BRAHMS INTERMEZZO IN F MINOR OP 118 NO 4

Key: F minor Tempo: Allegretto un poco agitato Style: Romantic

Will improve: ✓ Sense of line ✓ Balance between the hands ✓ Use of rubato

This Intermezzo is one of the less frequently played pieces from Brahms’s Op 118 set. It is full of musical challenges and can be hard to pull off. One needs an incredible control of the instrument, a real ability to use rubato perfectly and tastefully, and a well-honed sense of line and structure. An underlying restlessness should prevail at all times (note the ‘agitato’ at the start). This is the language of Brahms’s maturity. And it needs to come directly from the soul.

Begin by trying to learn the first two lines as block chords. This means playing the triplet figures as a whole crotchet chord so that you