Although consciously published as Op. 4, this unusual piece can claim to be the earliest work by Brahms with an opus number.  It was written in 1851, before the piano sonatas, although the slow movements of the first two were possibly taking shape.  It was among the pieces shared with the Schumanns on their first meeting in 1853.  Though it is sometimes grouped with the “shorter piano works,” it really belongs to the world of the three piano sonatas, whose scherzo movements display a similar fiery passion on a somewhat smaller scale.  It is the only time in a scherzo-type movement that Brahms would use the model with two contrasting trios commonly employed by Schumann (and earlier by Mozart in some serenades).  It is this double-trio model that makes it so much more substantial than the ones in the piano sonatas, since it requires three full playings of the main scherzo section (the third with some variation).  The pieces with which it is most often compared are Chopin’s four independent scherzos, which Brahms claimed not to have known at the time he wrote it.  The unusual, rather difficult key of E-flat minor would become symbolic, as Brahms would end his final solo piano piece, the Rhapsody Op. 119, No. 4, with a turn to that key.  The main scherzo sections almost obsessively reiterate the distinctive three-note upbeat, although there is rich content, including a soulful “second theme” (which is actually a quotation from Heinrich Marschner’s opera Hans Heiling).  The first trio, in the home major key, is light and skittish, while the second, in B major (a related key when considered as C-flat), reaches an almost hymn-like exultation in its chordal main theme.  Trio II’s seamless merge into the last scherzo reprise is also notable.  The very fast triple meter, combined with the fully written-out second scherzo reprise, results in the highest measure count of any Brahms vocal or instrumental movement (except the cantata Rinaldo).

IMSLP WORK PAGE
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First Edition from Brahms-Institut Lübeck)
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (First Edition [monochrome] from Russian State Library)
ONLINE SCORE FROM IMSLP (from Breitkopf & Härtel Sämtliche Werke--includes front matter to volume 14)

---

Rasch und feurig (Rapidly and with fire) (Large Scherzo with Two Trios).  E-FLAT MINOR, 3/4 time.
SCHERZO
0:00 [m. 1]--Part 1.  The principal gesture of the scherzo is a skittish three-note upbeat figure that takes up half the measure in the fast triple time.  At first, it is heard in both hands in the treble range.  In the right hand, it usually consists of a rising half-step and a falling third.  The left hand harmonization is a falling fifth and rising third.  There is typically an outward leap to the downbeat.  The opening gesture is heard three times.  On the third, it leads into a continuation of descending chords in the right hand in a downbeat-upbeat pattern.  These are accompanied by two more statements of the upbeat figure in the left hand (now in the version originally played by the right).  After the chords, the upbeat figure is isolated in the left, then the right hand, landing on the “dominant” note, B-flat.
0:09 [m. 10]--The left hand sustains the B-flat, and above it, the upbeat figure continues.  The harmonization is now a rising half-step and third.  After two of these, the held B-flat rises three half-steps to D-flat.  After another upbeat gesture a third higher, the bottom note rises a whole step and another two half-steps, to F.  After this, both hands play the rising motion in full harmony and with building intensity.  The left hand plays full chords that rise above the F.  A climactic point is reached.
0:13 [m. 17]--A forceful descent begins with two longer chords, then accelerates to four faster ones that confirm a full motion to B-flat minor.  The upbeat gesture leads into a rising arpeggio in the right hand.  Against it, the left hand repeats the descent, now in octaves instead of full chords.  The right hand arpeggio culminates in a hammered gesture in octaves.  This is a descending half-step and a repetition of the lower note.  It is played a total of seven times.  Under these reiterations, the left hand continues with overlapping statements of the four shorter notes from the descent, reaching a low B-flat.  The volume diminishes.  After a one-bar pause, the “hammered gesture” is converted to a gentle descending third representing a cadence.
0:22 [m. 1 (upbeat from m. 32a]--Part 1 repeated.  First statements of upbeat figure and descending chords.
0:29 [m. 10]--Sustained notes and half-step motion under upbeat figures, then strong buildup, as at 0:09.
0:33 [m. 17]--Forceful descents and “hammered” gestures in B-flat minor, as at 0:13.  The second ending (m. 32b) is a full measure pause with no upbeat.
0:43 [m. 33]--Part 2.  With an immediate return home to E-flat minor, the “hammered” gesture is isolated in the left hand.  It is quiet, detached, and light (staccato e leggiero).  It begins with the descending third, then moves up by half-step.  It is accompanied by isolated reiterations of the upbeat figure in the right hand.  These do not land on a downbeat.  After the hammered figure rises two half-steps, the top note stalls and the figure contracts to a half-step.  Then the bottom note moves back down and remains anchored on C-flat.  The top note expands upward back to a third, then a fifth and sixth.  Over this, the right hand upbeat figures are moved earlier in the measure and expanded upward, reaching higher over a mild buildup to an arrival point.
0:49 [m. 43]--After the arrival, the left hand plays a brief chromatic ascent in octaves.  This leads to what could be called the “second theme” and the first real melody, the quotation from Hans Heiling.  It begins in the left hand, in the middle register.  The plaintive arching lines are in two-note harmonies.  Brahms marks it ben cantando ed espressivo.  Above it, the “hammered”’ gesture is played eight times on a half-step, still leggeiro.  After the first phrase, the right hand takes over, continuing the melody in a higher range in full chords.  The left hand takes over the “hammered” gesture, expanding it to a descending octave.  The volume begins to build toward an ornamented half-close.
0:58 [m. 59]--The half-close merges with the chromatic ascent in octaves, now played by both hands and strongly building.  The “second theme” is played in full again, now ingeniously combined with the “hammered” gesture in both hands.  Where the first statement began plaintively, the entire theme is now played forcefully, with strongly marked downbeats.  In the second phrase, the right hand abandons the “hammered” gesture and plays full fortissimo chords while the left hand again moves to descending octaves with some added harmony.  The embellished half-close is directly followed by three statements of the upbeat figure over the continued octave hammering in the left hand.
1:10 [m. 80]--A series of upbeat gestures combines material from the opening and from 0:09 and 0:29 [m. 10].  The gestures start on on the pitch level of the opening, but they begin in the low range and work upward.  After the first two bare figures, a B-flat is sustained and the supporting harmonies are shaped as they are over the previous such sustained note.  Two more gestures resemble the opening, but they are followed by the variant that had landed on the B-flat before.  This is an interruption.  From that point, the descending downbeat-upbeat chords are again heard as a continuation, but the left hand is higher, still above the mid-range B-flat, which is reiterated.  Then follow the two isolated figures that originally landed on the B-flat.
1:17 [m. 90]--From here, the music initially follows the pattern from 0:09 and 0:29 [m. 10], but the second upward rise of the held bottom note is subtly altered to three half-steps, like the first one.  Thus, the bottom note lands on E.  This acts as the “dominant” in A major, a distant key that is briefly suggested in three more upbeat gestures above the sustained E.  Then, in a powerful series of chords, the music moves back home to E-flat minor via the unstable “diminished seventh” harmony.  A point of extreme tension is reached as these chords cut off and there is a brief pause.
1:24 [m. 102]--The forceful descent from 0:13 and 0:33 [m. 17], originally heard in B-flat minor, is stated in a massive fortissimo in the home key.  The left hand continues, as it had before, but instead of the upbeat figure and rising arpeggio, the right hand asserts the descent again an octave lower, the left hand joining with octaves.  This descent is interrupted by an upward leap to a chord that suggests another motion to B-flat minor.  Then, more full chords descend in that key, which is only briefly hinted.  These add a syncopated “hemiola” (implied 3/2 measure) before leaping up to a heavily accented “diminished seventh” chord, which is sustained with a fermata.
1:35 [m. 116]--After the fermata, the upbeat figure is isolated, with the left hand playing the rising harmonization.  It is stated twice in succession with a pause in between.  The second is a minor third above the first.  After another pause, the figure leaps upward and is expanded, rising up the keyboard in angular motion with a cross-rhythm (three duple groups superimposed on two 3/4 measures).  There is then a precipitous downward plunge in a scale that is doubled two octaves apart between the hands.  The scale continues to descend for three octaves.  Brahms marks it strepitoso, or boisterously.
1:42 [m. 126]--The huge downward scale leads into the forceful combination of the “second theme” and the “hammered” gesture as heard after 0:58 [m. 59], but with a lower and fuller left hand that now fully doubles the right hand two octaves below.  Only the first eight-measure first phrase is stated, then it is immediately repeated an octave higher in both hands.  In the repetition, the last two measures are cut off and replaced by a descending arpeggio in octaves.  The last four measures are then repeated, with a more active variation of the fifth and sixth measures preceding the new arpeggio.
1:53 [m. 146]--The arpeggio lands on a full E-flat-minor chord.  This is punctuated by two statements of the upbeat gesture, supported by low bass octaves.  The downbeat after the second one is repeated without the upbeat, marking the end of the main scherzo section, which is closed off by a two-measure pause.
TRIO I (E-flat major)
1:56 [m. 152]--Part 1.  On the upbeat of the last measure of pauses at the end of the main scherzo section (m. 151), the left hand plays an low octave.  This leaps up a ninth to another octave on the downbeat.  It is held for two beats, then moves down the scale, still in octaves, before turning around and reaching a close.  Overlapping with that close, the right hand, also in octaves, imitates the upward leap, scale descent, and closing upward turn.  Under the right hand, the left introduces characteristic upward-arching figures that land on the downbeats.  The opening leaps in each hand are loud, but the scales become light and quiet.
2:02 [m. 161]--Brahms turns directly to the “dominant” key, B-flat major.  A series of downward chordal leaps begins, leaning from upbeats into downbeats.  Long-held and tension-filled downbeat chords alternate with shorter, more settled ones.  After two alternations, the shorter figure is reiterated a step higher, then emerges into a plaintive line ending on a half-close in G minor (“relative” to B-flat).  Brahms marks the passage scherzando, ensuring that it does not become too heavy.
2:09 [m. 172]--The series of chordal leaps is repeated, but this time the reiteration of the shorter figure happens with both alternations, and it is an octave higher than before.  Thus, the hands leap up to it, and it seems like an interruption or interpolation.  It is also hushed, like a whisper, even more so than the surrounding chords.  The plaintive line begins again, but it does not move toward G minor.  It is diverted back to B-flat major and continues.  The line is then repeated a third higher, and more strongly, leading to an arrival on the chord of B-flat for an incomplete cadence.
2:22 [m. 189]--A figure based on a wide upward leap followed by a descending arpeggio takes over, with the bottom anchored on F (the “dominant” of B-flat, the current key).  This figure is gentle at first, even marked piacevole.  The right hand begins on an upbeat, held over the bar line, and the left hand joins an octave lower on the downbeat.  The hands come together on the descents.  The first leap is a seventh, the second a ninth.  These two patterns are stated a second time.  Then the leaps are given two more times each without the following arpeggios, increasing the intensity and activity.  The bottom note of the higher leap is placed where the arpeggio would have ended, and is also now a seventh.
2:29 [m. 201]--Part 1 repeated.  The leaps emerge into upward leap of a ninth and descending scale in octaves that began the section, but in the right hand and in B-flat.  The left hand now imitates, as the right hand had done before, but neither hand turns upward.  Instead, the right hand pauses, then enters again, overlapping with the left.  It is now on its original pitches from its entry after 1:56 [m. 152].  The left hand introduces the upward-arching figure landing on the downbeat, but the first one is lower than its earlier counterpart.  These six measures serve to move the key back to E-flat, and replace the first six measures of the first statement.  The repeat sign then leads back to the last three measures of the previous passage (mm. 158-160).
2:34 [m. 161]--First series of chordal leaps, as at 2:02.
2:42 [m. 172]--Second series of chordal leaps with high interpolations, leading to incomplete cadence in B-flat, as at 2:09.
2:54 [m. 189]--Series of upward leaps and descending arpeggios building to return of opening scales, as at 2:22.
3:01 [m. 201]--Part 2.  The six measures before the repeat sign are stated as at 2:29.  But after the repeat sign, what is essentially a “second ending” begins at m. 207 with a repetition of the last two measures (mm. 205-206).  The turn back to E-flat is still accomplished.  But what now follows is an ominous and lower variant of the opening descent that changes E-flat major to E-flat minor (the key of the main scherzo section).
3:07 [m. 211]--The figures from 2:22 and 2:54 [m. 189], with the wide leaps and descending arpeggios, are developed.  They begin in E-flat minor and are played by the right hand over low bass chords.  They now reach up a sixth and an octave.  A descending left hand arpeggio leads to another pair of figures played over a “diminished seventh” chord.  The second of these makes a very wide upward leap of an octave plus a fourth.  Another left hand arpeggio introduces a shorter variant of the right hand figure over unstable harmony suggesting D-flat minor, then D major.  The passage is quiet and gentle, despite the harmonic activity.
3:18 [m. 227]--The harmony is diverted to C-flat major, where the “original” version of the leap/arpeggio figure returns, with the left hand on the downbeat following after the right hand on the upbeat.  Brahms marks it teneramente (tenderly).  After two statements with a seventh and ninth, the patterns again dissolve into the shorter variant of leaps without the arpeggios.  The key abruptly shifts down a half-step, to B-flat minor, where the arpeggio is again heard after wide upward leaps.  Finally, after another downward shift, the figures, over “diminished” arpeggios, move back home to E-flat (major).
3:27 [m. 240]--Abruptly, the opening scale descent, with the following upward turn, returns in the right hand, an octave higher than it has previously been played.  The opening left hand figure with the upward arch leading into the downbeat is again varied, incorporating a wider leap.  After this return, the chordal leaps from 2:02 and 2:34 [m. 161] follow, but they now stay “home” and are played in E-flat major.  The pattern is followed and transposed exactly from the B-flat version.  The plaintive half-close is in C minor.
3:37 [m. 256]--Chordal leaps with high interpolations, now in E-flat with incomplete cadence there, analogous to 2:09 and 2:42 [m. 172].
3:49 [m. 273]--The upward leaps and descending arpeggios are heard in E-flat, but only in the right hand, whose patterns correspond exactly with those at 2:22 and 2:54 [m. 189].  The left hand, instead of shadowing the right hand patterns, returns to the opening scale descent, but without the upward turn and not played in octaves.  Against the longer opening patterns, the descent is twice played with its initial longer note.  When the right hand patterns become shorter, it is played two more times, but without the longer opening note.  Brahms marks the passage legato e scherzando, in contrast to the previous piacevole.
3:56 [m. 285]--With sudden force, the scale descent is played by both hands in octaves, analogous to its return at the repeat of Part 1 and the beginning of Part 2, where it was still passed between the hands.  Now it descends below the point where it has typically turned upward and stops on F, just above the keynote E-flat.  The octaves then leap up to the “dominant” note, B-flat, and there is a two-measure pause.  These last two notes (F and B-flat) are repeated an octave lower (without the top right hand note) and pianissimo, with a measure pause between them, creating a slowing effect.  The phrase is completed with another empty measure after the last B-flat.  Three and a half more measures of rests precede the return of the scherzo.  Thus, Trio I ends without a final resolution on the keynote.
FIRST SCHERZO REPRISE
4:05 [m. 1]--Part 1.  The three-note upbeat essentially occupies the second half of the last Trio I measure (m. 300), but only the first half of that measure is notated before the Da capo marking leads to the beginning of the scherzo, including the upbeat.  First statements of upbeat figure and descending chords, as at the beginning and at 0:22.
4:11 [m. 10]--Sustained notes and half-step motion under upbeat figures, then strong buildup, as at 0:09 and 0:29.
4:16 [m. 17]--Forceful descents and “hammered” gestures in B-flat minor, as at 0:13 and 0:33.  Because this is a reprise, the repeat is omitted and the second ending (the full measure pause, m. 32b) is taken.
4:25 [m. 33]--Part 2.  “Hammered” gestures in the left hand and upbeat figures in the right, expansion and buildup, as at 0:43.
4:31 [m. 43]--Octave lead-in to the “second theme” and first two statements of the theme in the left hand followed by the right hand, accompanied by the “hammered” gesture, as at 0:49.
4:41 [m. 59]--Octave lead-in, then forceful statement of “second theme” with incorporation of “hammered” gesture in the first phrase, followed by return of upbeat figures, as at 0:58.
4:53 [m. 80]--Series of upbeat gestures combined with sustained notes and return of downbeat-upbeat chords, as at 1:10.
5:00 [m. 90]--Sustained notes and half-step motion, harmonic detour, and powerful chords leading to a tension-filled pause, as at 1:17.
5:07 [m. 102]--Forceful descent in the home key, then full chords incorporating metric “hemiola,” leading to sustained “diminished seventh” chord, as at 1:24.
5:18 [m. 116]--Isolated upbeat figures, then upward expansion with cross-rhythm, followed by precipitous downward scale plunge in both hands, as at 1:35.
5:25 [m. 126]--Combination of “second theme” with “hammered” gesture, first phrase repeated an octave higher, then descending arpeggio and reiteration of last measures, as at 1:42.
5:36 [m. 146]--Arrival on E-flat-minor chord, then closing upbeat gestures and two-measure pause, as at 1:53.
TRIO II (Molto espressivo, B major)
5:40 [m. 302]--Part 1.  The last measure of the scherzo (m. 151), which contains the upbeat to Trio I, is omitted and replaced by another “upbeat” measure, m. 301, leading into m. 302.  The upbeat itself is F-sharp, the “dominant” note in the new key of B major and a re-spelling of the third (G-flat) in the home key of E-flat minor.  It is in the right hand, and leads into the rich, chordal Trio II theme.  The chords are short-long, long-short, followed by a longer held chord.  They include an inner descending line.  The bass octaves rise by half-step against these chords.  These opening chords are followed by a yearning line, doubled in both hands, that includes a prominent “turn” figure before a half-close.
5:46 [m. 310]--The second phrase is similar to the first, but it is a step higher and turns to the minor key, reaching a half-close in C-sharp minor.  The long-held chord leans downward before the upbeat, and another “turn” figure is added toward the beginning of the yearning line, which is more chromatic and shaped somewhat differently, reaching up before leaping down to the original “turn” figure and half-close.
5:54 [m. 318]--Now a new and passionate melody begins with phrases that swing down and back up.  It remains in the key of C-sharp minor.  The melody in the right hand is accompanied by arching arpeggios that surge forward in the left hand.  The second phrase reaches higher and is longer than the first.  Its three closing notes, beginning with an upbeat, are reiterated twice, but do not resolve to a cadence.
6:04 [m. 331]--The surging left hand arpeggios continue as the right hand plays isolated chords on the upbeats that gradually move back to B major, reaching its “dominant” chord.  There is a buildup, and the last two right hand chords are placed under a sweeping left hand arpeggio that begins in the low bass, leaps an octave, and reaches into the treble range.
6:09 [m. 338]--At the climax of the buildup, the first chordal phrase from 5:40 [m. 302] rings forth fortissimo, with the right hand an octave higher.  The descending line in the middle voice is longer and more chromatic.  The yearning line is again doubled an octave below.
6:15 [m. 346]--The second phrase from 5:46 [m. 310], which moves to C-sharp minor, is played with the same alterations as the first one: right hand an octave higher and a longer chromatic descent.
6:22 [m. 354]--The passionate melody begins as it had at 5:54 [m. 318], but it is extended.  The first phrase is heard as before, but with the right hand an octave higher and with octave doubling.  The dolce second phrase is new and moves back to B major.  A third phrase begins like the second one in the previous statement, briefly turning again to C-sharp minor.  The left hand arpeggios are oriented slightly differently, with some narrowing.  Right before the closing notes, the harmony is changed to facilitate another motion back to B major.  The previous closing notes, which had been reiterated, are replaced by a warm extension of the phrase.  This begins with a colorful dissonance, but confirms B major with an incomplete close.
6:37 [m. 371]--The extension is immediately continued with a prolonged, but gentle dissonant harmony and a long sustained note.  The melody works down before a lilting upward turn that finally reaches the first full cadence in B major, underscored by the descent of the arching arpeggio to a low downbeat B.
6:44 [m. 380]--Part 2.  The right and left hands begin a canon (strict imitation) based on the main phrase from the “passionate melody.”  It is quiet, and marked dolce.  In the first gesture, the opening upward leap is a seventh, and the second one is a ninth.  In both, the left hand imitates the right an octave lower and two measures later.  Both gestures move toward E major, the “subdominant.”  The imitation continues with the last three notes of the first gesture.  As the left hand imitates this, the right hand suddenly slips down to the foreign note C, and the imitation breaks.  Under the sustained C, the left hand adds one more three-note gesture that helps to move the key to the remote and unexpected G major.
6:56 [m. 394]--The main phrase from the melody is twice stated in G major.  The harmonized right hand is in the tenor range, and the left plays an oscillating undulation on G and its “dominant” note, D.  The passage is gentle and expressive.  After these two G-major statements, right hand harmonies on upbeats, along with the gradually shifting left hand oscillation, build in volume and steadily move toward the “dominant” chord in B major, which arrives on a downbeat, forte.  This is followed by three sweeping arpeggios on this chord.  They are doubled in octaves between the hands, and each is an octave higher than the last.  On the last one, the left hand reverses direction and descends, in contrary motion to the right.
7:07 [m. 410]--The opening chordal phrase from 5:40 [m. 302] and 6:09 [m. 338] is given its strongest statement yet.  Brahms marks it fortissimo and moves the low bass down an octave.  The right hand is presented as it was the second time, at the higher level and with the descending chromatic line.  The left hand moves up to its original level under the yearning line.
7:13 [m. 418]--The second phrase from 5:46 [m. 310] and 6:15 [m. 346] begins, and also places the left hand bass an octave lower than before.  It also maintains the higher level and descending chromatic line.  The yearning line, however, is replaced by yet another chordal phrase, wrenched up from the expected C-sharp minor to E-flat.  The low bass octaves and the inner chromatic line are retained.  Then, a third chordal phrase begins a half-step higher, moving to E major.  This last one omits the long held chord and repeats the short-long, long-short pattern (without the inner chromatic descent) before landing on E major.
7:22 [m. 431]--Signaling the upcoming transition, the three-note upbeat from the scherzo proper is suddenly heard in both hands.  After its first statement, a high rolled “diminished seventh” chord is heard, and then the three-note upbeat is stated again, reaching a half-step higher.  Then, returning to the Trio II material, the closing phrase begins with a huge descent in the short-long, long-short pattern.  It seems to return to B major, but it is highly chromatic, and there is a brief turn to D major.
7:28 [m. 438]--The closing phrase continues with a long buildup to the cadence based on the yearning line.  After two opening chords, the gesture, beginning with an upbeat, works upward in three waves, with the left hand leaping from low octaves to higher harmonies.  The highly chromatic harmony continues.  After the third gesture, the upbeat is removed, as is the space between the gestures.  In this condensed form, over a “diminished seventh” chord, the figure moves up one more time (now a third rather than a step), is repeated at that level, and lands on the B-major chord in the unstable “six-four” position.  The “yearning” figure moves to the low bass, with wide leaps in octaves, under the prolonged B-major cadence, whose arrival is extremely powerful.  An undulating bass pattern begins based on the “yearning” line.
7:38 [m. 452]--Transition to Scherzo Reprise.  The three-note upbeat from the main scherzo returns over the undulating bass.  It is first heard in the tenor range, and is then repeated twice, each time an octave higher than the last.  The intensity gradually abates.  The third upbeat figure leads to a rapid descending arpeggio on a “diminished” chord.  The whole pattern is stated again, but the bottom note of the undulating bass slides up from B to C.  The notation is gradually changed in both the bass and the upbeat figures to reflect flats instead of sharps, signaling the return to E-flat minor.  The “diminished” arpeggio is extended another measure, hinting at the upbeat figure, and then the key signature of E-flat minor returns.
SECOND SCHERZO REPRISE
7:44 [m. 461]--Because the beginning is varied, continuing the undulating bass from the end of Trio II, the whole scherzo is written out this time.  Two introductory measures are added with that undulating bass, which now has a low note on B-flat and is unambiguously in E-flat minor.  The bass also now includes upbeats and held notes that cross bar lines, separating the figures.  The melodic upbeat enters at the end of the second “introductory” measure, then the right hand continues as in the other statements of the scherzo, with the descending chords.  The undulating, “yearning” bass continues, but breaks under the descending chords, moving to alternation between a descending bass and a higher E-flat held over bar lines.  The two isolated upbeat figures at the end are an octave lower than before, and they land on a bass B-flat octave.
7:52 [m. 472]--The low bass octave, as well as the preceding upbeats, are played strongly.  From there, the music continues as at 0:09, 0:29, and 4:11 [m. 10], but the half-step motion is in the low bass and in octaves, continuing from the low B-flat.  The low notes are sustained by the pedal so that the left hand can leap up to play its notes in the upbeat figures.  The last measure of the passage, with the strong buildup, is notated as in the other statements, and the rest of the reprise, up to the coda, is largely the same as the other iterations of the scherzo proper, with one notable exception (see below, at 8:22 [m. 521]).
7:56 [m. 479]--Forceful descents and “hammered” gestures in B-flat minor, as at 0:13, 0:33, and 4:16 [m. 17].
8:06 [m. 495]--Part 2.  “Hammered” gestures in the left hand and upbeat figures in the right, expansion and buildup, as at 0:43 and 4:25 [m. 33].
8:12 [m. 505]--Octave lead-in to the “second theme” and first two statements of the theme in the left hand followed by the right hand, accompanied by the “hammered” gesture, as at 0:49 and 4:31 [m. 43].
8:22 [m. 521]--Octave lead-in, then forceful statement of “second theme” with incorporation of “hammered” gesture in the first phrase, followed by return of upbeat figures, as at 0:58 and 4:41 [m. 59].  Three measures are surprisingly varied from the other statements.  These are in the second phrase, where the forceful chords include an upward motion where a downward one had been before, along with colorful new harmonies briefly suggesting A-flat minor.  It is a striking departure.  These measures are mm. 533-535, corresponding to mm. 71-73.
8:35 [m. 542]--Series of upbeat gestures combined with sustained notes and return of downbeat-upbeat chords, as at 1:10 and 4:53 [m. 80].
8:42 [m. 552]--Sustained notes and half-step motion, harmonic detour, and powerful chords leading to a tension-filled pause, as at 1:17 and 5:00 [m. 90].
8:49 [m. 564]--Forceful descent in the home key, then full chords incorporating metric “hemiola,” leading to sustained “diminished seventh” chord, as at 1:24 and 5:07 [m. 102].
9:00 [m. 578]--Isolated upbeat figures, then upward expansion with cross-rhythm, followed by precipitous downward scale plunge in both hands, as at 1:35 and 5:18 [m. 116].
9:06 [m. 588]--Combination of “second theme” with “hammered” gesture, first phrase repeated an octave higher, then descending arpeggio, as at 1:42 and 5:25 [m. 126].  The reiteration of the last measures after the first descending arpeggio is omitted.  The arpeggio leads into the short coda.
9:15 [m. 604]--Coda.  This addition is an intensification that replaces the final measures of the previous scherzo statements.  It is not lengthy or elaborate.  The first part, marked “Più mosso,” is a rollicking series of octaves in both hands, with short figures based on “Theme 2” of the scherzo.  The first four measures are repeated an octave higher, then the first (higher) measure is isolated for four straight repetitions.
9:21 [m. 616]--Suddenly, the left hand lands on the note C-flat (one of the notes that defines the key of E-flat minor).  The low octave is marked sff, indicating an especially forceful accent.  The right hand immediately follows with its own C-flat octave.  Brahms marks these last bars “Più sostenuto.”  The octaves descend two half-steps.  Then the octave suddenly leaps to a “diminished seventh” chord in both hands.  A full-measure pause leads to another quick upward leap, now on the home chord of E-flat minor in the unstable “six-four” position.  After another full-measure pause, the “dominant” chord, B-flat, is the target.  A third and final full-measure pause is followed by a high E-flat-minor chord on the downbeat, then a leap down to a low E-flat octave on the last downbeat.
9:52 (runoff after 9:34)--END OF SCHERZO [627 (+150) mm.]


BRAHMS LISTENING GUIDES HOME