Bela Hartmann
TWO PARAPHRASES ON SONGS BY BRAHMS for piano
Goodmusic GM458
"Wenn so lind dein Auge mir..." from Liebeslieder Walzer Op.52 No.8 and "Nein, Geliebter, setze dich..." from Neue Liebeslieder Walzer Op.65 No.13.
There are many transcriptions and paraphrases available to pianists, and one might legitimately question whether there is a need for more. However, it is always good to explore new things and there are many wonderful musical gems that remain inaccessible – perhaps these free arrangements can provide both new material to discover and new melodies for our instrument.
The Paraphrases came about from a deep love for the songs of Brahms, specifically his folk songs and waltzes. There are few examples in music of such beautiful intimacy of feeling expressed with such lightness and originality. Here was truly a composer who never abandoned his desire to express his feelings, no matter how doomed they were. As a pianist one is fairly ill equipped to perform these songs alone, and in any case they are often vanishingly brief. To a degree they pose a similar challenge as the Dances of Schubert, where small gems can either be assembled in long chains or left as minute moments of beauty - unless one remembers the solution provided by Liszt in his Soirees de Vienne, - that of concentrating on one or two of them but expanding and developing them into a longer piece. It was this example that I embraced, feeling free to add and enlarge, whilst hopefully not straying too far from the spirit of Brahms and the sense of longing so inherent in much of his music. It was not my intent to make as faithful a piano arrangement as possible but to find a setting that will make these miraculous songs feel like piano pieces, and, once removed from their original context of a song cycle, to explore whither they might lead. Bela Hartmann
For more advanced pianists. Duration 6½ minutes
Performances by Bela Hartmann available on YouTube.
There are many transcriptions and paraphrases available to pianists, and one might legitimately question whether there is a need for more. However, it is always good to explore new things and there are many wonderful musical gems that remain inaccessible – perhaps these free arrangements can provide both new material to discover and new melodies for our instrument.
The Paraphrases came about from a deep love for the songs of Brahms, specifically his folk songs and waltzes. There are few examples in music of such beautiful intimacy of feeling expressed with such lightness and originality. Here was truly a composer who never abandoned his desire to express his feelings, no matter how doomed they were. As a pianist one is fairly ill equipped to perform these songs alone, and in any case they are often vanishingly brief. To a degree they pose a similar challenge as the Dances of Schubert, where small gems can either be assembled in long chains or left as minute moments of beauty - unless one remembers the solution provided by Liszt in his Soirees de Vienne, - that of concentrating on one or two of them but expanding and developing them into a longer piece. It was this example that I embraced, feeling free to add and enlarge, whilst hopefully not straying too far from the spirit of Brahms and the sense of longing so inherent in much of his music. It was not my intent to make as faithful a piano arrangement as possible but to find a setting that will make these miraculous songs feel like piano pieces, and, once removed from their original context of a song cycle, to explore whither they might lead. Bela Hartmann
For more advanced pianists. Duration 6½ minutes
Performances by Bela Hartmann available on YouTube.
