[3] The piece is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (B♭), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (initially 2 in B♭ bass, 2 in F), 2 trumpets (B♭), timpani (B♭ and F, A and D in second movement) and strings.

"[2] The autograph manuscript of the concerto is preserved in the Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky.

The woodwind instruments proceed to introduce a small motif (borrowed, perhaps unconsciously, from the opening of the first movement of his Serenade No.

This scherzo is in the key of D minor and is in sonata form with a trio inserted in the development.

[5] Contrary to Brahms' "tiny wisp of a scherzo" remark, it is a tumultuous movement.

Soon afterwards the piano and orchestra launch into a stormy development of the theme before coming to the central episode (in D major).

Brahms subsequently rewrote the cello's theme and changed it into a song, Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer ("My Slumber Grows Ever More Peaceful") with lyrics by Hermann Lingg.

However, the gentler melodic piece that the piano plays soon gives way to a stormy theme in B♭ minor.

The last movement consists of five clearly distinguishable sections, which introduce and develop five different themes.

Theme 3 (65–73) is very different from the previous ones, due largely to its minor setting and its distinctive Hungarian rhythm.