We know from correspondence and written statements that among the early works Brahms considered for publication were several pieces of chamber music, most of which he withdrew and apparently destroyed.  There was a violin sonata in A minor which he had performed with his touring partner, Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi.  Mention is made of other works, including piano trios and string quartets.  But the first piece of chamber music he saw fit to publish was the Piano Trio in B major.  It was composed in the wake of Robert Schumann’s mental breakdown.  A composition on an epic scale and full of youthful ambition, it became one of his most popular pieces.  One of the first performances was in Boston, which is quite extraordinary.  It is therefore at least somewhat strange that today, this work is one of the least-known of all his compositions.  Of course, the Trio in B Major, retaining the early opus number, is still popular and beloved, but the piece as generally known is the revised version from 1889, 35 years later.  The “revision” is really an entirely new composition that uses the main themes of the youthful work.  Brahms apparently became aware of the early trio’s flaws, both thematically and structurally, long before the revision.  He is known to have allowed a cut in the first movement’s exceedingly long development section at a performance in the 1870s, and Brahms almost never sanctioned cuts in his music.  When the publisher Simrock offered the mature composer an opportunity to revise his out-of-print early works in preparation for a reissue, he considered making changes to the F-minor piano sonata, but in the end, the trio was the only early publication subjected to such a rethinking.  It is impossible to know what we would think about the original version had the revised one never been produced.  It certainly would not be neglected and unknown, and it would be regularly performed.  But it clearly has more issues than another early piece like the piano sonata, which is an undisputed masterpiece precisely because of its unrestrained exuberance and broad scope.  Brahms recognized that he could not simply suppress a published and much-performed work, so he gladly sanctioned the continued circulation of the original version, but the revision created a late masterpiece with an early opus number, and the actual early work eventually fell nearly into oblivion.  More recently, there have been some recordings and performances, and the score has always been easy to obtain.  One notable aspect of the trio in both versions is that the same tonal center, B, is used for all four movements.  B major was already a rather unusual key for a multi-movement work.  It was a bold choice to cast his final movement in the home minor key and even bolder to end it there.  That aspect was also retained in the revision.  The main theme of the first movement is grand and glorious, and one of the young composer’s finest inspirations.  Unfortunately, the movement’s overall structure is both diffuse and uneven.  The transition and second theme group show a great decline in inspiration from the main theme, despite the Bach-like character of the latter.  The development section is truly enormous, and the insertion of a full fugue in the recapitulation is disruptive.  The scherzo in B minor, placed in second position, is a brilliant and inspired movement, with echoes of Mendelssohn’s beloved scherzo from his Midsummer Night’s Dream music.  This movement was spared major revisions except for its weird ending.  The slow movement begins with a beautiful chorale-like main theme, and its second theme seems to quote from a Schubert song.  That movement also has a disruptive insertion, a Schumann-like “Allegro” passage.  The finale, with its obsessive main rhythm, quotes another song in its second theme, this time from Beethoven’s cycle An die ferne Geliebte, a melody Schumann had also quoted at the end of his Fantasie in C major (Op. 17).  Brahms would dispense with the second themes of all movements except the scherzo and its contrasting trio section, including both song quotations.  They obviously had some personal meaning, likely connected to Schumann.  Because of this, he had to completely recompose the development sections of the first and last movements, greatly reducing the length of both.  The “Allegro” is simply excised from the slow movement after the new second theme, but the reprise of the main theme is largely retained intact.  The original Trio is worth hearing and studying, not just for the fascinating insights into the composer’s mind and process gained by comparison with the revision.  While it is difficult to consider it on its own terms, it has its virtues even within its flaws.

IMSLP WORK PAGE
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First Edition from Brahms-Institut Lübeck)
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First Edition [monochrome] from the Royal Danish Library--includes violin and cello parts)
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (From Breitkopf & Härtel Sämtliche Werke)

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1^st Movement: Allegro con moto (Sonata-Allegro form with varied recapitulation). B MAJOR, 4/4 time, with 8 nonconsecutive measures of 3/2.
EXPOSITION
0:00 [m. 1]--Theme 1.  The piano begins on an upbeat, playing the first four measures of the full-hearted, broadly lyrical melody in the tenor range.  A middle voice is established with up-down alternating notes on narrow intervals of a second, third, or fourth while the left hand establishes a “pedal point” on the low keynote B and the “dominant” note F-sharp above it, stressing the second beat of the measure.  After four measures, the cello enters a third above the melody.  The violin interjects with a descending arpeggio. 
0:15 [m. 9]--In the last four measures of the twelve-measure melody, the piano moves above the cello and the direction of the middle voice is reversed.  The left hand allows one intrusion of the “subdominant” note E amid the constantly reiterated B and F-sharp.  The violin entry against this soars up, then leaps down to a held note.  These violin figures were dispensed with in the revised version.  The phrase reaches full closure.
0:23 [m. 13]--In a contrasting phrase, the cello takes the lead and moves above the piano.  The middle voice of the piano begins to introduce mild syncopation.  The violin plays another descending arpeggio.  After three measures, the left hand reluctantly abandons its “pedal point” and becomes slightly more active.  There is a slight buildup in intensity, with another violin figure, then the cello soars up to a half-cadence as the piano’s middle voice becomes more strongly syncopated.
0:38 [m. 21]--The violin now takes over the leading role (its first entry in the later revised version), playing the slightly varied main melody above cello harmonies.  The piano gives up its melodic role and concentrates more on its syncopation, which now also becomes strong in the left-hand bass.  In the fourth measure, the syncopation is emphasized with strong octaves in both hands moving down a half-step.  The next four measures are varied from the beginning, moving earlier to a full B-major cadence with thicker piano harmonies and increasing excitement.  The four measure extension from 0:15 [m. 9] is dropped.
0:53 [m. 29]--The piano takes over the lead, finally reaching out of the middle range, and begins the contrasting phrase.  The cello moves to leaping syncopation, supporting the piano bass, then joining the piano harmony.  After two measures, the violin harmonizes the piano a third below and the cello moves to broken octaves.  The buildup in volume has become pronounced, and the contrasting phrase stalls on its fifth measure.  The piano reiterates the fourth measure, the cello taking over the harmony from the violin, and then all three instruments play strong, powerful chords in half notes leading to a highly dramatic and anticipatory half-close.  The phrase is shortened to seven total measures.
1:06 [m. 36]--All three instruments sing forth the beginning of the theme in a grand manner, beginning in the version heard at 0:38 [m. 21].  Both the cello and violin lines are covered in the piano’s high right-hand chords.  The left hand plays upward leaps between B and F-sharp in strong syncopation.  After the first four-measure unit, the right hand joins these syncopations, with both hands soaring up in octaves, then quickly back down.  The next unit returns to the original pitch level, but it is reduced to three measures, stalling on the second and repeating it as the third.  This isolates a strong three-note descending motion that has always been present in the theme.
1:18 [m. 43]--The phrase is broken off by another grand rhetorical gesture.  The three-note descent that has been newly emphasized is now stated in long half notes over full chords, still in all three instruments.  The piano then plays a strong sequel to this, using a long-short dotted rhythm to move to a dissonant chord.  This “suspended” chord then resolves to an F-sharp-major chord, where another statement of the pattern with long chords and the dotted-rhythm sequel seems to suggest D-sharp minor (“relative” to the “dominant” key of F-sharp).
1:32 [m. 51]--A third statement of the three-note descent in long chords moves back to F-sharp.  There follows the first of four inserted 3/2 measures.  These insertions invariably contain the same basic material: a shortened version of the three-note descent, here played by the strings in thirds, followed by the same faster descent from the piano.  This pattern is given a second time (a fourth statement of the long chords), with the harmony now moving a step lower, to the “dominant” chord suggesting A major.  The second 3/2 measure follows with the same pattern of shorter descents, colored by the new harmony.
1:41 [m. 55]--Suddenly much quieter, the cello plays a more mysterious version of the theme that wavers between B minor and D minor.  The piano plays an accompaniment like its patterns at the beginning, but over a “diminished seventh” harmony with an E-sharp “pedal point” in the bass.  The violin adds a descending arpeggio like the ones at the beginning, also outlining the “diminished seventh.”  After two measures, the pattern is varied with the cello and piano moving higher and the bass moving off its “pedal point.  The violin also decorates its arpeggio.  Everything is still on the “diminished seventh” harmony.  This passage was varied in several details in the revised version.
1:49 [m. 59]--Suddenly the troubled harmony emerges back home in the warm, comforting B major.  The violin and cello harmonize on the first three notes of the theme.  This is interrupted by the third 3/2 measure.  It contains the same twofold statement of the shorter three-note descent, but the right hand of the piano plays both, the second an octave higher than the first, while the strings continue to draw out the theme.  The same two-measure pattern begins an octave higher, but at the fourth and last 3/2 measure (of the exposition) the piano moves back down to its original octaves.
1:56 [m. 63]--Transition.  This is the point where the original and revised versions deviate, and they are basically two entirely different movements going forward from here.  In the original transition, the shorter three-note descent is transformed into an upbeat figure, passed down from the violin to the alternating hands of the piano.  After two measures of these descents, the piano emerges into a series of quieter short-long chords, alternating with the cello and its own left hand, both of which play a stepwise, partially chromatic ascent.  The piano and cello slow down and arrive on the “dominant” chord in D-sharp minor.
2:06 [m. 68]--The piano again passes down the three-note upbeat figure for two measures, beginning loudly, with a plucked string chord, in the key of D-sharp minor.  The same pattern follows, with the quieter short-long chords alternating with the cello and left hand on a stepwise, mostly chromatic ascent.  At the end, the closing chords are extended by a measure.  D-sharp minor is briefly inflected to major, seeming to act as the preparatory “dominant” for G-sharp minor, where Theme 2 will be set.
2:18 [m. 74]--The violin enters with an upward gesture doubling the top of two piano chords.  The violin then proceeds to play an expressive descending scale line suggesting G-sharp minor.  The piano right-hand breaks into a series of ascending notes in doubled thirds while its left hand, along with the cello, plays a punctuating bass line.  The violin line breaks up into isolated notes, along with the right-hand piano harmonies.  They again arrive on D-sharp, functioning as the “dominant” in G-sharp minor.
2:27 [m. 79]--The piano establishes a sustained “pedal point” on D-sharp, with the right hand playing continuous syncopated octaves in the tenor range.  Meanwhile, the cello plays the opening of Theme 1 in D-sharp major.  The violin joins in harmony above.  The cello soon drops out, and it is echoed by the low piano bass.  The violin adds a suspended sequel as things slow down, “sostenuto,” preparing for Theme 2.
2:38 [m. 84]--Theme 2 (G-sharp minor).  The repeated syncopated octaves on D-sharp finally lead to the arrival on G-sharp minor, the “relative” minor key of B major, for the rather austere second theme.  The piano initially presents it in bare octaves split between the hands.  It consists of a sighing descent followed by a rise to another one.  It continues with a descending arpeggio also leading to the sighing gesture, and finally a similar descent leading to a more questioning reversal upward.
2:52 [m. 91]--Still in the bare piano octaves, the pattern appears to begin again a third higher, but the first upward rise arrives at the “questioning” gesture instead of the “sighing” one.  The cello enters with a low double-stop third, and the piano octaves of the theme break into more rising patterns against continuing cello double-stops.  These settle back onto the “dominant” harmony on D-sharp, punctuated by sliding grace notes.
3:06 [m. 98]--Overlapping the arrival, the piano bass plays a bare rising scale in the rhythm of Theme 1.  This then devolves into a highly disjunct line, leaping down and back up twice before finally reaching down again.  The leaping line is also very chromatic.  It ends with a trill leading again to the “dominant” D-sharp.
3:17 [m. 104]--The violin and cello present Theme 2 in canon, with the cello imitating the violin at the distance of a measure.  The piano accompanies the canon with thin harmonies in the right hand, including mild syncopation emphasizing the second beat of the measure.  The theme’s descending line is decorated by short-long embellishments in both instruments.  The phrase as heard at 2:38 [m. 84], even in canon, is only really changed with a surprising major chord and inflection at the end.
3:29 [m. 111]--The second phrase is changed substantially from 2:52 [m. 91].  The canon continues, but it breaks after one measure, and then the cello inverts the violin’s downward line, moving up and harmonizing with it.  The piano continues its thin, mostly two-note mildly syncopated harmonies in the right hand.  The violin then leads to a full cadence and arrival in G-sharp minor, complete with the sliding grace notes.  The cello’s motion from a held D-sharp up to G-sharp helps confirm this arrival.
3:41 [m. 118]--The bare piano bass line from 3:06 [m. 98] is now taken by the cello, beginning on G-sharp instead of D-sharp.  The closing trill also leads back to G-sharp.  The piano, still only the right hand in two-note harmonies, timidly suggests the rhythm of Theme 1.  The cello then plays another trill leading to B, the home keynote, but it ends up functioning as a preparatory “dominant” for a new key, E major.
3:57 [m. 126]--Closing Theme (E major/G-sharp minor).  The theme is simply a variant of Theme 1, transposed to E major and transformed into a type of country dance, albeit a very quiet one.  The piano (still only the right hand) plays a simple up and down motion, supported by a drone on the cello.  As the piano right hand moves down, the violin enters with the upward motion, in canon with the piano melody.  The piano begins an answering phrase as the violin completes the canon on the first phrase, but the violin then breaks the canon, moving back to G-sharp minor, which the piano also does in its descent.  The cello drone moves there as well.
4:11 [m. 134]--The piano left hand finally re-enters after a long break.  It echoes the last descent of the right hand.  Meanwhile, the violin continues its arpeggio upward.  The piano harmony subtly changes to move back to E major.  The cello confirms this by playing a lead-in that moves back to that key for a restatement of the Closing Theme.
4:17 [m. 137]--The cello now takes the lead on a new presentation of the “country dance” variant.  This time, it leads a canon in three full parts.  The drone is established in the piano left hand.  The right hand, after harmonizing the first measure, follows the cello in a strict canon a measure later, albeit still using the two-note harmony.  A measure after that, the violin enters, also in canon.  This strict canon continues all the way through the second ascent.  The cello plays the second descent, but the piano and violin do not imitate this.  The piano continues with another upward gesture in the same rhythm as the violin completes its ascent, giving the harmony a mildly chromatic inflection toward A.
4:30 [m. 145]--With a slowing (marked “rit.”) the violin now moves up by step as the cello continues its downward motion to a lower register.  Against both instruments, the piano plays another upward gesture.  All of this is on A major, the “subdominant” in E major.  But then all instruments move to a whole-measure chord on A minor.  Despite this, a full arrival and closure on E follows, with the cello punctuating this in an upward motion.
4:39 [m. 148]--Moving back directly to G-sharp minor, the cello plays a double-stop third and holds it for three measures like a drone as the violin plays a rather mournful line in broad quarter-note triplets that winds its way downward.  The piano breaks for two measures, then its left hand joins the cello for a measure on the held third “drone.”  The violin continues its downward triplet motion another measure, then passes it to the cello for two measures, the piano again playing the held third against it.
4:49 [m. 154]--The cello plays a slow downward motion toward a cadence in half notes.  The piano takes over after a measure, slowing to whole notes and moving to full closure.  As it does, the violin and cello play a mournful echo of the opening downward gesture from Theme 2.  The piano echoes this.  In the first ending [mm. 161a-162a], the final G-sharp is directly followed by the “dominant” chord in the home key (and its “relative” key) of B major, leading rather simply back to the exposition repeat, which the piano begins on the upbeat of m. 162a.  However, the change of mood is somewhat jarring.
EXPOSITION REPEATED
5:09 [m. 1]--Theme 1 as at the beginning.  Initial presentation of the first four measures by the piano, then the next four with the cello entry and violin arpeggio.
5:25 [m. 9]--Four-measure closure with cello moving above the piano, as at 0:15.
5:33 [m. 13]--Contrasting phrase with syncopation and buildup in intensity, as at 0:23.
5:47 [m. 21]--Violin takes over the lead with piano syncopation and increasing excitement, as at 0:38.
6:02 [m. 29]--Contrasting phrase led by piano, moving to half-close with powerful chords, as at 0:53.
6:15 [m. 36]--Grand statement of thematic opening with syncopated piano leaps, then isolation of three-note descending motion, as at 1:06.
6:28 [m. 43]--Statements of three-note descent in long, full chords and dotted-rhythm sequel, as at 1:18.
6:41 [m. 51]--Third and fourth statements of long chords, each followed by 3/2 measures, as at 1:32.
6:51 [m. 55]--Mysterious cello statement of theme over “diminished seventh” harmony, as at 1:41.
6:59 [m. 59]--Re-emergence of B major, then music including two more 3/2 measures, as at 1:49.
7:07 [m. 63]--Transition.  Three-note upbeat figures, then quieter short-long chords leading to D-sharp minor, as at 1:56.
7:16 [m. 68]--Three-note upbeat figure and ascent on short-long chords in D-sharp minor, as at 2:06.
7:27 [m. 74]--Expressive descending violin line against rising piano double thirds, as at 2:18.
7:36 [m. 79]--Cello statement of Theme 1 opening in D-sharp major against bass pedal point, as at 2:27.
7:48 [m. 84]--Theme 2 in G-sharp minor.  Initial presentation by piano in octaves, as at 2:38.
8:01 [m. 91]--Phrase in piano octaves beginning higher, then arrival with sliding grace notes, as at 2:52.
8:15 [m. 98]--Disjunct and chromatic line in low piano bass, derived from Theme 1, as at 3:06.
8:26 [m. 104]--Theme 2 played in canon by strings against harmonies in piano right hand, as at 3:17.
8:38 [m. 111]--Cello inversion of violin line, then full arrival on G-sharp minor, as at 3:29.
8:51 [m. 118]--Cello statement of disjunct, chromatic bass line, then timid piano entry moving toward E major, as at 3:41.
9:06 [m. 126]--Closing Theme beginning in E major.  Theme 1 transformed into country dance with up-down motion and canon between piano and violin over cello drone, as at 3:57.
9:20 [m. 134]--Extension of violin arpeggio and cello lead-in to restatement of closing theme, as at 4:11.
9:26 [m. 137]--Cello leading canon in three parts on the closing theme, as at 4:17.
9:40 [m. 145]--Slowing and continuation over A-major and A-minor harmony, as at 4:30.
9:48 [m. 148]--Mournful descending line in G-sharp minor, passed from violin to cello in quarter-note triplets, as at 4:39.
9:58 [m. 154]--Slow downward arpeggio and mournful echoes of Theme 2, as at 4:49.  In the second ending, the piano bass G-sharp in m. 161b slides up a half-step in m. 162b to lead into the development.
DEVELOPMENT
10:14 [m. 163]--The piano bass slides up another half-step, and the violin and cello play yet another echo of the Theme 2 gesture, now suggesting D-sharp minor, a key heavily used in the exposition’s transition passage.  The piano echoes this, with its right hand in a high register.  One more upward slide in the piano bass leads it to B, which is of course the home keynote.
10:25 [m. 169]--The bass B is reiterated, but it turns out to be the “dominant” note in the key of E minor, where the descending Theme 2 gesture is heard a third time in the strings (not counting the one before the exposition repeat).  Again, the piano echoes it in the high register.  The strings then move higher with it but build in volume and continue the downward motion in faster notes as the piano reiterates the last chord twice, then breaks.  The fast string descent is phrased in groups of three, crossing over the bar lines.
10:38 [m. 177]--The groups of three in the continuing string descent are sped up to an actual triplet rhythm in quarter notes, which the piano joins with rising chords.  The volume builds dramatically.  Two highly rhetorical chords confirm the key of E minor.
10:44 [m. 181]--With great passion, the piano erupts into a series of descending octaves in fast notes.  The shape and rhythm of the first gesture followed by the octaves is clearly suggestive of Theme 1.  After a precipitous descent, the piano octaves settle into a rather static pattern with groups of three descending notes followed by an upward leap.  These figures do change, but they remain in the same basic range in both hands, which are two octaves apart.  Against them, the strings enter with the first phrase of Theme 2, played in canon with the violin leading the cello.  This is cut off with two more rhetorical chords and a motion to the key of B minor (which is suggested by the two-sharp key signature).
10:54 [m. 188]--Coinciding with the second chord, the previous passage with the descending piano octaves based on Theme 1 and the string canon on Theme 2 is repeated in B minor.  This time the pattern, with an apparent motion to F-sharp minor, is cut off without the rhetorical chords.
11:03 [m. 195]--The piano now isolates the octave gesture based on Theme 1.  It is passed to the strings (playing in octaves) then back to the piano.  The strings take it again, but then the piano dovetails with them before they finish it.  Three more exchanges, strings, piano, then strings again, reduce the gesture from six notes to four notes.  The exchanges are then cut off by the following new material.
11:12 [m. 201]--Still in B minor, Theme 1 is radically transformed into a frenetic march.  The cello begins playing an insistent fast triplet on the note B (after one statement of it from the violin).  The piano, harmonized in sixths, plays the march version of Theme 1, which includes clipped long-short (dotted) rhythms.  The violin contributes leaping interjections of a ninth falling to an octave as the cello continues its incessant fast triplet on B.
11:18 [m. 205]--The march continues with a second phrase, the violin and piano moving up with their figures as the cello continues to play the triplet on B.  In the second measure of this phrase, the dotted rhythms in the piano begin to move down, supported by long notes in the violin.  The cello’s reiterated B’s slow down from their triplets to “straight” rhythm.
11:23 [m. 208]--The piano octaves now meander downward, adding triplet rhythms of their own and slightly slowing.  They begin to murmur in the triplet rhythm, notated as groups of six.  Against this, the cello plays long notes leading to a key change.  A violin trill punctuates this arrival on C, a half-step above the long preceding section in B minor.  The entire second phrase is extended to six measures.
11:29 [m. 211]--The entire march section is restated in a bright and more jubilant C major.  The cello plays its reiterated triplets on C, and the piano again plays in dotted rhythm, harmonized in sixths.  Again, the violin contributes its leaping interjections of a ninth.
11:35 [m. 215]--Second phrase of the march in C major, analogous to 11:18 [m. 205], with the dotted rhythms moving down supported by long violin notes, and the cello slowing to a “straight” rhythm.
11:40 [m. 218]--The piano octaves again devolve into their triplets and groups of six.  This time, however, the cello does not enter with long notes.  Instead, at the climax, the piano slows down the triplets to quarter notes, extending the passage by a measure.  The harmony seems as if it is moving either to A minor or E major.  A violin double stop suggests the former, but then the cello enters with its trill creating a decisive arrival on E major, complete with a change of key signature.
11:49 [m. 222]--With the arrival on E major, things quiet down and attention now turns to the closing theme.  It begins in the piano, dolce, as it had in the exposition, but the violin adds a new counterpoint derived from its leaping ninths, marked molto leggiero.  One of these leaps is followed by a jagged and detached, but light and sunny downward motion.  The cello starts out with the drone but drops out after two measures.  The violin quickly abandons its new counterpoint to take up the imitation of the theme in canon.  The second piano statement of the upward motion changes the harmony, moving to G-sharp minor.  The imitative violin descent also deviates toward that key.
11:59 [m. 228]--The piano descent and the now non-canonic violin ascent divert the key yet again, from G-sharp minor to B major, its “relative” and the home key.  This does not last long, as the subsequent upward extension moves to a “dominant” chord on D, suggesting a change to the distant key of G major.  Indeed, the familiar cello lead-in from 4:11 and 9:20 [m. 134] confirms this.
12:08 [m. 233]--Statement of closing theme in G major.  The cello, over piano harmony, begins the canon in three parts.  The piano right hand follows (its left hand establishing the drone), and then the violin.  As the cello begins its second ascent, the violin abandons the canon and plays the new light, sunny, detached counterpoint beginning with the leaping ninth it had introduced at 11:49 [m. 222]. 
12:17 [m. 239]--The cello immediately follows with the detached counterpoint, avoiding its second descent.  But now the violin goes back to the original theme and plays its second ascent where it would have occurred.  The piano follows the same pattern as the cello, moving to the new counterpoint theme in place of its second descent, playing in canon with the cello.  At the same time, its left hand, which had been playing the drone, begins the original theme in canon with the violin!  At this point, the canons and counterpoint have become very complex, and Brahms breaks them with a measure marked poco rit.  The piano attempts to complete its statement, but instead a violin extension helps it divert the key back to B.
12:22 [m. 242]--The key signature changes back to the five sharps of the home key, and that key signature will remain in force for the rest of the development.  The piano makes a second, more forceful attempt at the detached counterpoint, now a full-fledged thematic element, as the cello plays the original closing theme in B major.  With a quick motion to the “dominant” key of F-sharp major, the piano adds a new harmony to the detached theme, and the violin takes over the descent of the original theme.
12:28 [m. 246]--Still in F-sharp major, the cello plays a mildly chromatic variant of the ascending line while the piano goes back to an earlier element: the dotted rhythms from the march section.  The cello then descends against the continuing march rhythms.  Both instruments quiet down.  As the cello settles on long low notes, the right hand of the piano breaks from the dotted rhythm to play three-note descents suggesting motion to a cadence.  These are punctuated by a leaping octave and leaping fourth, still in the dotted rhythm, from the left hand.  A skittish upward arpeggio and a descending left-hand octave complete the full cadence, and there is a brief pause.
12:38 [m. 252]--A passionate and unstable passage begins, based on the closing theme and its new counterpoint.  This will lead to the climax of the development section.  It is centered on the keys of D-sharp minor and G-sharp minor.  It begins in the former key, a smooth motion from its “relative” of F-sharp major.  The violin, which has rested for some time, plays the descending line against the bare counterpoint phrase in the piano.  The violin continues with an elaboration of the line and the piano adds two-note slurs on rising and falling half-steps to the left hand against the counterpoint theme.
12:44 [m. 256]--The counterpoint theme moves to the piano left hand.  The cello begins the rising line, but this quickly becomes chromatic, and moves up strictly by half-step for a measure.  Meanwhile, the piano and the violin add the familiar leaping interjections in dotted rhythm.  The piano’s leaps are narrower than the violin’s, sixths or sevenths as opposed to octaves and ninths.  After two measures, the left hand and the cello take over these dotted rhythm gestures, using them for narrow upward leaps and wider downward ones, while the right hand has arching figures harmonized in sixths before adding one more dotted interjection.  These measures drift toward G-sharp minor and build in intensity.
12:50 [m. 260]--The left hand continues with the narrower leaping gestures while the right hand is now unharmonized.  The cello adds two-note stepwise slurs.  The intensity builds even more, and there seems to be a motion back to D-sharp, but it now functions as the “dominant” in the prevailing G-sharp minor.
12:54 [m. 262]--The volume has reached forte, and the piano now plays both major elements.  The counterpoint theme is harmonized in the right hand, while the rising gesture of the closing theme is in solid left-hand octaves.  The cello briefly imitates the right hand while the violin follows the left hand on the rising line.  The left hand then reaches down to the low bass for another statement while the right hand continues in two-note harmonies with figures derived from the counterpoint theme.  The cello plays the wide leaping gestures in dotted rhythm while the violin smoothly arches back down.
12:59 [m. 266]--These elements continue to build, with the cello’s dotted-rhythm figures and the right hand’s harmonies sweeping up in two waves.  The violin rises again while the left hand sweeps down and back up in low octaves.  Everything culminates on a huge dissonant “diminished seventh” chord, played in syncopation by the piano while the strings play it as an arpeggio in contrary motion.
13:04 [m. 269]--The climax arrives with the definitive return of B major.  The string instruments broadly swing back together, still in contrary motion, while the piano passes the figures from the counterpoint theme and the wide leaping gestures between the hands.  After two measures, both hands of the piano play continuous harmonies in the shape of the counterpoint theme and in contrary motion as the cello settles on a continuously reiterated low F-sharp.  The violin vigorously plays the rising gesture from the closing theme three times, higher each time, then splits the fourth statement into two shorter ones.  Meanwhile, the piano figures have reached higher and, in the last measure, become wider.
13:14 [m. 275]--The passage from 12:28 [m. 246] is now repeated in B major.  The cello plays the mildly chromatic variant of the ascending line while the piano plays the dotted rhythms from the march section.  Both instruments quiet down, as they did before.  The three-note descents with left-hand punctuation follow as before, but now the cadence is avoided, and instead of the upward arpeggio, the three-note descents are extended down another measure.  The cello joins them, harmonizing a third below.
13:22 [m. 280]--Re-transition.  The three-note descents are now slowed down and harmonized in sixths for two statements.  The middle note is lengthened, revealing a connection to the main motive of Theme 2.  The octave interjections in the left hand become more isolated and move to “straight” rhythm.  Then the strings echo the same two statements of the slower “Theme 2” descents, also harmonized in sixths.  Through all this, the left hand has been anchored on the “dominant” note F-sharp, forming a “pedal point.”
13:30 [m. 284]--The left hand F-sharps are simplified to one long note per measure.  In B minor, the piano begins an actual harmonized statement of the first phrase from Theme 2.  This is echoed after a measure by the strings.  After the strings complete the phrase, the piano plays the last sighing gesture a step lower.  The left hand finally moves away from the F-sharp.  There are then two slow chords that strongly prepare for the long-awaited entry of the original main theme.
RECAPITULATION
13:46 [m. 292]--Theme 1.  Probably because Theme 2 and the Closing Theme are replaced by an entirely new section, the restatement of Theme 1 is literal.  The presentation of the first eight measures is as at the beginning and 5:09, with the exception that the cello anticipates the violin’s descending arpeggio, playing it against the second and third measures of the theme.
14:02 [m. 300]--Four-measure closure with cello moving above the piano, as at 0:15 and 5:25 [m. 9].
14:10 [m. 304]--Contrasting phrase with syncopation and buildup in intensity, as at 0:23 and 5:33 [m. 13].
14:25 [m. 312]--Violin takes over the lead with piano syncopation and increasing excitement, as at 0:38 and 5:47 [m. 21].
14:40 [m. 320]--Contrasting phrase led by piano, moving to half-close with powerful chords, as at 0:53 and 6:02 [m. 29].
14:53 [m. 327]--Grand statement of thematic opening with syncopated piano leaps, then isolation of three-note descending motion, as at 1:06 and 6:15 [m. 36].
15:06 [m. 334]--Statements of three-note descent in long, full chords and dotted-rhythm sequel, as at 1:18 and 6:28 [m. 43].
15:20 [m. 342]--Third and fourth statements of long chords, each followed by 3/2 measures, as at 1:32 and 6:41 [m. 51].
15:30 [m. 346]--Mysterious cello statement of theme over “diminished seventh” harmony, as at 1:41 and 6:51 [m. 55].
15:38 [m. 350]-- Re-emergence of B major, then music including two more 3/2 measures, as at 1:49 and 6:59 [m. 59].  The upbeat eighth note that had led to the first three-note descent in the previous transition now moves to a rolled B-major chord in the piano and a single note in the violin as the cello begins the fugue subject.
Four-voice Fugue Replacing Transition and Theme 2 (Tempo un poco più Moderato)
15:46 [m.354]--In a most unorthodox move, Brahms replaces the recapitulation of Theme 2 with a full fugue based on an element from the Theme 2 complex.  The fugue subject is the disjunct chromatic line based on Theme 1 as heard in the piano bass on D-sharp at 3:06 and 8:15 [m. 98], then again in the cello on G-sharp at 3:41 and 8:51 [m. 118].  The key signature changes to that of B minor.  The highly chromatic fugue subject is a mixture of major and minor.  The first of the four voices to present it is the cello, beginning on the home keynote of B.  Brahms directs it to be played marcato and pesante.
15:56 [m. 359]--The fugue is structured mostly in five-measure units, with entries of the subject overlapping the closing trill of the previous statement.  Here in the first fugue “exposition,” the top piano voice (here in the piano’s tenor range) plays the next entry starting on the “dominant” note F-sharp.  The cello continues with the first expected trill and then a second one at a higher level.  This leads into the main counterpoint, which is a turning upbeat leading to a longer note
16:04 [m. 364]--The two voices now have a typical “connecting” episode before the next entry.  The cello begins against the piano subject’s closing trill.  It has an arching line followed by another trill.  The piano imitates and overlaps this, playing the arching line against the cello’s trill.  The cello begins the pattern again a step higher, but then its trill is held for a full measure as the piano plays the lead-in to the next entry in the rhythm of the subject’s first four notes.  The connecting episode is four measures long.
16:11 [m. 368]--The lower piano voice (hereafter the “left hand”) plays the subject starting on B.  It begins higher than the previous “higher voice” entry.  That higher voice (now the “right hand”) joins the cello on the counterpoint.  The two voices alternate on the turning upbeats, with the right hand playing them in the middle of the measure.  As the subject approaches its trill, the right-hand voice leads into the final subject entry of the “exposition.”
16:20 [m. 373]--The violin is the fourth and last voice of the fugue.  Its statement of the subject begins on F-sharp.  The cello drops out for two measures, and both hands of the piano now play the upbeat figures in parallel harmony.  In the third measure, the left hand and the re-entering cello emerge into a new element consisting of two descending triplet-rhythm figures on the last beat of the measure.  These are also played in parallel harmony.  At this point, the right hand drops out for the rest of the statement.  The cello and the left hand continue with the triplet-rhythm figures for the last two measures.
16:29 [m. 378]--As the violin plays its trill, the right hand appears to begin another statement on G-sharp, but it only plays the initial rising line before cutting off.  This begins a longer, more complex seven-measure episode.  The first five measures are largely based on the trills along with a descending line using the rhythm of the “turning upbeats.”  Against the right hand’s aborted statement, the violin continues with another trill, then an arching line.  The cello and the left hand, having introduced the descending line, continue with it after a break.  The right hand and the violin also take up the descending line, along with more trills.  In the last two measures, the piano voices return to the triplet figures as the cello turns upward.
16:41 [m. 385]--The fugue culminates with a forceful passage of stretto (overlapping entries of the subject).  Both piano voices now play in octaves.  The left hand plays the subject, starting on A, and completes it in full.  A half-measure later, the cello also begins the subject, and the violin a half-measure after that.  The right-hand voice does not partake in the overlapping entries, but it decorates them with the descending line just introduced in the preceding episode.  The cello subject is not stated completely, but it moves to its trill along with the left hand.  The violin statement cuts off after the rising line, then dissipates into a broken line in long-short rhythm.
16:49 [m. 390]--The fugue’s concluding episode is mostly based on the triplet figures.  As the left hand and the cello play their concluding trills, the right hand begins one more statement of the subject’s rising line, starting on E.  The left hand and cello follow their harmonized trill with the triplet descents, also in harmony.  The violin then enters, inverting the triplet to a rising figure before it turns back down in straight rhythm.  These patterns continue in all voices except the right hand, which follows the rising line from the subject with straight notes harmonizing the triplets in the other three voices.
16:56 [m. 394]--In the last two measures, there is a sudden drop in volume as the cello and left hand move to turning patterns on the triplet rhythm.  The right hand and the violin play long-short patterns, also in the triplet rhythm.  The music emerges back home in B major, with a change back to five sharps.
New Transition and Closing Section
17:00 [m. 396]--Transition from fugue to closing section.  The voices break from their counterpoint.  The following transition passage is completely in triplet rhythm and effectively in 12/8 time.  The strings emerge into a jaunty “hunting” rhythm, followed by the piano.  Both the strings and the piano are in the typical “horn fifth” harmony typical of this “hunting” style.  After two measures, the music quiets down mysteriously as the cello and left hand move together on the triplets while the violin and right hand also join on more isolated gestures.  The key shifts up a whole step, to C-sharp major.
17:08 [m. 400]--The “hunting rhythm” is played again, with the piano leading the strings, the right hand now in octaves.  Things become more animated and boisterous.  After two measures, the intensity builds even more as the “hunting rhythm” reaches up, shifting from C-sharp major to C-sharp minor, and the right hand begins to play some chordal harmonies.  The piano erupts into cascading scales while the strings continue in the bouncy rhythm.  The piano scales shift the harmony again back home to B.
17:19 [m. 406]--The music winds up toward a tremendous climax.  The cascading piano scales now add harmony to the octaves over a powerful low F-sharp in the left hand.  The strings introduce a brief upward motion in “straight” rhythm as the descending piano chords also straighten out the triplets.  The strings then emerge into the plunging triplet scales.  The right hand takes the “straight” upward motion now as the left hand joins the cello on the descent, reaching very low.  Finally, the strings allow the piano to lead into the climax with thunderous scales in contrary motion, played in forceful octaves by the diverging hands.
17:26 [m. 410]--Closing Section.  With hard-earned glory, the main theme emerges in full harmony and scoring.  The left hand plays the familiar syncopations in leaping octaves.  After two measures, the theme is surprisingly, but not rudely interrupted by descending triplets alternating between the hands of the piano, harmonized in thirds.  Against these triplets, the violin plays an echo of the thematic phrase.  The cello enters with a reminiscence of the long-abandoned Theme 2, and Brahms indicates a slowing here.
17:35 [m. 415]--The theme attempts to resume and regain its momentum with the phrase a step higher, in C-sharp minor, but once again the piano triplets in thirds, alternating between the hands, interrupt its progress.  Again, the violin echoes the phrase against this, and again, the cello interjects a reminiscence of Theme 2.
17:45 [m. 420]--The piano serenely resigns itself to the Theme 2 interruption, and responds to the cello with its own reminiscence, in full harmony and with the key shifted up to D major.  The piano chords are marked dolce.  The cello plays its descent again, and the piano responds with slightly higher chords, still in D.  There is then a third exchange between cello and piano, the cello reaching lower and moving back toward B, with the piano response receding in volume.  Finally, the cello confirms B major with one more descent, above which Brahms indicates another slight slowing.  The piano responds with high chords, and this fourth exchange reaches a fleeting moment of suspension before things rush forward again.
17:59 [m. 427]--Transition to Coda.  The violin, which rested for the entire meditation on Theme 2, now takes the lead with a phrase from Theme 1.  It is harmonized and accompanied by undulating broken chords in the piano right hand while the left hand and the cello hold a long F-sharp.  This slides up in syncopation at the end of the phrase.  The entire pattern is then repeated a step higher.  Brahms directs that the music should become louder and faster.  The violin then isolates the first three notes of its phrase, which rapidly rise in three statements over the continuing undulations in the piano.  The passage culminates in a tumbling violin arpeggio on the “dominant” harmony.
CODA - Schneller (Faster)
18:12 [m. 435]--The preceding passage should have accelerated to the new faster tempo.  The piano takes up the violin’s pattern with the three rising notes and the tumbling arpeggio.  Meanwhile, the strings play in a measured trill, breaking at the arpeggio.  Under the arpeggio, the left hand plays a three-note rising pattern that would continue from the right hand if they were in the same octave.  The entire pattern, with the measured string trill, rising three notes, arpeggio, and left-hand continuation, is stated a third higher.  The piano then isolates the three notes without the arpeggio for two rising statements, over which the string trill continues, then breaks into a rising scale fragment.  The piano then plays a longer plunging “dominant” arpeggio.  As it concludes, the violin leads with a rising arpeggio into the next passage.
18:21 [m. 443]--With the indication con forza and fortissimo, Theme 1 is heard in the cello and, harmonized, in the piano bass.  The right hand of the piano plays thick syncopated chords, beginning with several reiterations of the “dominant” harmony before moving to the chord of the home keynote and other related sonorities.  The violin plays a soaring counterpoint.  After the statement of the first phrase from Theme 1 in the bass, the piano plays leaping octaves under the continuing syncopated chords.  These provide a strong prolongation of the “dominant” harmony on F-sharp.  The cello, which has been holding a “pedal point,” leads into the next statement with a rising arpeggio.
18:31 [m. 453]--Now the violin and the piano right hand take up the thematic continuation, with the syncopated chords moving to the left hand and the soaring counterpoint to the cello.  But the phrase cuts off after four measures, yielding to the leaping bass octaves, now in both the piano and cello, with the syncopated chords moving back to the right hand.  There is a strong motion to the harmony of the “relative” key, G-sharp minor.  There, a lead-in arpeggio in quarter note triplets is played by the violin and right hand.
18:39 [m. 461]--The syncopated chords become jubilant, as do the leaping octaves in the left hand and cello.  The violin has been doubling the top notes of the syncopated chords and continues to do so.  Another lead-in arpeggio in quarter note triplets is followed by two powerfully descending arpeggios in the piano and violin, the piano moving down with full harmony in both hands.  The two descents both begin in the second half of the measure, and the first harmony in each is a dissonant “diminished seventh” over a static “pedal point.”  The second is a step lower than the first.  The cello marks each with a rhythmic descent.
18:47 [m. 469]--Now the piano plays four measures of low bass notes followed by high chords punctuated by the violin.  The cello’s rhythmic descent marks each of these chords.  They lead into the final peroration.
18:52 [m. 473]--The piano bass now plays a rapidly arching figure in octaves reminiscent of the closing theme.  The violin and cello play rising fragments of Theme 1 in unison against it while the right hand plays rich chords.  After two rising statements of the pattern, the piano bass octaves isolate the rising line four times without the falling line that had followed it.  The strings isolate the descending figures from the theme in syncopation.  Each bass statement begins a step lower.
19:00 [m. 481]--The remainder of the coda consists of highly rhetorical chords preceded by low bass notes.  These chords are held over bar lines in all three instruments before moving to a shorter chord.  Harmonies such as the “subdominant” E major and the “relative” G-sharp minor are emphasized.  There are four such chords, with the third and fourth of them leading to strong cadential motion.  The cadential motion after the fourth chord prolongs a progression from the “dominant” F-sharp to the chord of the home key, B major.
19:12 [m. 491]--The last three chords represent an early example of a feature that would become common in Brahms: ending a movement with a so-called “plagal” cadence, a final motion from the “subdominant” and its related harmonies to the last chord instead of from the “dominant.”  In this case, Brahms uses the plagal cadence to underscore the rising top notes of the chords, which move from B to C-sharp to D-sharp, ending with the “third” on the top of the final home “tonic” chord.  The strings, however, reiterate the home keynote B against this progression, even adding a fanfare rhythm to emphasize it.  The last chord is held for two measures with a fermata over the second measure.
19:26--END OF MOVEMENT [494 mm.]

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2^nd Movement: Scherzo – Allegro molto; Trio – Più lento (Scherzo and Trio). B MINOR, 3/4 time.
SCHERZO
0:00 [m. 1]--Part 1.  This first section presents two twelve-bar units, subdivided into three four-bar segments, each following the same basic rhythmic pattern.  An upbeat in eighth notes leads into three bars of straight quarter notes, followed by a closing downbeat.  The upbeat to the next segment is in the same bar as the downbeat.  The first four bars are presented by the cello, which plays the basic form of the theme, a closed, arching phrase, at first played lightly and quietly.  The piano immediately responds with the same phrase, now harmonized, but the cello enters a measure later in canon, imitating it directly.  The piano begins the third segment, which consists of downward leaping octaves in the right hand on F-sharp, as the cello quickly finishes its imitation.  Against the octaves, the left hand and cello add thematic harmonies.
0:07 [m. 13]--The violin makes its first entry on the original line, now in F-sharp minor instead of B minor.  It is harmonized directly by the cello while the piano rests.  Everything remains quiet and light.  The violin then repeats its line, but now the piano enters in canon, harmonized in the left hand.  The cello harmonies are changed, moving to a repeated “pedal point” note to accommodate the piano’s canon.  In the third segment, the piano does not quite finish its canon, but moves to upward leaping octaves on C-sharp, which the strings punctuate with upbeat-downbeat figures in harmony.
0:14 [m. 25]--The first part closes with a transitional flourish.  The strings move to and hold the “dominant” chord in B minor, pivoting back there, while the piano plays two cascading arpeggios, each one moving from the right hand to the left over two measures.  The second begins and ends lower than the first, but the entire arpeggio sequence outlines a colorful “diminished seventh” chord.
0:16 [m. 29a]--The four-measure first ending emerges out of the cascading arpeggios and simply consists of the piano left hand gradually zigzagging upward in upbeat-downbeat figures leading into the repeat.
0:19 [m. 1]--Part 1 repeated.  First twelve-bar unit.  Cello statement, piano response with cello canon, then downward leaping octaves, as at the beginning.
0:26 [m. 13]--Second twelve-bar unit.  Violin with cello harmony, repetition with piano canon, and upward leaping octaves, as at 0:07.
0:33 [m. 25]--Transitional flourish with cascading arpeggios, as at 0:14.
0:35 [m. 29b]--Second ending.  After everything has been completely quiet, there is a loud outburst.  The strings move to a bright G-major chord, and the piano plays a continuous four-bar descending arpeggio on that chord, articulating each measure with a small upward leap.  The first three measures are notated in seven-note groups, creating a sense of asymmetry.  The piano lands on a low G, after which the cello, then the violin, play the familiar upbeat from the theme and hold the downbeat, each confirming G major.
0:40 [m. 37]--Part 2.  The long central section is organized in units of eight bars instead of twelve, still subdivided into four-bar segments and following the same rhythmic pattern as before.  As the strings hold their G-major chord, the piano plays the theme, which now has a noble character instead of an ominous and skittish one.  The left hand adds reiterations of the upbeat figure.  The second segment is a new consequent or “answer” to the first one.  This “answer” was not heard in the repetitions and canons of Part 1.
0:44 [m. 45]--The next unit moves to E minor (“relative” to G major).  In full harmony, high in the right hand, the piano plays the theme.  The cello holds a drone fifth while the left hand holds an octave E.  The violin adds upbeat figures and a cadential gesture derived from the leaping octaves.  As with the G-major statement, the second four-measure segment is a consequent or “answer” to the first.
0:49 [m. 53]--The next unit is similar to the previous one, but each “segment” is in a different key.  The new addition is the violin using its upbeat figures to shoot upward from the “dominant” note to the “tonic” note in each key.  The left hand and the cello now reiterate their harmonies, again with upbeat-downbeat motion.  The first segment is in C major, the second (the consequent or “answer”) a step higher, in D minor.
0:54 [m. 61]--This unit adds downward-rushing figures in piano octaves.  These figures turn, then plunge downward over each four-measure segment.  The violin takes the lead on the thematic material, reaching very high, with the cello playing the upbeat figures and leaping octaves.  The first four-bar segment is in another new key, C-sharp minor, while the second one moves toward the home key of B, but this is apparently B major, not minor, as it was in Part 1.  In this “answering” segment, the violin continues upward instead of making the typical downward motion at the end.  The high violin adds to the excitement.
0:59 [m. 69]--The climax comes with a full eight-bar unit in B major.  It follows the statement and answer pattern, but remains in the same key, as did the first two units of Part 2.  The violin doubles the top note of the piano’s high right-hand chords.  The cello and left hand play powerful and active chords.
1:04 [m. 77]--The downward-rushing piano octave figures from 0:54 [m. 61] return with their typical turning motions.  B major has yielded to B minor, but the harmony highly emphasizes the “dominant” F-sharp.  The strings play one typical four-bar segment against the octaves, but then they hold the “dominant” chord for the next four measures as the piano figures make a second tumble down to the low bass.
1:09 [m. 85]--The rhythmic pattern of the units is now somewhat disrupted.  The strings, in thirds, isolate the descending motion of the theme against a held piano F-sharp.  The piano bass then slides up to G preceding a single downward-rushing figure in the right hand, whereupon the strings state their isolated descending motion a half-step higher against the held piano G.  Once again, the piano slides up, now to A-flat, followed by another of the downward-rushing figures a half-step higher.  This one rapidly quiets down.
1:13 [m. 93]--The strings quiet down, but now become more active and continuous with their descending motion.  They begin a half-step higher, as expected, but they next sequence the pattern up a third, then a fifth without any breaks between them, continuously and quickly building.  The piano, meanwhile, has moved up to A, then A-sharp, but without the downward-rushing figures between them.  These half-step motions consistently happen on the last beat of the measure, held over across the bar line.  The strings repeat their last pattern of the sequence, but now the piano right hand doubles their harmony as the fuller volume is again achieved.  With the A-sharp in the bass, the home key of B minor is again asserted.
1:18 [m. 101]--The instruments suddenly quiet down.  Mysteriously, the violin starts to sing a new melody against isolated thematic figures in the piano right hand and ominous leaps in the cello and piano bass.  This melody spins itself over twelve bars, with three thematic fragments in the right hand.  It seems as if it will be extended another four bars to create a “double unit” of sixteen bars, but the last four notes of the melody are broken by full measure rests, extending the last segment to eight bars and the total statement of the melody to twenty.  The piano adds two shorter fragments that punctuate the beginning and the halfway point of this rest-extended segment.  The mysterious melody’s identity will be revealed later.
1:30 [m. 121]--Part 3.  This final portion is a variation of Part 1, moving again to twelve-bar units.  The cello states its familiar thematic opening, now punctuated by short piano chords.  The piano response follows, again with the cello trailing in canon, but a new element is now added, a faster, passionate variant of the mysterious melody in the violin just introduced.  The closure of the violin melody, a long-held note over three measures followed by a downward resolution, happens over the original third segment with the downward leaping octaves.
1:38 [m. 133]--The statement in F-sharp minor led by the violin follows as expected, now with an added bass line in the piano.  But in the second segment, the piano not only plays in canon as expected (the canon now played in the left hand with added harmony), but also adds the new and passionate melody just played by the violin, presenting it in right hand octaves.  Like the violin, the piano concludes the new melody with a long three measure note and a resolution (the latter coming a beat earlier than the violin had).  The upward leaping octaves against the upbeat-downbeat string figures are now entirely in left-hand octaves.
1:45 [m. 145]--The pattern now deviates from Part 1, and elements from Part 2 are introduced.  The violin plays a statement and answer in eight bars, like the units in Part 2, and the piano plays its now familiar downward-rushing figures in the right hand, slightly transformed in shape.  The left hand, then the cello add brief harmonic counterpoint to the violin line.
1:50 [m. 153]--The piano transforms the downward rushing figures into upbeat-downbeat gestures characterized by their opening turns.  These are played continuously, moving down, as the violin isolates the initial upbeat from the theme, gradually moving upward.  The cello punctuates this with its own upbeat figures, but these are rhythmically displaced onto the second beat of the bar.  After four bars of this pattern, the piano extends it two more bars by again reaching upward, breaking into an ecstatic upward reach.
1:54 [m. 159]--The strings drop out, and the piano breaks into cascading arpeggios similar to those at 0:14 and 0:33 [m. 25].  Like those arpeggios, these outline a colorful “diminished seventh” chord, but there are eight notes to each measure (clashing with the triple-time rhythm) instead of six, increased even from the seven-note groups heard in the second ending at 0:35 [m. 29b].  There are four of these eight-note arpeggios, each one an octave lower than the last and beginning with its last four notes.  The left hand punctuates them with the upbeat figure from the theme.  After the last arpeggio lands on F-sharp, the strings enter on that note, repeating it over two measures and slowing down in anticipation of the Trio section.
TRIO (Più lento, B major)
1:59 [m. 165]--Part 1.  The melody is broad and tuneful, with a characteristic sway between longer notes on downbeats (some held over bar lines) and shorter ones off the downbeats.  It is played in the piano’s tenor register in two-note harmonies, with the left hand playing distinctive upbeat figures in the low bass.  After two measures, these bass upbeat figures add a characteristic repeated note reminiscent of the scherzo theme.  Closer inspection reveals that the warm B-major melody was anticipated by the violin’s mysterious entry at 1:18 [m. 101] and the “passionate” variant introduced as a counterpoint to Part 3 at 1:30 [m. 121].  Against this first statement in two phrases, the violin and cello simply hold a long F-sharp.  At the end, after shorter melody figures at the cadence, they play an upward scale to lead into the second statement.
2:15 [m. 181]--Part 1, varied repetition.  The theme is now played by the strings, who break from their long-held unison note.  They play it in pleasing harmonies of sixths and tenths.  Against it, the piano isolates the upbeat figures previously played in the bass (including the characteristic repeated notes), now doubling them in octaves between the hands.  These figures briefly add harmonies at the cadence, then the repeated-note gesture is used to lead into Part 2.
2:32 [m. 197]--Part 2.  It begins with a contrasting period in which the violin doubles the piano’s melodic line.  The cello doubles the upbeat figures in the piano bass.  The first phrase makes a detour toward E major.  The second phrase soars upward rapturously, then settles back down in preparation for the return to the main melodic phrase.  This preparation is extended by two bars from the expected pattern.
2:52 [m. 215]--The return of the main melody has the cello doubling the now higher piano with the violin alone holding the long F-sharp.  The first phrase proceeds as expected.  The second, however, builds upward, creating another contrast and even more anticipation for the climactic final statement.  In this upward buildup, the last part of the first phrase is isolated and used for an ascending sequence.  The held violin notes move up accordingly.  After two rising sequences, the melodic line pauses as the bass figures with their repeated notes continue.  At the same time, the violin erupts into leaping octaves, down and back up, also using the repeated notes.  This continues in another two-bar extension, ratcheting up the tension.
3:11 [m. 233]--The climax is reached with the grandest statement of the Trio theme, presented in full.  The piano is now two octaves higher than its original presentation, its harmonies fuller.  The cello again doubles the piano bass upbeat figures with repeated notes.  What really makes the statement stand out, however, is the violin, which plays in shimmering high tremolo octaves that only gradually move away from and back to the note F-sharp.  When the statement reaches its own high point, the upbeat figures continuously shoot upward, creating a slight cross rhythm, with the repeated-note figure appearing on one downbeat.  The first ending to Part 2 (mm. 247a-248a) zigzags downward in piano and violin to lead into the repeat.
3:27 [m. 197]--Part 2 repeated.  Contrasting period with two-bar extension, as at 2:32.
3:47 [m. 215]--Return of main melody, then new buildup and extension with leaping violin, as at 2:52.
4:06 [m. 233]--Climax with grand statement, as at 3:11.  The first measure of the second ending (m. 247b) comes to a full stop, in contrast to the immediate “lead-in” from the first ending.
4:21 [m. 248b]--Re-transition to Scherzo reprise.  The cadence is repeated by the piano, adding a rolled chord.  It is then echoed by the strings in strongly plucked chords.  The strings then hold a low B as the piano isolates the cadence gesture in low bass octaves, moving to minor and playing it twice in descending sequence, quickly diminishing in volume.  It becomes suspended on the “dominant” note F-sharp, punctuated by plucked strings.  This sets up the return of the scherzo with the following upbeat.
SCHERZO REPRISE (Tempo primo)
4:35 [m. 261]-- Part 1.  First twelve-bar unit.  Cello statement, piano response with cello canon, then downward leaping octaves, as at the beginning and 0:19.
4:43 [m. 273]-- Second twelve-bar unit.  Violin with cello harmony, repetition with piano canon, and upward leaping octaves, as at 0:07 and 0:26 [m. 13].
4:50 [m. 285]-- Transitional flourish with cascading arpeggios, as at 0:14 and 0:33 [m. 25].
4:52 [m. 289]--Loud outburst in G major with arpeggio in seven-note groups, then thematic upbeats from the strings, as at 0:35 [m. 29b].
4:57 [m. 297]--Part 2.  First eight-bar unit.  Noble piano statement in G major, as at 0:40 [m. 37].
5:02 [m. 305]--Statement in E minor with cello drone fifth and violin decorations, as at 0:44 [m. 45].
5:06 [m. 313]--Statement in C major and D minor with upward-shooting violin figures, as at 0:49 [m. 53].
5:11 [m. 321]--Statement led by violin beginning in C-sharp minor and moving toward B major, with downward-rushing piano octaves, as at 0:54 [m. 61].
5:16 [m. 329]--Climactic statement in B major, as at 0:59 [m. 69].
5:21 [m. 337]--Downward-rushing piano octaves plunge to low bass as strings move to a held “dominant” chord, as at 1:04 [m. 77].
5:25 [m. 345]--Isolation and sequential statements of thematic descending motion in strings and downward-rushing piano figures, as at 1:09 [m. 85].
5:30 [m. 353]--Active and continuous motion with buildup in volume and rise in pitch, culminating in full assertion of B minor, as at 1:13 [m. 93].
5:35 [m. 361]--Emergence of new melody in violin, now known to be an embryonic version of the Trio theme, as at 1:18 [m. 101].
5:48 [m. 381]--Part 3.  Cello opening with piano response and canon, now with added passionate “Trio” melody in violin, as at 1:30 [m. 121].
5:54 [m. 393]--Statement led by violin with passionate melody in piano, as at 1:38 [m. 133].
6:03 [m. 405]--Violin statement and answer in eight bars with rushing piano figures, as at 1:45 [m. 145].
6:07 [m. 413]--Continuous upbeat-downbeat gestures in piano with isolated upbeat figures in violin and cello, then ecstatic upward extension, as at 1:50 [m. 153].
6:11 [m. 419]--Cascading eight-note arpeggios on “diminished seventh” harmony with upbeat figures in left hand, as at 1:54 [m. 159], but they are reduced from four to three, cut off by the beginning of the coda.
CODA
6:14 [m. 423]--Quietly and lightly, the cello uses the rhythm of the scherzo theme to reach upward, ending with a descending octave.  At the same time, the piano plays colorful full-measure chords in a descending pattern.  The cello then begins a second pattern an octave higher, with the piano chords beginning again at a higher level, but the cello passes the pattern to the violin after one measure.  The violin cuts off the pattern before the descending octave.  The cello repeats the violin’s last notes.  At the same time, the piano chords become slower, being held for two measures.  The violin/cello sequence is repeated a step lower, at which point the tempo is marked “Un poco più lento.”
6:20 [m. 433]--At this point Brahms directs both strings to play pizzicato, and they are plucked until the final chord.  The downward sequence of violin/cello alternation continues, but the quick eighth-note upbeat is replaced by a single quarter note.  For the first exchange, the piano chord is again two measures long.  But the strings then completely slow down the momentum by doubling the length of their exchanges, placing a rest between the second and third notes, the last note now moving down instead of up.  The perceived meter is two slower 3/4 measures superimposed onto four notated ones.  The piano chords are now four notated measures.
6:25 [m. 439]--The new four-bar pattern continues over three more iterations of the downward sequence (for a total of four), with the piano playing a long chord for each of them.  The effect is of a sudden braking to the forward motion.
6:36 [m. 450]--Because of the metric ambiguity created by the longer violin/cello exchanges, the last measure of the fourth exchange (m. 450) is able to double as the first measure of the next one, with the transitional note F-sharp on the middle beat of the notated bar.  The last piano chord is B major, not minor, and it will be held for seven measures.  Against it, the violin, then the cello, lead from F-sharp to a descending octave on B.  Each instrument then stretches that octave out, with two rests between each note, creating even more of a slowing effect, which is even marked “ritard.”
6:45 [m. 458]--The strings take their bows again and join the piano on the final hushed B-major chord as the energy of this highly energetic movement is now completely drained.  They play an octave F.  While this quiet major chord is a perfect lead-in for the following movement, Brahms must have realized that the complete dissipation of the forward momentum and the change of timbre to pizzicato strings resulted in a strangely ineffective ending, thus prompting him to completely recompose the coda in the revised version.
6:59--END OF MOVEMENT [459 mm.]

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3^rd Movement: Adagio non troppo – Allegro – Tempo primo (Modified ternary form with extended closing section [ABA’C]).  B MAJOR, 4/4 time with one 2/4 measure.
A Section
0:00 [m. 1]--The main theme is hushed, understated, and still.  The piano presents the opening in chorale-like descending chords marked by a long-short rhythm in the middle.  As the piano completes its statement, the strings enter with an answer.  It is slightly more active, with moving notes in the violin harmonized by the cello.  The answering phrase ends with its own “questioning” gesture, a light grace note in the violin.
0:27 [m. 7]--The piano begins its phrase again, starting in the same way, but veering toward the “relative” G-sharp minor at the end.  The string answer confirms the minor-key detour.  The cello is more active this time, and the phrase again ends with a light grace note in the violin.
0:55 [m. 13]--The piano begins its third statement, this time moving from G-sharp minor back to B major., now with a more decisive conclusion.  This time the string answer is more decisive, with downward leaps and another harmonic turn, this time to E major.  The grace note is omitted, as is the measure-long chord.
1:19 [m. 18]--Now the piano and strings engage in shorter exchanges beginning in E major.  The piano plays a simple one-measure descent, and the strings respond with a short rising line.  The piano repeats its short descent, but the strings now extend their response, which moves the harmony back to B major.  It seems as if the strings will complete their arrival, but they are interrupted by another piano entrance.
1:50 [m. 25]--Now the piano and strings finally come together.  The first piano entry dovetails with the conclusion of the strings’ previous extended phrase.  The strings then enter against the piano’s mildly chromatic continuation for one measure, the violin moving down and the cello moving up.  The piano then leads for another measure, reaching higher, before the strings again enter, with the violin an octave lower and the cello a third lower.
2:09 [m. 29]--All three instruments now play together in longer notes, moving toward an extremely satisfying final cadence.  This cadence is slightly delayed, with the anticipatory “dominant” chord being held over the bar line in the right hand and the strings (the left hand does move on the downbeat) and the arrival finally coming midway through the measure.  There is hardly time to linger on this cadence.  It has closed off an extremely still, yet highly intense opening section, and its much-awaited resolution barely happens before the piano launches directly into the contrasting B section.
B Section (E major)
2:29 [m. 33]--The piano, with an upbeat, begins a broadly lyrical melody in E major, harmonized in the right hand with low bass octaves.  The strings begin to play pizzicato, plucking out widely leaping accompanying figures and passing them between each other in alternation.  These figures begin with a wide leap of more than an octave and then a smaller leap back down.  The piano melody itself has a song-like character, and indeed it seems to be, if not a quotation, then at least an oblique reference to Schubert’s song “Am Meer” (“On the Sea”) from the cycle Schwanengesang. 
2:46 [m. 37]--The second phrase has moved to B major.  In the first measure, a triplet rhythm is heard in an inner piano voice, and the plucked violin notes also match this rhythm, briefly breaking from the pattern.  The second measure has a broad downward motion leading to an interrupted cadence in B.  After two chromatic chords, this downward motion is stated again, reaching lower and extending the phrase to five measures.  At the end, the violin briefly breaks from the pattern again and plays a descending arpeggio before both strings take their bows.
3:06 [m. 42]--The strings now take over the melodic presentation in a harmonically active sequence.  The cello leads the violin in a series of dovetailing phrases.  These have an upward motion beginning with a long-short (dotted) rhythm.  The piano, meanwhile, moves to the accompaniment with arching arpeggios in triplet rhythm (notated as six-note groups with a rest on the first “note” of the group).  Its left-hand bass supports these rhythms in low octaves.  The strings move through F-sharp major on the first upward motion, then appear to arrive on C-sharp minor with the second sequence.
3:22 [m. 46]--The strings come together in C-sharp minor, beginning with a poignant dissonance that is resolved by the cello’s descent.  The cello descends in straight notes while the violin moves down melodically, mostly stepwise, and adding syncopation.  The piano’s “sextuplet” accompaniment patterns continue.  A full arrival on C-sharp minor is avoided, and the descending pattern in the violin begins again against a held cello note.  This time, it is diverted toward G-sharp minor at the end.  Finally, the strings come together rhythmically with a gentle descent, slowing and moving toward a full cadence on E major.
3:39 [m. 50]--The piano fulfills the cadence as the strings drop out for two measures.  It continues with a gentle closing gesture that is stated twice, the second time with a mild syncopation beginning off the beat.  The strings then enter, with the violin echoing the piano’s syncopated gesture.  The piano moves to simple accompanying chords.  The strings briefly divert the key to A major, adding harmonic color, and the violin begins the non-syncopated gesture there.  This diversion does not last long, and the gesture is completed back in E major.  To finish this “coda,” the piano, then the strings each play a measure of sighing cadence figures.  The conclusion in the strings overlaps directly with the return of the A section material.
A’ Section
4:13 [m. 58]--As the strings complete their cadence in E major to close the B section, the piano begins the main theme of the A section with a direct, unmediated motion back to B major.  The first chorale-like chords are placed slightly higher, their pitches and harmonies altered to facilitate the somewhat abrupt transition back to B.  A new “leaning” chord is added on the downbeat of the second measure.  By the third measure, the harmonies have come close to the original orientation. 
4:26 [m. 61]--With the arrival in the fourth measure, the piano does not rest for the string answer, but begins a delicate, high decorative line with six-note groups in triplet (or sextuplet) rhythm.  The strings enter as expected and play their original answer from the opening without alteration, including the violin grace note.  The piano’s embellishment is entirely in the right hand.  It begins by meandering up and down, gradually extending outward, then emerging into downward arching figures before reaching even higher and circling back down against the held string chord with the grace note.
4:38 [m. 64]--While this phrase corresponds to 0:27 [m. 7], there are significant and artful changes.  First, the piano adds a descending inner voice in eighth notes under its first chord.  Then, in the second measure, there is a subtle, but effective harmonic diversion that causes the music to move not to the expected “relative” G-sharp minor, but to the totally unrelated B-flat minor, a half-step below the main key.  When the strings enter with their response, it is in that key.  Again, the piano adds right-hand embellishments in triplet rhythm.  From the second measure, these have a distinct upward-striving reach.
5:04 [m. 70]--Corresponding to 0:55 [m. 13], the piano now must move from B-flat minor back to B major, which it does, again including the descending inner voice in eighth notes under the first chord.  The harmonic shift happens with an extra “leaning” chord in the second measure (as heard in the first phrase of this section).  B major has fully returned with the third measure, and the string answer is as it was in the corresponding passage.  The piano, of course, again adds its triplet decoration in the right hand, but this time there is a large downward reach at the same time the violin is leaping down.
5:26 [m. 75]--This passage very closely matches that at 1:19 [m. 18], in both the piano and strings, with the major exception that the triplet decorations continue throughout the exchanges.  The decorations are placed in an inner voice when the piano is playing its chords, and they continue under the string responses.  Under the second, more extended string response, not only do the decorative figures continue, but a bass octave on F-sharp is added during the last two measures as the right hand reaches up rapturously.  Where before, the string arrival was interrupted by the piano entry on the concluding passage of the main section, it is now interrupted by an entirely new and wholly unexpected full closing section in a surprising “Allegro” tempo.
Extended Closing Section (C Section) – Allegro (doppio movimento)
5:56 [m. 82]--At double the speed, the piano rushes forth quietly, but passionately building in a new, fully harmonized melody that bears a vague resemblance to the theme from the B section.  The bass line is doubled by the cello.  The violin remains silent at first.  After four measures, there is one inserted 2/4 bar.
6:04 [m. 87]--The cello moves up to a higher F-sharp, which it sustains for four measures.  In the meantime, the piano continues its joyous outburst, breaking into reaching and falling figures with left-hand thirds rising in syncopation.  These thirds then slowly move down with some chromatic notes as the right hand emerges into quieter rising octave figures.  These in turn speed up to triplet rhythm, with downward steps followed by upward leaping octaves.  With these triplets, the cello briefly moves away from its sustained F-sharp, and the violin makes its first entry of this section, playing fragments of the melody.
6:14 [m. 93]--The cello moves back to the F-sharp, and the piano repeats the rising octave figures against the descending thirds.  Before they speed up to the triplet rhythm, however, they are diverted up a half-step, and the key suddenly shifts from B major to C major.  There, the triplets are heard, and the violin again plays its melodic fragments.
6:21 [m. 97]--The triplet figures move to the piano bass, and above them, the right hand begins the “Allegro” melody anew in C major.  This time, however, it expands upward after two measures.  With the cello taking a brief break, the violin comes in to double the piano’s melodic notes on this upward expansion.  Although there are some chromatic notes, it seems as if this very excited, rapidly building passage will make a grand arrival on a C-major cadence.
6:28 [m. 101]--The expected cadence arrives melodically, but it is thwarted harmonically by a low bass F-sharp and an underlying A-minor chord in the right hand.  The resulting dissonance increases the agitation, but the volume rapidly recedes.  The triplet figures are now passed from the cello to the violin as the piano breaks into bell-like chords that steadily move down the keyboard.  These chords are all on the harmony of A minor, but the string triplets, especially in the cello, are more suggestive of G major.  In the fourth measure, the piano chords and violin triplets further complicate things with the chromatic note E-flat.
6:35 [m. 105]--A new sequence of the string triplets and bell-like piano chords begins with new harmonies.  The bell-like chords are now “diminished,” and seem to suggest B-flat major (along with the string triplets, which now include F-natural in the cello), but there is never any arrival on that key or even on that note.  The passage simply sustains the suspense without hinting at a cadence.  This sequence is extended two measures beyond the last one.
6:45 [m. 111]--Abruptly, the harmonies shift again, this time back to the “dominant” in the home key of B major, where the alternating string triplets are heard.  The piano breaks into more forceful leaping gestures derived from the main melody of this “Allegro” section.  These settle down over four statements, and the music is now firmly back home in B.
6:52 [m. 115]--The left hand of the piano begins to play a slow trill in six-note groups (triplet rhythm).  The right hand sustains long thirds as the cello inverts the “leaping gestures” derived from the “Allegro” theme, arching down instead of up.  The piano breaks its left-hand trill and responds very forcefully with the original gestures in full harmony in both hands.  The trill begins again.  The whole passage is repeated in the piano, but now the cello plays the figures in their original direction and the violin responds to them in a brief canonic imitation.  The last piano gesture reaches a third higher than before.
7:05 [m. 123]--The climax is reached with the original “Allegro” melody in the piano bass and the cello.  The right hand, doubled for a few notes by the violin, plays full chords moving in the opposite direction from the thematic bass.  After two measures, the left hand reiterates a low “pedal point” on F-sharp.  It is asked to alternate these low bell-like octaves with the continuing contrary motion above it, which deviates from the original melody and intensifies it.  The cello doubles the lower part while the violin rests for four measures.  Then the violin enters to double the upper piano part in a continuing buildup.
7:22 [m. 133]--The pedal point and the buildup break off in a series of low reiterations of the home keynote B followed by chords in both the piano and the strings, playing double and triple stops.  These chords speed up from one to a measure to two, then four, moving down and settling to a quiet murmur.  The piano then plays a figure that is a more distinct and direct reference to the B section, specifically its closing gesture.  The violin echoes this, and then the piano repeats it with added syncopation.  Finally, the strings slow this gesture down with doubled note values before descending gently into the brief reprise of the main theme.
Coda – Tempo primo
7:53 [m. 149]--The conclusion returns to the A section, with a near-exact repetition of the closing passage from 1:50 [m. 25].  Although it lacks the piano decorations heard in the A’ section, the resumption here could have followed it seamlessly, as if the big “Allegro” interruption had never happened.  Indeed, Brahms would take advantage of this in the 1889/91 revision, simply cutting the “Allegro” and splicing this closing onto the A’ section.
8:12 [m. 153]--The longer chords and cadence from 2:09 [m. 29] bring the movement to a close.  That cadence had been cut off by the immediate beginning of the B section, but here Brahms makes things more conclusive by repeating the chord after the delayed resolution, adding another measure with a fermata.  He also changes the last string note from a doubling of the piano’s B to a high, suspended F-sharp.
8:48--END OF MOVEMENT [157 mm.]

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4^th Movement: Finale – Allegro molto agitato (Varied Sonata-Allegro form with Rondo elements). B MINOR, 3/4 time.
EXPOSITION
0:00 [m. 1]--Theme 1.  The cello presents the obsessively driven main theme with its distinctive dotted (long-short) rhythm that punctuates the end of every other bar.  The piano accompanies with sweeping arpeggios in triplets.  In each bar, one left-hand triplet is followed by two in the right.  After two statements of a four-measure unit featuring the dotted rhythm, the cello soars up and down in two arpeggios, each followed by a cadence gesture.  The second of these slows greatly to a suspended arrival on the “dominant” harmony.  Despite the agitation, the theme is light and secretive, with the cello marked mezza voce.
0:21 [m. 18]--The theme is now stated by the violin, the cello moving to plucked punctuations.  The initial four-measure units with the dotted rhythm are played as expected, as is the first arpeggio.  But here Brahms inserts a new element.  The violin plays the arpeggio, but without its cadence gesture.  It is immediately imitated by the cello, reaching slightly higher.  Only then does the violin play the original second arpeggio with its cadence gesture and slowing to the “dominant” harmony.  Even this is modified slightly, with an approach to the cadence in faster notes and directional changes in the piano arpeggios.  The cello doubles the violin in the approach to the cadence, which now omits a held measure.
0:44 [m. 38]--The new imitation between violin and cello is played again, with the key shifted to G-sharp minor.  The imitation is followed by the arpeggio with the cadence gesture in the form just heard, still in the violin, with the cadence doubled by the cello.  The slowing is now to an arrival on G-sharp.  The piano arpeggios continue almost obsessively and persistently.
0:55 [m. 46]--The cadence gesture itself is now isolated and decorated in the violin, with the cello adding two closing notes.  It is stated twice, with the piano arpeggios now including descents in the right hand.  The volume builds, and a third statement begins.  This expands, with the violin playing two downward leaps.  It reaches a high point, then plunges down, the piano shadowing this with a cascading arpeggio, still in the triplet rhythm.  It is at the point of the downward plunge where the revised version will deviate and take its own path.  Here, as there, the passage shifts from G-sharp minor back to B minor.
1:06 [m. 56]--Transition.  The cadence gesture is combined with the main dotted rhythm.  The strings forcefully play the former in octaves, given sharpness by a crushing grace note or appoggiatura.  The piano responds with chords in the dotted rhythm.  Three such exchanges lead to F major and F-sharp minor.  The strings add a dissonant half-step clash at the end of their third cadence gesture. 
1:15 [m. 65]--The strings now abandon the cadence gesture and alternate with the piano on the dotted rhythm.  After two of these briefer exchanges, the strings attempt to begin another one, but the piano then completely takes over, hammering the rhythm and making a full arrival on C-sharp major.  The piano punctuates this with a three-note descent followed by an octave leap.  This is then converted into an odd sort of canon between the strings.  The violin follows the cello first by a beat and a half, quickly reduced to a beat by a subtly held note on the cello’s first octave leap.
1:28 [m. 77]--After a three-note rising upbeat leading from C-sharp to F-sharp, the entire pattern is repeated a fifth higher, beginning on F-sharp minor.  The string and piano exchanges are played at the new pitch level as they were at 1:06 [m. 56], leading to C major and C-sharp minor.
1:37 [m. 86]--The short exchanges on the dotted rhythm and the forceful piano takeover follow as they did at 1:15 [m. 65], but the piano’s arrival is now on A-flat major (notated as G-sharp major).  The piano punctuation and string canon follow on that level as they did before.
1:49 [m. 98]--The piano punctuation and string canon are repeated, but inflected to minor (G-sharp minor).  As the volume quiets down, the cello drops out, and the violin continues its pattern for three more measures, still becoming softer.  At the same time, the piano enters with a low bass octave on C-sharp.  Chords above it, heard under the continuing violin, lead along the circle of fifths to F-sharp major, where Theme 2 will be played.  After its three-measure continuation, the violin moves to C-sharp, serving as the preparatory “dominant” harmony for Theme 2 in F-sharp.
1:58 [m. 105]--Theme 2 (F-sharp major).  The cello enters with the full presentation of the broadly lyrical theme.  It is essentially a quotation of “Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder,” the last song of Beethoven’s cycle An die ferne Geliebete.  This song had been quoted by Schumann at the end of his C-major Fantasie (Op. 17), which was probably significant for Brahms.  The presentation in four six-measure phrases is accompanied by the piano right hand in a continuation of the figuration used for the “canon,” with three-note descents followed by octave leaps, moving with the melody.  The left hand plays long bass notes and octaves.  The pattern breaks up into short figures under the fourth phrase, which comes to a full cadence.
2:23 [m. 129]--The cello continues the Theme 2 complex in a contrasting passage with the same rhythmic swing, but which has more chromatic inflections.  The six-bar phrase structure continues.  At this point, the piano moves to the triplet arpeggios it had used to accompany Theme 1.  At the same time, the violin makes entries on the main rhythm of Theme 1.  There are two of these interjections against each of the first two cello phrases.  In the third phrase, after one violin interjection, everything slows down and recedes, including the piano arpeggios.  The key center has moved to E major.
2:43 [m. 147]--Very slowly, sostenuto molto, the cello holds a note over a bar line and leads into a statement of the theme’s first phrase in E major.  The piano accompaniment is reduced to single triplet arpeggios whose notes are held to form chords.  These are held over for a full measure in the third and sixth measures of the phrase.
2:52 [m. 153]--The violin enters, similarly holding a note over a bar line, but it shifts back to the theme’s main key of F-sharp major.  Still at the slow tempo, it plays the first phrase of the theme, with a new counterpoint in the cello.  The piano moves to alternating left-hand octaves and right-hand chords on each beat, creating two-beat units that cross over the main triple meter.  During the first phrase, the violin gradually picks up speed and is back in the main tempo for the second and third phrases, which proceed as expected with the new counterpoint and piano accompaniment.
3:13 [m. 171]--The original fourth phrase is transformed into a chromatic variant with sighing violin figures and cello arpeggios.  The piano has already moved from its two-beat alternations at the end of the last phrase, and now plays slow arpeggios.  All three instruments slow down and come to a pause on a colorful “diminished seventh” chord.
3:24 [m. 177]--Closing section.  The violin plays an arching figure that descends with short upbeat notes and then ascends in longer notes.  The piano combines its arpeggios with imitations of the violin on the short upbeat notes, along with rolled chords.  The phrase is played twice, the second time with a higher opening note.  After this, the cello, which has been playing punctuating bass notes, moves back to the main rhythm of Theme 1, playing it on the note F-sharp, alternating high and low.  Against this, the violin plays sweeping downward leaps and the piano becomes more agitated, with more frequent rolled chords.
3:33 [m. 185]--The violin’s leaps are sped up to two-beat units instead of long-short ones.  This crosses the prevailing triple meter.  The piano right hand moves to figurations suggestive of canonic passages from the transition, with the three-note descents and octave leaps.  These follow the violin, also obscuring the meter, and the cello’s octaves, now not including the dotted rhythm, follow both the piano and violin.  After four measures of this cross-rhythm “hemiola,” in which the violin simply alternates its top notes, the violin reaches up to a high note, under which the piano plays a plunging arpeggio in both triplet and “straight” rhythm.  The cello plays a simple upward arpeggio, then punctuates the piano plunge as everything comes to a brief pause.
DEVELOPMENT
3:43 [m. 195]-- Brahms indicates a slightly slower speed and mezza voce.  The violin and cello in octaves begin to play Theme 1 in the home key of B minor after the exposition has closed in F-sharp major.  This may seem like an exposition repeat or a rondo-like return, but after the first four measures, the string instruments move the thematic opening down a step.  After four measures there, they move those same measures down another step, creating a downward sequence with three statements of these measures.  The piano arpeggios now arch in “straight” rhythm, with a faster ascent and a slower descent. 
3:57 [m. 207]--The piano settles on two measure-long B-major chords.  These are marked mezza voce, as is the thematic fragment in the strings that follows them (and which the piano briefly joins).  The piano chords and string response are stated a second time.  The piano chords are then heard a third time, but the left hand is moved down a third to G major, creating a dissonance, and the string response is a third higher.  This exchange is also shortened by a measure, cutting off the first note of the string fragment and placing the dotted rhythm at the end of the measure with the second chord.  A second statement of this shorter exchange is given with the dissonant left hand and the higher string response.
4:14 [m. 221]--Suddenly loud, the piano plays two E-minor chords.  The violin responds with the dotted rhythm, doubled by the piano, which harmonizes it on E minor.  The cello and left hand then play the dotted rhythm on C-natural, moving down to B.  This entire pattern, beginning with the dotted rhythm in the violin and right hand and continuing with the cello and left hand, is repeated an octave lower and slightly quieter.  A second repetition another octave lower begins at an even quieter level, but it breaks off before the cello (now without the piano left hand) would have moved down to B.
4:22 [m. 228]--The instruments settle to a held chord on E minor (the “subdominant”), which has been emphasized, but then move to F-sharp major (the “dominant”) and back to E minor.  After a brief slowing, the harmony moves unexpectedly to the “dominant” chord in D major, the “relative” key.  There, the cello begins to pulsate, placing a long-short rhythm on the last beat of the measure
4:30 [m. 235]--The pulsing cello introduces an entirely new melody in D major, played by the violin.  The pulsations continue, but they are passed between the cello and the piano.  The piano also supports and harmonizes the violin melody.  The pulsations, which after two exchanges have begun to move away from the “dominant” note A, are then taken entirely by the cello again.  The violin melody is soaring and expressive, but not clearly related to Theme 1 or Theme 2.  It is 12 measures long and moves to G major at the end over syncopated piano chords, with the cello pulsations punctuating on that note.
4:43 [m. 247]--After the violin melody closes, the piano pivots abruptly to another new and more distant key, E-flat major.  There, it plays a richly harmonized chorale-like melody that still has a buoyant swing.  The chorale melody’s second phrase pivots artfully back to G.  The strings have paused for the entirety of this “chorale” statement, but the cello enters again with its pulsations on G, as if the “chorale” interruption had not happened.
5:00 [m. 263]--Shifting back to D major, the violin melody begins again against the cello and piano pulsations.  The first eight measures are the same as they were at 4:30 [m. 235], but with the pulsations switching from cello to piano again in the last measure.  The thematic statement is then expanded.  First, the previous four measures are repeated with new harmony emphasizing the “dominant” in D major.  Then the violin and piano reach higher.  As they move down, they, along with the cello pulsations, settle on a colorful “diminished seventh” chord.  The chord is reiterated and inverted, but it remains in force for five measures, settling down to the piano pulsating and fading out on a low bass A.
5:25 [m. 287]--The “chorale” melody from 4:43 [m. 247] is presented again, this time remaining on D, but transformed to minor.  The cello now carries the melody above the piano chords.  These chords are highly chromatic, including the “Neapolitan” and “Augmented sixth” chords, but the second phrase remains in D minor.  It ends on the preparatory “dominant,” anticipating the D-minor return of Theme 1.  The entire presentation is extremely hushed.  Brahms marks the statement pianissimo possibile.
5:43 [m. 301]--In yet another “false return” of Theme 1, its first two four-measure units are played by the violin in D minor as the key signature changes to the single flat of that key.  The piano plays the expected triplet accompaniment, but the triplets are entirely in the right hand against isolated bass notes, and the figures are simply repeated three times in each bar before they change in the next bar. The cello joins in counterpoint on the second statement, unexpectedly using the new “chorale” melody.  The first soaring arpeggio is played by the piano right hand in octaves, with the triplets moving to the left hand.  The continuation with the cadence gesture is strikingly changed to suggest a new harmony, B-flat major.
5:57 [m. 313]--The second arpeggio and cadence gesture are not heard.  Instead, the first four-measure unit is stated again, now by the cello and the piano left hand, with the violin playing the counterpoint of the “chorale” melody.  The triplets continue as before in the right hand.  After this first unit, the violin drops out, and the cello, with the piano bass, appears to begin the second statement, but the dotted rhythm stalls on the chromatic note A-flat, which is used to pivot again to E-flat.
6:06 [m. 322]--Unexpectedly, the violin emerges into Theme 2 in E-flat major against the low A-flat in the cello and piano bass.  Its first two six-measure phrases are played in full.  Under it, the piano moves to arching figures in straight rhythm.  The cello enters in an apparent imitation in the fourth measure, but the imitation breaks, and it emerges into a counterpoint, with the cello rapturously reaching very high against the violin presentation of the Theme 2 melody.
6:19 [m. 334]--The statement of Theme 2 does not continue as expected.  The violin appears to begin the first phrase again, but the cello ominously brings in the dotted rhythm from Theme 1.  The piano, however, changes its triplet arpeggios to a rippling downward motion, as if to counter the cello.  The violin quickly deviates from the theme and reaches up again in a pair of sequences.  The intensity and the speed both increase.  The harmony becomes unstable.  It moves away from E-flat, back through D minor and then C major before the downward marching dotted rhythm in the cello (reinforced by the piano bass) and a forceful zigzag motion in the violin lead again to the “dominant” harmony in D--but that is not the goal.
6:32 [m. 347]--Re-transition.  The massive harmonic transition here is to the “dominant” harmony in the home key of B minor, indicating that the recapitulation will begin soon.  The piano now plays sweeping arpeggios up and down the keyboard as the left hand and cello interject with the persistent dotted rhythm.  The violin plays isolated cadence gestures that seem to indicate a hugely satisfying arrival on B minor, an anticipation that increases when the violin moves back to the zigzag motion (supported by the piano bass) on the highly expectant “dominant” harmony against joyously arching arpeggios in the piano right hand.
6:41 [m. 356]--The recapitulation would be completely expected here, and indeed Theme 1 does return in the violin.  The key of B minor, however, does not, despite the big setup.  The piano bass does reiterate the note B, as does the cello, which continues to interject the dotted rhythm against the theme, but the harmony in the cascading piano arpeggios does not support it.  Not only that, but the violin’s feverish statement of the Theme 1 melody is a step too high.  This is the third and most deceptive “false return.”  The first two four-measure units are played over very unstable harmony that vaguely suggests E minor/major.
6:49 [m. 364]--The first soaring arpeggio and cadence gesture is played by the violin, which reaches high, with the cello entering a measure later in counterpoint.  The piano arpeggios tumble down after initial bass octaves.  This continues through the first cadence gesture.  The harmony suggests F-sharp minor, indicating a potential transformation into “dominant” harmony to finally prepare the return of B minor.  The second arpeggio is heard then heard in the expanded version as originally played at 0:21 [m. 18], with the cello again entering in quasi-imitation.
6:57 [m. 372]--The strings feverishly approach the second cadence gesture in contrary motion, but this is greatly expanded, with the faster upbeat reiterated three times as the violin steadily moves down.  The piano arpeggios also plunge down continuously over these reiterations.  The cello continues to play in the opposite direction against them.  The harmony of these upbeat gestures is F-sharp minor, not yet transformed to major to serve as a preparatory “dominant.”  Finally, the strings in octaves play the cadence gesture, fortissimo.  Only then do we hear F-sharp major emerge as a “dominant” in held string chords and rushing piano arpeggios, arching up and down over three measures before finally arriving at a held chord.
RECAPITULATION
7:09 [m. 381]--Continuation of Theme 1.  The delayed, but massive “dominant” preparation would seem to herald the long-awaited return to B minor, but since the first part of Theme 1 has already been played in the re-transition, Brahms continues as if it had been the return.  This means another harmonic curveball as the passage corresponding to 0:44 [m. 38] is now played.  This, of course, is in G-sharp minor, not B minor, so the preparation has been yet again averted.  Because this corresponds to the exposition in both material and key, it can be said that the “real” return begins here.  The piano arpeggios are as they were there, as is the melody, but the earlier cello imitation against the violin as heard in the re-transition is incorporated, with the melody continuing in the violin.  The cadence and arrival are expanded by a measure with a held chord.
7:19 [m. 390]--Corresponds closely to 0:55 [m. 46].  The only significant change is in the expansion and buildup.  There, the violin embellishes its downward leaps with turn figures, and the cello plays against them with descending arpeggios.  The downward plunge with the cascading piano arpeggio leading back to B is played as it was before.
7:30 [m. 400]--Transition.  As at 1:06 [m. 56], the cadence gesture is combined with the dotted rhythm leading to F major and F-sharp minor.
7:40 [m. 409]--String and piano alternation on the dotted rhythm leading to C-sharp major, as at 1:15 [m. 65].  The piano punctuation with octave leap and the string canon are heard as expected.  The remainder of the transition is then cut, and the string canon is played again, changed from C-sharp major to C-sharp minor.  This now leads directly into the statement of Theme 2 in B major (the home major key and home key of the Trio).
7:56 [m. 425]--Theme 2 (B major).  Its presentation is greatly abbreviated, and this return is essentially analogous to 2:52 [m. 153].  The scoring is entirely new.  The fully harmonized melody is now played by the piano, and the cello contributes a contrasting line derived from the faster upbeat approach to the cadence gesture.  It also occasionally doubles the piano bass.  The violin is silent for the entire statement. 
8:15 [m. 443]--Analogous to 3:13 [m. 171].  The piano plays the chromatic variant with the sighing gestures.  The violin is still absent.  The piano slows and comes to the expected pause on the “diminished seventh” chord, with the cello adding one more interjection of the upbeat rhythm.
8:23 [m. 449]--Closing section, analogous to 3:24 [m. 177].  The piano right hand now plays the original main line that had been presented by the violin.  Its left hand plays continuously upward arching arpeggios.  The violin itself finally enters, imitating both the short upbeat notes and the longer ascent.  As expected, the cello moves to the main Theme 1 rhythm, now on the home keynote of B, alternating high and low.  The piano plays the sweeping downward leaps as the violin reiterates the short upbeat notes.
8:32 [m. 457]--Analogous to 3:33 [m. 185].  The four measures of “hemiola” are played as expected, with the piano and violin essentially reversing roles from the original presentation.  The violin now takes the figures derived from the canonic passages, and the piano the faster leaps in two-beat units.  The piano’s left hand continues with arpeggios, now all moving upward and following the cross-rhythm.  The cello plays its original octaves.  At the point of the plunging piano arpeggio and high violin note, these instruments return to their original roles (though the violin plays a lower double-stop), and the cello plays its upward arpeggio.  The plunging arpeggio is cut short by a measure, and the piano turns around, rushing upward into the coda.
CODA
8:40 [m. 465]--The key signature changes back to the two sharps of B minor, where the movement will end, but the major-key flavor persists through these first few measures.  The previous passage rushes headlong into the rhythm of Theme 1, more insistent than ever.  All three instruments play it, the piano decorating the longer notes with triplet-rhythm arpeggios.  It is richly harmonized in the left hand.  As usual, two statements of the four-measure unit are played.  In the first, the violin takes the melodic lead, with the cello playing a harmonizing line.  In the second, the roles are exchanged, the melody moving to the cello and the violin soaring very high on the harmonizing line, now doubled by the piano’s top notes.
8:47 [m. 473]--The instruments begin the buildup to the closing as minor firmly takes over.  The strings play leaping octaves in contrary motion against tumbling piano arpeggios.  After the arpeggio turns upward, the strings play forceful repeated chords against a powerful scale figure in the piano, doubled in octaves between the hands.  This scale figure is notable for finding its way into the revised version.  The chords fail to reach a cadence, instead making a “deceptive” harmonic motion, and the piano again plays the same upward arpeggio, with the powerful scale figure and forceful string chords then repeated at the same level.
8:57 [m. 483]--The arrival chord is subtly altered, as is the next upward arpeggio, causing the third statement of the string chords and piano scale figure to be shifted up in pitch and harmony, suggesting C major.  Finally, another upward shift and a fourth statement of the string chords and piano scale figure leads to the decisive arrival on B minor.  Here, Brahms commits to ending his minor-key finale in minor, and thus ending his major-key trio in minor, a bold choice that would be retained in the revised version.
9:05 [m. 491]--At the arrival point, the tempo is marked “Schneller” (“Faster”), and the strings begin to play a series of angry chords with syncopation held across the bar lines.  The piano, meanwhile, punctuates the downbeats with its own hammered chords.  After eight measures of these chords, which literally pound B minor definitively into the listener’s heads, the piano plays a rising arpeggio in octaves with the right hand being offset behind the left.  This arpeggio is played twice more, each time being cut off by a string chord and beginning a third higher.
9:17 [m. 509]--The strings play an octave on the “dominant” note F-sharp, and under this the piano plays a decisive B-minor cadence.  After a nearly three-measure pause, the final arrival is given one last emphasis with another extended cadence using two statements of a highly rhetorical short-long gesture.  Thus ends Brahms’s first published piece of chamber music, a fascinating, ambitious, youthful, exuberant, but also undeniably wild and undisciplined work whose best elements would produce a true masterpiece near the end of the composer’s career.
9:30--END OF MOVEMENT [518 mm.]
END OF TRIO


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