Shortly after a rather unsuccessful performance of his Piano Concerto no. 1, Johannes Brahms wrote to Joseph Joachim in 1859: “... a second one will sound different”. Nevertheless, a good 20 years elapsed before that second concerto finally tookform, and only in 1881 was he able to announce: “I wanted to tell you that I have written a very small piano concerto with a tiny little delicate Scherzo”.

This study edition of this by no means small symphonic concerto is based on the musical text in...