It is not surprising that Johannes Brahms, an exponent of Romanticism, bestowed his special interest on piano music, since the piano enjoyed great popularity among the rising bourgeoisie of the 19th century. And here it is precisely the smaller forms with which he created outstanding music. A great compositional variety with a broad spectrum of expression is revealed in his character pieces, the intermezzos, ballads, capriccios, rhapsodies, fantasies and waltzes, which Bärenreiter has presented in Urtext editions, edited and provided with fingerings as well as notes on performance practice by Christian Köhn.

This selection of seven lyrical piano pieces, including the famous "Edward" Ballad op. 10 No. 1, two waltzes from op. 39 and four of the best-known intermezzos, appears as part of a series of popular works from the Bärenreiter catalogue for the 100th anniversary of the publishing house