, I think of that one (118.2) as being sunnier and this one (117.1) being dark and nocturnal. But all these sorts of impressions are so weirdly subjective….
As for the audio levels, they’re pretty consistent with other classical piano recordings; in fact, they’re a bit louder. It’s really hard to increase the apparent volume of piano without destroying the loud/soft contrasts, and making the attacks sound all weird. Compressors are death to piano. There are these things called “sonic maximizers” that might do the trick, but they’re very expensive.
My advice: buy a good pair of headphones. The Grados mentioned above, and even the next cheaper model (~$70) are pretty amazing.
Paul-this recording, along with the later installments were wonderful. Thanks! Looking forward to hearing more soon!
Terrific! The nicest Brahms I’ve heard yet; very clean, very naturalistic– reminds me of some of my favorite bits of Randall Thompson. But perhaps all the Donizetti I’ve been singing lately is warming me to high Romanticism. Or something.
Anyway, thank you so much for this, and keep up the good work, and all.
Nick