After the failure of the second performance of his First Piano Concerto, Brahms was so uncertain as to his ability to write a successful work in this form, that it was a further nineteen years before he started work on a second. More lyrical than the first, its extended length of four movements calls for soloists of outstanding technical ability. It was well received, and in the years that followed it became on of the most frequently programmed works in the concert repertoire. Robert Schumann, who had encouraged the young Brahms, composed the brilliant Introduction and Allegro appasionato to display the skills of his wife, Clara, one of the outstanding pianists of her time.