16 Waltzes Op.39

Brahms was not only a friend of Johann Strauss but also one of his greatest admirers. Were the fact not so well documented –    there is for example a quotation from The Blue Danube under which the great symphonist has written “Unfortunately not by Johannes Brahms” – it could be deduced from the waltz tunes in some of his most serious works. He was also an admirer of the dance music of an ever greater Viennese composer of an earlier generation, Franz Schubert, who compiled many sets of waltzes and similar dances.

It was with Schubert as much as Strauss in mind that in 1865, about the same time as the Hungarian Dances, he wrote the 16 Waltzes for piano duet, which he arranged for piano solo two years later. And yet, though both Schubert and Strauss were inspirational here, the waltzes are unmistakable Brahms – the tender No.2 in E major and its cradle-song companion No.15 in A major, the Hungarian-flavoured No.4 in E minor and No.11 in B minor, the brilliant scherzo-valse No.6 in C sharp major, the sentimental and harmonically adventurous No.7 in C sharp minor, the wistful and rhythmically ingenious No.9 in D minor, the duple time within triple time of No.14 in A minor, the surprisingly expressive rather than showy last waltz in D minor.