Perhaps the very thing that makes Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 an intriguing piece lies in the fact that he really didn’t think it was that wonderful. He worked it out so many times, annotating and reannotating, so that to this day, it remains a piece with many revisions.

“He was a self-doubting person his whole life, anyway, but particularly so with this piece,” explained pianist Mayron Tsong, a faculty member of the University of Maryland’s School of Music. “I’m not really sure if he was alive he would even call it a masterpiece, but I think that’s what makes us eternally fascinated by the piece.”