Consisting of eight variations and a magnificent double fugue, the work is based upon the opening of Mozart's Piano Sonata in A major, K . Mozart himself made six variations on this theme in the first movement of his celebrated sonata that closes with the rondo alla Turca . Reger's penchant for variations led him in quite individual directions. Having presented the Andante grazioso theme in two segments that are begun by woodwinds and echoed by strings, he continues with variations that are either decorative or contrapuntal in nature. Not until the eighth variation does Reger construct a section that is longer than the original theme.
Violins begin the fugue with an embellished form of the inverted theme.
After this has been developed, a second, more legato theme is added by flute and oboe. At the end, horns and trumpets brilliantly add the Mozart theme to the texture, thus bringing to a close one of the twentieth-century's greatest polyphonic masterpieces. Johannes Brahms b. Opus 83 F irst sketched in May of 1878, the Second Piano Concerto was completed in 1881 and was premiered with the composer as soloist in Budapest on November 9, 1881. This forty-five minute work is scored for solo piano, pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings.