Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

[Jo498]

Brahms cut almost a third from the length of the first movement of op.8, the scherzo virtually stayed the same and the last two movements were changed considerably. I never really warmed to the original version, but this might be due to having been imprinted on the revised version for many years.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Talking about Brahms had me itching for some piano music, this Lupu disc will do just fine...

Beautiful disc (the music, not the cover 0:)).

[Madiel]

Today's been all about the String Sextet No.1, as played by the Raphael Ensemble.

I bought this work earlier this year. I'm in love with the waltzing first movement. There's a soaring cello tune in particular, maybe two-thirds of the way through the exposition, that is just heavenly. It's a damn shame the Raphaels don't do the exposition repeat.

The second movement theme and variations is also pretty fine - it's so BIG sounding in the first half, which makes sense. If you're going to have a sextet, you don't want it to sound more or less like a quartet. I love the little harmonic twist in the theme, and the variation where the cellos sound like rushing wind.

The trio of the scherzo and trio is a delightful surprise. The finale I like, but it does seem (at least as played here) a little too genteel and grazioso much of the time to make as much of an impression as the rest. The CD notes tell me that Joachim criticised it a bit. Still, it does take off at the end!

[Brahmsian]

Today's been all about the String Sextet No.1

This has always been an extra special Brahms work, for me. 

[Jaakko Keskinen]

The first string sextet's second movement is so moving it actually makes a Vulcan cry.

[Jo498]

I think the 1st sextet contains much that could be considered a Schubert homage. The slow variations in the minor mode seem obviously a reference to the "Death and Maiden" quartet and the finale may be the most Schubertian movement Brahms ever wrote. (It shares the weakness of some Schubert finali in being to leisurely melodic and slightly repetitive, not really a convincing end of a "serious" work.)

[Madiel]

I think the 1st sextet contains much that could be considered a Schubert homage. The slow variations in the minor mode seem obviously a reference to the "Death and Maiden" quartet and the finale may be the most Schubertian movement Brahms ever wrote. (It shares the weakness of some Schubert finali in being to leisurely melodic and slightly repetitive, not really a convincing end of a "serious" work.)

Agreed, much of the work is rather Schubertian. One description of the work I found was rather obsessed with its Viennese qualities (including the waltzing nature of the first movement), while failing to mention it was actually written a couple of years before Brahms had moved to Vienna.

[Madiel]

My little chamber music festival has landed on Piano Quartet No.1 in G minor, as played by Domus.

I love this! Of the Brahms chamber works I already know, this is the one that sticks most readily in my mind. Mostly because of that fantastically zippy finale, but I enjoy the whole thing. The first movement coda has this climactic moment of tension that Domus bring out wonderfully. The intermezzo is full of tension thanks to its constantly pulsing bass line.

After that, the third movement feels like a great lyrical expansion, although in truth it's not that relaxed and has a bit of drama, as well as grandeur. And then, that wild Hungarian Rondo finale. So good! I love the way Brahms organises the sections, so that it's not a boringly repetitive rondo. My favourite moment, when the original tempo returns after the slower part of the movement, he kicks straight into the most manic of all the themes, an upward rocket.

I need to get my hands on more Hungarian-style Brahms!

[Jo498]

To my recollection Domus is comparably restrained in this piece. Try to find Gilels/Amadeus or Rubinstein/Guarneri for more passionate versions.
The A major piano quartet also has a very nice "Hungarian" finale.

[Brahmsian]

It was an all Brahms piano music morning! 

Variations on an Original Theme in D major, Op. 21/1
Variations on a Hungarian Song in D major, Op. 21/2
Variations on a Theme of Robert Schumann in F Sharp minor, Op. 9
Variations on a Theme of Paganini in A minor (Book I and II), Op. 35
Variations on a Theme by Handel in B flat major, Op. 24

Wolfram  Schmitt-Leonardy, piano

Ballades, Op. 10
Rhapsodies, Op. 79
Klavierstücke, Op. 76
Fantasien, Op. 116
Intermezzi, Op. 117
Klavierstücke, Op. 118
Klavierstücke, Op. 119

Håkon Austbø, piano

Brahms Brilliant Cube

[Wanderer]

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Trying to find space in the back row of one of the CD cabinets to banish Grimaud's lacklustre recent set of the Brahms concerti, I inexplicably unearthed the Ax set which definitely does not belong in exile. Took it for a spin after quite some time and it's even better than I remember. Not exactly a brimstone affair, but a sound example of how a slowish take of these works doesn't need to be turgid, lethargic, or boring.

[bwv 1080]

.[asin]B000KX0I4K[/asin]

Trying to find space in the back row of one of the CD cabinets to banish Grimaud's lacklustre recent set of the Brahms concerti, I inexplicably unearthed the Ax set which definitely does not belong in exile. Took it for a spin after quite some time and it's even better than I remember. Not exactly a brimstone affair, but a sound example of how a slowish take of these works doesn't need to be turgid, lethargic, or boring.

Are those the 1990 Sony recordings of the solo piano pieces op 79,117 & 119?  That was a very good recording

[Madiel]

Next stop on my chamber music tour has, of course, been the Piano Quartet No.2. Domus again.

I sometimes think, intellectually, that I don't like this quite as much as no.1, but when I actually listen to it that isn't the case. It has such an expansive lyrical grandeur to it. My recording clocks in at 49 minutes - that's a pretty damned expansive chamber work!

The first movement sounds somewhat Schubertian to me. The second movement, though, is something denser, more akin to Schumann I'd say, and with those strange rumblings in the bass that presage the more dramatic music that bursts in. Actually, that's a bit like one of Schubert's piano sonatas...

In keeping with the overall style of the piece, the 'scherzo' is not that sharp, a lot of the time it's swinging and waltz-like. It does have some passages with greater tension, though.

And then the opening of the finale has some great rhythmic snappiness to it - as Jo498 said, another 'Hungarian' finale. Nowhere near the bite of the finale of the 1st quartet, but still highly enjoyable. In fact, the whole work makes an excellent counterpart to the 1st quartet, with the 2 works both being of high quality but with nicely contrasting personalities.

[Madiel]

Still gamely keeping the thread alive with my chamber music tour... the Piano Quintet!

My recording is Werner Haas on piano with members of the Berlin Philharmonic Octet taking the string parts.

Somewhere along the line I've developed the impression that people think this is one of the greatest of Brahms' chamber works. I like it, but personally it doesn't bowl me over. Someone will be along shortly to tell me I've got the wrong performance...

...and maybe they're right. The first movement, for me, despite wandering off into terribly exotic keys, doesn't have quite the level of drama that I get out of the corresponding movement of the 1st piano quartet - and it feels like that's what it is aiming for. Or maybe it isn't. Maybe it's trying to be a tad more lyrical and it's just that the mood doesn't interest me quite as much.

The second movement is very subtle indeed. The outer sections seem to be all about small harmonic shifts. The third movement is, by contrast, big and bold and overtly dramatic.

I think the finale is my favourite movement, though, yet another finale with something of a Hungarian flavour. It's got just the right degree of light and shade to keep me happy.

[amw]

Strangely, the only recording of the Piano Quintet I actually own is the Naxos issue with the Kodály Quartet and some pianist, which I'm sure is also not the "right" one. I've heard lots more though, so know the work pretty well, and agree that it's uneven. The finale is probably the strongest movement, the first probably the weakest. I am fond of its earlier version as the Sonata for two pianos Op. 34b, and I'd quite like to hear Robin Holloway's transcription for full orchestra, which has not been performed.

The A major piano quartet is probably my favourite of Brahms's chamber works with piano (though the A major violin sonata and E minor cello sonata come close). In Domus's hands it's almost Dvořák with a bit of Brahms tart-sweetness added. I could picture a more energetic performance, possibly from Florestan Trio + Caussé or Weithaas/Zimmermann/Queyras/Staier (note: I do not know if these combinations have actually recorded anything) but I'm not sure I want one, heh.

[Karl Henning]

Strangely, the only recording of the Piano Quintet I actually own is the Naxos issue with the Kodály Quartet and some pianist[...]

Jenő Jandó;  I've that one, too, and I had forgotten!

I also have the Nash Ensemble from the Big Brahms Box.

[Madiel]

The A major piano quartet is probably my favourite of Brahms's chamber works with piano (though the A major violin sonata and E minor cello sonata come close). In Domus's hands it's almost Dvořák with a bit of Brahms tart-sweetness added. I could picture a more energetic performance, possibly from Florestan Trio + Caussé or Weithaas/Zimmermann/Queyras/Staier (note: I do not know if these combinations have actually recorded anything) but I'm not sure I want one, heh.

Domus and Florestan are mostly the same people. The superb Susan Tomes being at the heart of both.

[amw]

Huh. I actually did not know that. I have their Beethoven trios which are definitely on the swift/energetic side of things, as opposed to this relaxed Brahms. (Perhaps Anthony Marwood makes the difference, but I don't think so.)

...And some of them also play in the Raphael Ensemble with their rather excellent Brahms, Mendelssohn & Schubert. I think my estimation of the Domus/Florestan crew has just gone up a fair bit.

[Jo498]

There is an energetic live account of op.26 with Lars Vogt & friends (Tetzlaff, Rohde, Schiff) from his "Spannungen" festival (all three are in big box with recordings from that Festival).
It's a long time I listened to the "Domus", but I remember I found them overall too "cool" in all three pieces and basically kept the set because I have no other recording of the Mahler fragment.
Then there is a broad and powerful (with not so great sound) live recording with Richter/Borodin, and of course, Rubinstein/Guarneri, although I find the latter a little too relaxed.

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I love the piano quintet. It was probably among the first dozen of chamber compositions that really grabbed me as a teenager. I would not want to decide between the g minor quartet and the quintet, but I cannot find fault with the first movement of the quintet. IMO the second is maybe a little to "slight", almost serenade-like compared with the rest of the piece (here I clearly prefer the slow (3rd) mvmt. of op.25), but I suspect that this was done on purpose, similarly to the comparably light slow movements of works like Beethoven's 5th.
The scherzo is so cool with two themes of the main section and the trio all based on transformations of the same material and still sounding good...

[Dancing Divertimentian]

There is an energetic live account of op.26 with Lars Vogt & friends (Tetzlaff, Rohde, Schiff) from his "Spannungen" festival (all three are in big box with recordings from that Festival).

[asin]B0001VJ7KM[/asin]

That Vogt and friends looks very interesting. I have a different disc from that festival with the Op.25 and Op.60. Definite goodness (but OOP ).




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