Dammit, I used to dislike Brahms. Between Wagner and Brahms bashing bandwagon I would've jumped on the former. I heard his 2nd symphony first time and thought it was the cheesiest, most sentimental symphonic tripe ever composed. He was a conservative, old-fashioned classicalist that seemed to offend my liberal, progressive sensibilities (I'm one of the only few amongst classical loving locals here to love 2nd Viennese school and open to contemporary music).
Things have changed now. Out of 10 best classical music albums I've listened, 3 owned by Brahms. List includes: German Requiem by Klemp, 4th symphony by Carlos Kleiber and the latest being the piano concertos by Gilels/Jochum/BPO. Don't get me wrong, Mahler and Bruckner in my opinion are superior to Brahms =P But its much easier to get good Brahms recordings than the other two.
Quote from: MISHUGINA on December 01, 2007, 08:33:44 PMOut of 10 best classical music albums I've listened...4th symphony by Carlos Kleiber
Yes yes yes yes yes :) . Out of the top 1 favorite classical albums I've listened to, 1 is the 4th symphony by Carlos Kleiber. 8) ;D
I am just starting to discover Brahms' chamber music. The clarinet quintet promises many happy hours of listening in the future. The piano quartet Op. 60 could hardly be described with the word "happy", however. It seems that Brahms gets a rap as a stodgy old man made of marble, but his music really is very emotive. Part of the problem is we always see pictures of Brahms as an old guy with a big beard. But he had to be a hot-headed youngster before he could grow that beard...
(http://www.musicwithease.com/brahms-01.jpg)
(http://www.fuguemasters.com/brahmsyoung.jpg)
-versus-
(http://www.fuguemasters.com/brahms_2.jpg)
Oh, good. I can sleep much better now. Especially since I just peeled Brahms' 4 symphonies with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Karl Böhm from the shrinkwrap. Now that I know that "MISHUGINA" approves of his music, I don't have to be embarrassed anymore to admit in public that I listen to Brahms.
People are very orchestra-centric sometimes... :P His chamber music is impossible not to like.
Quote from: M forever on December 01, 2007, 10:31:06 PM
Oh, good. I can sleep much better now. Especially since I just peeled Brahms' 4 symphonies with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Karl Böhm from the shrinkwrap. Now that I know that "MISHUGINA" approves of his music, I don't have to be embarrassed anymore to admit in public that I listen to Brahms.
Welcome back :)
Don't worry: I was at odds with Brahms for years (he borrowed my lawnmower, then claimed he'd brought it back). His symphonies finally got under my skin, and now I love his work. :)
Quote from: Mark on December 02, 2007, 01:43:07 AM
Don't worry: I was at odds with Brahms for years (he borrowed my lawnmower, then claimed he'd brought it back).
;D
Fool...
:P
Quote from: MISHUGINA on December 01, 2007, 08:33:44 PM
Things have changed now. Out of 10 best classical music albums I've listened, 3 owned by Brahms. List includes: German Requiem by Klemp, 4th symphony by Carlos Kleiber and the latest being the piano concertos by Gilels/Jochum/BPO. Don't get me wrong, Mahler and Bruckner in my opinion are superior to Brahms =P But its much easier to get good Brahms recordings than the other two.
Why use so many words when only three words are needed:
BRAHMS = GODNo more needs to be said.
Quote from: D Minor on December 02, 2007, 03:29:39 AM
Why use so many words when only three words are needed: BRAHMS = GOD
No more needs to be said.
I see that D minor is
more than pleased with this thread! Notwithstanding my deification of Wagner, yes sure, Brahms is GREAT!! I guess if it hadn't been for Brahms that whole War of the Romantics that ensued after Beethoven wouldn't have been much of a war!
marvin
I also enjoy Brahms' chamber music. When I want to listen to chamber music of the later Romantic, his music usually comes to mind immediately. Apparently, some time after his fourth symphony, Brahms decided that he had done enough and wasn't going to publish any more compositions, but he inevitably returned to chamber music and created some of his best work, including the clarinet (or viola) sonatas.
Brahms may have a reputation for being a conservative, but I think this is only partially true. For a long time, I agreed with this assessment, but closer listening revealed a great deal of innovation and experimentation. This can be heard in many of his earlier works. I remember the first time that I listened closely to Piano Concerto No. 1, which (according to the Wikipedia entry) the critics called "perfectly unorthodox, banal, and horrid". Also, the audience at the first concert must have been conservative, because they hissed at it. I do find it to be unorthodox, but definitely not banal or horrid. This piece hardly seems the work of a stodgy conservative.
Brahms may be rather conservative in comparison to Wagner and Bruckner, but he was innovative in his own way. Also, he worked extensively in smaller-scale forms (chamber music, piano music, songs, etc.) that were more or less neglected by Wagner and many of the other composers associated with him. It took me a bit longer to warm to Brahms than to Wagner, Bruckner, or Mahler, but I am glad I made the effort.
Heather
Quote from: M forever on December 01, 2007, 10:31:06 PM
Oh, good. I can sleep much better now. Especially since I just peeled Brahms' 4 symphonies with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Karl Böhm from the shrinkwrap. Now that I know that "MISHUGINA" approves of his music, I don't have to be embarrassed anymore to admit in public that I listen to Brahms.
"Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentence."--- Luke 15:7.
Quote from: MISHUGINA on December 01, 2007, 08:33:44 PM
(I'm one of the only few amongst classical loving locals here to love 2nd Viennese school and open to contemporary music).
Pff, please. For the record, how can you be a fan of the 2nd Viennese school and not like Brahms? Schoenberg is practically a fusion of the former and Mahler. Wasn't he who also coined the phrase 'Brahms, the progressive?'.
BTW, i think your next step should be his chamber music. ;D
Hello, just joined, this is my first post.
Just had to post here in this thread as I am currently in the gorgeous throes of a Brahms conversion myself.
The Fourth Symphony is what did it for me. The German Requiem is on my shopping list, and this very morning there arrived in the post the delicious String Sextets as a present from a friend! :D
The prospect of getting to know the whole of Brahms' music is one I contemplate with the anticipation of great and varied pleasure. I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. :)
........ welcome to GMG, FTL .......
I wouldn't say he rules the school, but he definitely has his moments.
But the German Requiem and the 4th Symphony are the ONLY works that Brahms' detractors like.
I would add the opus 25 Piano Quartet and the other choral works and that is about it (oh, and the 'Hungarian Dances')!
Brahms is wondersful. The first piec I ever heard was the Third Symphony, perfromed live by the Philly Orch under Ormandy. I couldn;t understand or follow all of it at the time (I was only about 13), but I ws capitvated by the second subject of the fourth movement. (As Dave says, he has his moments.) My subsequent and lifelong exploraiton of Brahms has been a series of pleasurable discoveries far beyond the symphonies and the concerti, stuff that always seemed to take me by surprise when realized just how good it was — the Third String Quartet, the Horn Trio, the Clarinet Quintet, the Piano Quintet, the music for organ, the music for a cappella chorus, the songs, the late piano music.
Follow the lieder, I think you've got a great journey ahwead of you, and in a way, I envy you. Welcome to the board, and please keep us posted on your impressions.
Quote from: Hector on December 03, 2007, 06:40:38 AM
But the German Requiem and the 4th Symphony are the ONLY works that Brahms' detractors like.
"
Brahms's detractors"? That sounds like science-fiction $:)
In many ways, Brahms was just as influential (perhaps moreso) on Schoenberg as Mahler: vid. Schoenberg's essay Brahms the Revolutionary.
Proof therefore that Brahms and greatness go together!
And it was the Brahms Piano Quartet which Schoenberg chose to orchestrate, although the latter did claim that Brahms should have made the opus a symphony, since, in his opinion, it did not really work as chamber music!
Quote from: follow_the_lieder on December 03, 2007, 05:04:27 AM
Hello, just joined, this is my first post.
Just had to post here in this thread as I am currently in the gorgeous throes of a Brahms conversion myself.
The Fourth Symphony is what did it for me. The German Requiem is on my shopping list, and this very morning there arrived in the post the delicious String Sextets as a present from a friend! :D
The prospect of getting to know the whole of Brahms' music is one I contemplate with the anticipation of great and varied pleasure. I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. :)
Hi - like the pseudonym! Eric B & Rakim...?
Quote from: Josquin des Prez on December 02, 2007, 11:34:11 AM
BTW, i think your next step should be his chamber music. ;D
currently listening to:
(http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/3236/coverak4.jpg)
(http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/6871/coverhb4.jpg)
Submitted for your listening pleasure, if you haven't heard it before:
Someone special playing a Brahms Hungarian Rhapsody (http://www.patrick.k12.va.us/josh/audio/brahms.wav)
(You'll probably need to save this to your hard drive, for example by right-clicking and selecting "Save As")
I would claim Brahms rules for two pieces alone: the Op.25 Piano Quartet and his Symphony #3. Those are just unreal to me, I obsess over both in a way that surprises me, considering how lukewarm - or even negative - I am toward most of Brahms' other stuff. I do like the first movement of the Concerto for Violin and Cello, though, and a few other things, like Variations on a Theme of Pleyel, Academic Festival Overture, Violin Concerto, Wiegenlied... okay, I guess I like a lot more than I thought. More than I used to. But the Symphony #3 and the Op.25 Piano Quartet are absolute obsessions.
Quote from: JoshLilly on December 07, 2007, 07:46:56 AM
. . . like Variations on a Theme of Pleyel Haydn
Oh, go on and say
Haydn; unless we have hard evidence that the source was Pleyel, we should probably honor tradition and call it after
Papa.