Brahms Fantasy

Composer's Note:

Brahms Fantasy, a melodic, meditative concert piece, was completed in 1986 from material sketched in 1956. In the spirit of "developing variation," a concept associated with Brahms' music, the two instrumental parts have equal importance and together produce a richly contrapuntal fabric. The opening tonal progression, moving from B-Flat minor toward D-Flat major and supporting an original theme, is interrupted by an interlude in B major which paraphrases melodic material from the fourth movement of the Deutsches Requiem. A varied reprise of the opening section concludes securely and peacefully in D-Flat major.