Brahms’ vivacious “Rhapsodies” op. 79 of 1879 are among his most frequently played works. He had a hard time finding a suitable title for them, vacillating between “Piano Piece”, “Capriccio” (No. 1) and ”Caprices”. His hand was forced by the dedicatee Elisabeth von Herzogenberg, who welcomed the pieces with the salutation “Ye (to me) nameless ones in the nebulous garb of rhapsodies”.

Now Brahms expert Christian Köhn is presenting these popular pieces in an up-to-date new edition that remai...