Brahms’ popular 16 “Waltzes”, opus 39, composed in 1866 for four hands, were transcribed by Brahms one year later for two hands. At the request of his publisher, Brahms also wrote an easier version of the work for solo piano. Brahms himself described the first version as suitable for "reasonable hands", that is for proficient players, and the easier version as "perhaps for prettier hands", that is, for domestic music-making. He initially described the latter version to his publisher as a "childr

- A key work in the Romantic piano repertoire
- All known sources and the latest research findings taken into account
- Well-presented musical layout with optimum page-turns
- Includes fingering
- Suggestions on performance practice and interpretation (Ger/Eng)
- Informative foreword (Ger/Eng) and critical commentary (Eng)

The editor
Christian Köhn has been awarded several scholarships as well as winning major international music competitions in Germany.
He has released 24 CDs to date, including the first ever complete recording of the piano duo works of Johannes Brahms. Christian Köhn is a lecturer at the Musikhochschule Detmold.