Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op.52

Brahms composed his first volume of choral-watzes in August of 1869 to poetry taken from Polydora, an 1855 collection of German folk-poems and love-songs assembled by George Friedrich Daumer (1800-1875). Rather than the usual accompaniment for piano solo, Brahms elected to provide one for piano duet. The first performance was given in Heidelberg on November 4, 1869 and issued later that year as his Op.52. The conductor Ernst Rudorff persuaded Brahms to orchestrate the accompaniment for 8 of the 18 selections (plus another subsequently included in his Op.65 set) for a concert given at Berlin’s Hochschule on March 19, 1870. Offered here is a new edition and orchestration of the entire Op.52 by Richard W. Sargeant Jr. Brahms’ own orchestration is retained for the eight selections he prepared for the 1870 concert while the remaining ten have been orchestrated by Sargeant using the same forces employed by the composer. The large conductor score and orchestral parts are now also available from Serenissima Music.