Cocktail Party Fact: After completing this piece, Brahms wrote to a friend: “I have just completed a teeny, tiny piano concerto with a teeny, tiny, wisp of a Scherzo.” This is, of course, the longest piano concerto in the entire standard repertoire.

Commitment Factor: About 47 - 50 minutes

Vital Statistics: Romantic Period (1881). Most concertos have three movements, but this one has four. In adding a Scherzo (Joke) movement–in second place–Brahms relates the structure of this piece to that of the symphony. Brahms’ own explanation for the turbulent second movement was “Well, you see, the first movement is so harmless.”

What to Listen For: Brahms knew what he was talking about. The real reason for the structure of this concerto is that the heart of the piece is the lengthy slow movement–one of the most purely beautiful things that Brahms ever wrote. Its atmosphere of almost religious solemnity is much more effective after the fiery, passionate Scherzo, while at the same time providing the perfect lead-in to the genial, relaxed fun of the finale.