Steve Schwartz wrote:

>Maybe he was just tired.  And, after all, he didn't know Liszt was going to
>be history's greatest pianist.

The moment before Liszt had sightreaded Brahms' Scherzo in E-flat minor,
because was Brahms was too nervous to play it himself.  By then B.  would
have realised that Liszt was an extraordinary pianist (B.  was still
awake).  (At another occasion, Liszt played Grieg's piano concerto directly
from the score)

Ulvi Yurtsever:

>AFAIK this story was debunked recently (though I don't remember the details
>of the debunking).  Probably it was made up by someone in the Brahms camp
>during the Brahms-Wagner flame wars.

First of all, the story isn't flattering from Brahms' point of view.
If anything, it would have been made up by some in the Wagner/Liszt camp.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. The story was written down by one of
Liszt's pupils (William Mason).  Liszt played the Sonata and then left the
room with out saying a word.

Brahms was visiting Liszt together with the violinist Remenyi (sp?).
Apparently, Brahms behaved badly during their stay for some reason.  Liszt
never played anything by Brahms.  He found his music well constructed, but
clinical.

Mikael
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