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In the area of chamber music, Johannes Brahms was a revolutionary. Who would have thought of combining piano, violin and (French) horn in a chamber work? Brahms went one step further by writing the part for the old, obsolete valveless horn that had been swept away decades earlier by the modern valved horn. He also went back to the Baroque church sonata format where the movements are organized slow-fast-slow-fast. He understood that in writing for horn that there is the temptation to write hunting horn calls. But Brahms disciplines himself to avoid that until the finale. This gives the horn a completely different character.

I managed to locate all four movements of this trio with three giants of their respective instruments.

The first movement in organized A-B-A-B-A, and it’s sad and rather contemplative. At 2:25 the B section comes in at a faster clip in G minor. The use of a seventh chord at 3:42 is absolutely chilling. The A section returns in abbreviated form at 4:03 with a change in leadership among the instruments. The B section returns at 5:15, but this time in B-flat minor. When the seventh returns at 5:55, you’re ready. The A section arrives at 6:19, but in G-flat Major. This is only a diversion because Brahms brings you back to the home key of E-flat at 7:15. He winds it down slowly with an end that is not so much happy, but resigned.

Brahms: Trio for Piano, Violin and Horn, Op. 40, first movement

In second position, Brahms places a scherzo in E-flat Major, and now it’s time for fun. At 1:00 he goes into the remote key of B Major in the kind of seamless modulation (key change) that only Brahms could get away with. At 1:44 it’s back to E-flat. The middle “trio” section of the scherzo shifts to A-flat minor, and it once again becomes pensive. At 4:45 the scherzo returns.

second movement

At the discussion with the musicians at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival about the slow movements of Brahms, this one came up as one of the greats. It’s marked “slow and sad”, and it’s like coming home to an empty house after the funeral of your spouse and children. It’s a three handkerchief piece. It starts in E-flat minor, and at 2:00 the horn leads into a short and slow fugue. This in turns picks up speed to a passage at 3:18 that builds to a return of the first subject at 4:08. At 6:45, grief and anguish set in, and also rage. At 7:17 the emotional numbness returns, and it ends as bleakly as it began.

third movement

Brahms needs to dispel the sadness, and now he writes the only movement in the piece that is in sonata format. Having avoided hunting horn calls, he writes a movement where the horn line is almost nothing but hunting horn calls. It’s a fox hunt set to music.

The first subject is full of “tallyho” and horses in motion. At 0:44 the second subject comes in and features a short passage at 1:25 that sounds like they’ve stopped to water the horses. The exposition repeat begins at 1:43. The development starts at 3:15, and the recapitulation comes at 4:29 where we’re back to full gallop. After watering the horses at 6:53, he races into the coda.

fourth movement