"I was first introduced to the music of Johannes Brahms as a teenager. I fell deeply in love with his chamber and instrumental music: the Clarinet Quintet, Cello Sonatas, Piano Quintet in F minor, Horn Trio and Piano Intermezzi. Later I would discover his monumental Piano Concerti and Symphonies. Though my compositional style has been influenced by twentieth composers (Copland, Bernstein, Barber, Walton and Vaughan Williams to name just a few), the sheer passion imbued in Brahms’s works touches my heart and soul. It is that authenticity and humanity that I aspire to emulate in my writing. Intermezzo is my modest homage to this great master." F.H