Just like Ludwig van Beethoven and Benjamin Yusupov, Johannes Brahms was a virtuoso pianist, sought-after conductor and composer. He definitely wrote three piano trios, with another one sometimes, possibly wrongly, attributed to him. When it comes to the Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8, completed in 1854, decades later, in 1889, Brahms significantly revised it yet did not change the opus number. The original version dates from the time when the young composer made the acquaintance of Robert and Clara Schumann, whom he frequently visited in Düsseldorf, listening to, playing and creating music. Finished in January 1854, the trio was published in November of that year by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. At the time, the Schumanns experienced a tragic twist of events. In February 1854, Robert suffered a mental breakdown, attempted suicide and was admitted to a sanatorium, where he would spend the final two years of his life. Left alone with seven children, Clara, supported by friends, continued to pursue a career as a concert pianist and attend to her late husband’s legacy.
In the late 1880s, at the time a much admired, highly regarded artist and one the most prominent Viennese music figures, the self-critical Brahms revised some of his works. A prime example in this respect is the early Piano Trio in B major, which he subjected to substantial alterations. Brahms markedly compressed the piece, with the revised version’s first and final movements being about 200 bars shorter, and the slow movement reduced by a third. In the new version, he handled the form, themes and counterpoint far more effectively. Brahms completed the revision in the summer of 1889 in Bad Ischl, where he liked to take a break from bustling Vienna. In a letter to Clara Schumann, Brahms wrote that he had reworked the Piano Trio in B major so thoroughly that it could bear the opus number 108. He would, however, retain number 8, and it was published as such in 1891 by Nikolaus Simrock in Berlin, as a “Neue Ausgabe” (“New Edition”). The first movement, Allegro con brio, in sonata form and with a wonderful opening theme, is followed by the second, Scherzo, with just tiny modifications as against the first version, built on rhythmically pregnant staccatos and a melodious middle passage. The third movement, Adagio, is extremely subtle and tranquil. Contrasting starkly with the previous section is the final movement, Allegro, manifesting perfect balance between form and content. The second version of Brahms’s Piano Trio in B major received its premiere in Budapest in 1890, as performed by Brahms (piano), Jenö Hubay (violin) and David Popper (cello).
