0:07

Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes, the classical

0:09

music podcast. My name is Joshua Weilerstein, I'm

0:11

a conductor, and I'm the chief conductor of

0:13

the Alborg Symphony and the music director of

0:15

the Phoenix Orchestra of Boston. This

0:17

podcast is for anyone who loves classical music,

0:19

works in the field, or is just getting

0:22

ready to dive into this amazing world of

0:24

incredible music. Before we get

0:26

started, I want to thank my new

0:28

Patreon sponsors, MJ, Jerry, and John, and

0:31

all of my other Patreon sponsors for making

0:33

Season 10 possible. If you'd like to support

0:35

the show, please head over to patreon.com/stickynotespodcast.

0:40

And if you are a fan of the show,

0:42

please take a moment to give us a rating

0:45

or review on Apple Podcasts. It is greatly appreciated.

0:48

So I have the next couple of weeks

0:50

off, but I'm preparing for concerts with the

0:52

Balearic Symphony in Mallorca with

0:55

Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances and Mozart's

0:57

Linz Symphony. And then the

0:59

following week with the CBSO, the City of

1:01

Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where we're

1:03

doing a really fantastic program with

1:05

Dvorak's New World Symphony, Bernstein's Chichester

1:07

Psalms, Caroline Shaw's Music in Common

1:09

Time, and Pavel Haas's Study for

1:11

Strings. It's a program I'll talk

1:14

a little bit more about as

1:16

we get closer to it. A

1:18

program of pairs of pieces, two Czech

1:20

pieces, two Jewish composers, two

1:22

American composers, etc., etc. It's

1:25

going to be a really fun program. Really

1:27

looking forward also to sharing with you

1:29

this older episode of Brahms's first piano

1:31

concerto. Hope you enjoy it. In

1:41

1857, Brahms wrote to his friend

1:43

Joseph Joachim about his first piano

1:45

concerto, saying, quote, I

1:47

have no judgment about this piece

1:49

anymore, nor any control over it.

1:53

Brahms first began sketching his first

1:55

piano concerto in 1853, but

1:58

it would be five full years before he wrote it. before

2:00

Brahms finished the piece, and another

2:02

year until its first performance. During

2:05

that time, the piece became a sonata, then

2:07

a symphony, then a sonata for two pianos,

2:10

and then finally a concerto for piano

2:12

and orchestra. Or as

2:14

the joke goes, a concerto for

2:16

piano versus orchestra. The

2:19

piece, and Brahms' struggles with it,

2:21

are completely understandable considering Brahms' youth

2:23

at the time, and the

2:25

extraordinarily tumultuous circumstances of his private life during

2:27

the years of 1853 to 1858, when Brahms

2:29

was just 20 to 25 years old. During

2:36

this time period, he was anointed by no

2:39

less than the kingmaker of classical music at

2:41

the time, Robert Schumann, as

2:43

the chosen one that represented the

2:45

future of music. He

2:47

became friendly with both Robert and

2:49

Clara Schumann, began achieving huge successes,

2:52

then witnessed the slow mental breakdown

2:55

of Robert, culminating in

2:57

his suicide attempt and institutionalization,

3:00

all while falling deeper and deeper in

3:02

love with Clara Schumann and she with

3:04

him. The turbulence

3:06

and emotional weight of all of this

3:08

is reflected in one of Brahms' most impassioned

3:10

works, the first piano concerto. We'll

3:13

talk about the historical background for the

3:15

piece, Brahms' working out process, and

3:18

of course, the structure and

3:20

insides of this massive, daunting

3:22

work. All of that and

3:24

more is coming right up on Sticky Dance.

3:53

Brahms seems to have been born in our

3:55

imaginations as a portly man of late middle

3:57

age. With a huge white beard.

4:00

belly and piercing eyes. But

4:03

it's important to remember that Brahms at a young

4:05

age was thought of as an extremely talented and

4:08

extremely handsome young pianist and

4:10

budding composer. In

4:12

1853, at the age of just 20,

4:14

Brahms knocked on the door of the Schumann

4:17

House in Düsseldorf. The Schumanns

4:19

were one of the most famous couples in

4:21

all of music. Clara was

4:23

a world-renowned performer, and Robert

4:25

was known as a slightly

4:27

idiosyncratic composer but better known

4:29

as a now-retired music critic.

4:32

His pen could make or break you.

4:35

And so Brahms must have been nervous to

4:37

play for this power couple of classical music.

4:41

Brahms played some of his own music, and

4:43

as I said earlier, Robert Schumann was amazed,

4:46

immediately pegging Brahms as

4:48

the future. Clara

4:51

Schumann was also overwhelmed, and the two

4:53

set out to make young Brahms famous.

4:56

In the Schumanns diaries from that day,

4:58

they wrote, Brahms played a

5:01

genius. At

5:03

first all was well, but by 1854, Schumann's

5:07

mental health crisis had deteriorated in

5:09

a terrifying way. He

5:11

heard loud music at all

5:13

times, was tormented by hallucinations,

5:16

and also suffered the painful symptoms

5:18

of syphilis. On

5:20

February 27, 1854,

5:23

attempting to seal the screaming voices in

5:25

his head, Schumann threw himself into the

5:27

Rhine River. After being

5:29

rescued, he asked to be taken to an asylum,

5:31

where he would remain for the rest of his

5:33

life. Clara Schumann was

5:36

not allowed to see her husband, for fear

5:38

that she would agitate him further. Brahms,

5:41

who was not in Düsseldorf at the time,

5:43

rushed back to Clara immediately upon hearing the

5:45

news. He then put his

5:48

career at least partly on hold, living

5:50

in the Schumann house, helping Clara carry

5:52

on her career as a world-famous pianist

5:54

and teacher, all while taking

5:57

care of the Schumanns' seven children. It

6:00

was an astonishing act of generosity

6:02

for a young, up-and-coming pianist and

6:04

composer, and he would continue

6:06

living with Clara until Robert's death two

6:09

years later. I'll

6:11

pause the story here because the first movement of

6:13

the concerto, in essence, reflects a lot

6:15

of the story that I've just already told you. The

6:18

opening of the concerto is apparently, according to

6:20

two friends of Brown's, the

6:22

musical reaction of Brown's hearing the news of

6:25

Robert's sleep into the Rhine. I

7:00

can't think of a more arresting

7:03

opening in any piece of Western

7:05

classical music. Brown's

7:07

uses an extremely unusual orchestration

7:09

of four horns, violas, basses,

7:11

and an attack in the

7:13

timpani to create this unearthly

7:16

roar. The

7:18

tempo marking is maestoso, or

7:20

majestic, and the tempo is extremely

7:23

broad. In fact, there's a lot of

7:25

disagreement about the tempo in this movement, but I'll come back

7:27

to that later on. The

7:29

theme of this first movement is

7:31

disjointed, angular, and shockingly dissonant for

7:33

what we have come to expect

7:35

from Brown's. It

7:53

seems like this music was born to be a symphony,

7:56

but actually it began as a sonata for

7:58

two pianos. Brahms was

8:00

deeply conscious of his anointment as

8:02

Beethoven's successor, and felt Beethoven's immense

8:05

shadow as he considered whether to

8:07

tackle the genre of the symphony.

8:10

The fact that the piece, as powerful as it

8:12

is, started out as a sonata for two pianos,

8:15

shows that Brahms had not yet reconciled himself

8:17

to the idea that he would be a

8:19

symphonic composer. In the

8:21

end though, after experimenting with the pieces of

8:24

symphony, Brahms found the happy medium, creating

8:26

the dynamic of the piano

8:29

sometimes subsumed, sometimes overpowering, and

8:31

sometimes finally being left alone

8:33

by the orchestra. The

8:35

music is stung through with power, from

8:38

the rough swing of the opening theme

8:40

to the shrieking shrills that result from

8:42

the theme itself. The

9:21

second theme of this introduction is one of

9:23

the loneliest and saddest that Brahms would ever

9:26

write. Even in his

9:28

early orchestral pieces like this one, Brahms had

9:30

a keen sense of the sound of the

9:32

strings. Beethoven could not

9:34

and would not have written orchestrations like this, which

9:37

are so lush and beautiful. In

10:19

fact, Brahms, who often gets criticized for

10:21

his orchestration, really proves his critics wrong

10:23

right from the start here in this

10:25

introduction. As Brahms develops

10:27

this theme, as he constantly does,

10:29

a theme on this show anytime

10:31

we discuss Brahms is what Schoenberg

10:33

called developing variation, in which I

10:35

like to call continuous development. Brahms

10:39

introduces with this development another

10:41

unusual orchestration, clarinets

10:43

and bassoons mournfully singing

10:45

out over shuddering violins.

11:24

But the main theme will return,

11:26

gruff, powerful, and then slightly out

11:28

of control. The emotional

11:31

extremes that this piano concerto remember,

11:33

a genre generally meant to just

11:35

show off the virtuosity of the

11:37

soloist at that time, has reached

11:39

in just this introduction is simply

11:41

astonishing. The

12:22

music finally relaxes for the entrance of the

12:24

soloist, but instead of restating

12:26

the theme, which is what the soloist

12:28

usually does when entering after a long

12:30

orchestral introduction, Brahms immediately starts

12:33

developing the theme, writing a variation

12:35

on it. And

13:09

now we come to the tempo issues of

13:11

this first movement. This movement is

13:13

very long, anywhere between 20 to 25 minutes, and this

13:16

idea of it being a

13:20

symphonic concerto, or just simply

13:22

a piano concerto, is

13:24

a complicated one. It also resulted

13:26

in one of the most famous pre-concert

13:28

speeches ever given, by Leonard Bernstein, just

13:30

before a performance Bernstein did of the

13:32

piece with the legendary Glenn Gould. Gould

13:35

had come up with a new

13:37

concept for the concerto, which, namely,

13:39

was to play the first movement

13:42

extremely slowly. Bernstein could

13:44

not abide this interpretation, though he respected

13:46

Gould's artistry so much that he didn't

13:48

simply cancel the performance. Instead,

13:51

Gould and Bernstein concocted a

13:53

pre-concert speech together, contrary to

13:56

the myth that Bernstein went

13:58

on stage and stabbed Gould

14:00

in the back just before he performed. Bernstein

14:03

in that speech laid out the reason

14:06

why Gould's performance was so troubling and

14:08

so interesting to him. Listen

14:10

to the whole speech. I think it's worth it. I

14:14

think Mr. Bernstein will have something to say

14:16

to the audience, so down to the

14:18

stage. Don't

14:22

be frightened, Mr. Gould is here. It will

14:25

appear in a moment. I

14:28

am not, um, as

14:30

you know, in the habit of

14:32

speaking on any concert except

14:34

the Thursday night previews, but a

14:36

curious situation has arisen which

14:39

merits, I think, a word or two. You

14:43

are about to hear a rather, shall

14:45

we say, unorthodox performance

14:48

of the Brahms' D minor concerto, a

14:51

performance distinctly different from any I've ever

14:53

heard, or even dreamt of, for

14:55

that matter, in its

14:58

remarkably broad tempi and

15:01

its frequent departures from Brahms'

15:03

dynamic indications. I

15:06

cannot say I am in total agreement

15:08

with Mr. Gould's conception. And

15:11

this raises the interesting question, what

15:14

am I doing conducting it? I

15:18

am conducting it because Mr. Gould

15:20

is so valid and serious an

15:22

artist that I

15:24

must take seriously anything he conceives

15:26

in good faith. And

15:29

his conception is

15:31

interesting enough so that I feel

15:34

you should hear it. But

15:37

the age-old question still remains, in

15:40

a concerto, who is

15:42

the boss, the soloist, or

15:46

the conductor? The

15:50

answer is, of course, sometimes one, sometimes

15:52

the other, depending on the people involved.

15:54

But almost always the two manage to

15:57

get together by persuasion. or

16:00

charm or even threats to

16:03

achieve a unified performance. I

16:06

have only once before in my

16:09

life had to submit to

16:12

a soloist totally new and

16:14

incompatible concept and that was

16:16

the last time I accompanied Mr. Goog. But

16:26

this time the discrepancies

16:30

between our views are

16:32

so great that I feel

16:34

I must make this small disclaimer.

16:38

So why, to repeat the question, am I

16:40

conducting it? Why do I not make a

16:43

minor scandal, get

16:45

a substitute soloist, or

16:47

let insistence conduct it? Because

16:51

I am fascinated, glad

16:53

to have the chance for a new look at this much

16:56

played work, because

16:58

what's more, there are moments

17:01

in Mr. Goog's performance that

17:03

emerge with astonishing freshness and

17:05

conviction. Foodly,

17:08

because we can all learn something

17:11

from this extraordinary artist who is

17:13

a thinking performer. And

17:16

finally, because there is in music what

17:18

Dimitri Metropolis used to call the

17:21

sportive element, that

17:24

factor of curiosity, adventure,

17:26

experiment. And I

17:29

can assure you that it has been an adventure

17:31

this week, collaborating

17:33

with Mr. Goog on this Brahms'

17:35

concert. And it's in

17:37

this spirit of adventure that we

17:39

now present it to you. Now

17:44

listen to the recording of the performance compared

17:46

back to back with the one I'm using

17:48

for the show today, which is Christian Zimmerman,

17:50

also with Leonard Bernstein Conducting. you

19:00

right? Well, again, I'll

19:02

let Bernstein explain. Quote,

19:04

first of all, the recording of that

19:06

performance was actually taken from the radio

19:08

broadcast of the Friday concert. But the

19:10

first performance actually took place the previous

19:12

evening. So when those newspaper and magazine

19:14

articles say Bernstein objected to Gould's tempo

19:16

but the tempo really wasn't that slow,

19:18

well that's true, it wasn't that slow

19:20

on Friday. Because Glenn had learned a

19:22

little something on Thursday night when the

19:24

performance was almost an hour and a

19:26

half long. So apparently, we will never

19:28

know what Gould's actual tempo was. But

19:31

it's striking to me that even this tempo you heard

19:33

on the famous performance was considered extremely slow

19:35

at the time and is

19:37

now just a tiny bit slower than most

19:40

performances of the piece, even with Leonard Bernstein

19:42

conducting. The form of

19:44

the first movement is sonata form, but in

19:46

a very expanded way, allowing the

19:48

pianist to ruminate on the music that was

19:50

already heard in the introduction. The

19:53

clanging shrills make another disturbing appearance.

19:56

They could give one the image of a person tearing

19:58

their hair out in green. sleep?

20:31

This passage is one of many, where

20:33

the orchestra seems to be in deep communication

20:36

with the soloist. This is

20:38

not unusual in a concerto, but the level

20:40

of integration with the solo part and the

20:42

orchestral part in this piece is

20:44

more extensive than any concerto that had been

20:46

written before it. In fact,

20:48

in this passage, the orchestra subsumes the

20:51

piece right when he or she

20:53

is making their first grand statement. It's

20:56

a mark of the orchestra's important role

20:58

as very much an important actor in

21:00

this piece. Brahms

21:02

then moves towards a third theme, with

21:04

a series of touching harmonic modulations that

21:06

leave us with less and less of

21:08

the orchestra playing, until finally

21:10

they seed ground for a long

21:12

solo piano passage. This

21:14

is the third theme, but with the importance and

21:17

weight of a second theme in

21:19

a warm-hued F major. But

22:00

we've actually already had a second theme, didn't we? This

22:11

one in the introduction. The

22:34

more and more I study works like these, and

22:36

the more I read about composers like Beethoven and

22:38

Brahms in particular, I'm struck by

22:40

the way that even though they were both revolutionaries

22:42

in their own ways, they succeeded

22:44

at not in spite of the rules, but

22:46

because of them. The rules

22:48

of sonata form are so rigid that they seem

22:51

to be begging to be broken, and

22:53

the best composers knew how to break

22:55

the rules in the most convincing of

22:57

ways. Brahms fools

22:59

us in the introduction by making us think

23:01

that it's a typical double exposition, where the

23:04

orchestra plays the exposition in a shortened form,

23:06

and then the soloist repeats it. But

23:09

this time, Brahms makes that huge

23:11

orchestral introduction truly an

23:13

introduction. It introduced

23:15

the main theme, but also another theme

23:17

that will sprinkle itself throughout the work,

23:20

while perhaps the real second theme was

23:22

lying in wait for the soloist to

23:24

play. And so we get

23:26

a narrative feeling in the music. The

23:28

placement of the second theme, only when the

23:31

soloist is playing, gives us the feeling that

23:33

the soloist is telling the orchestra to calm

23:35

down, that everything in the end might

23:37

be OK. Thank

23:55

you. And

24:21

indeed to fight the drama of

24:23

the introduction and the weight of

24:25

the backstory of the move, the

24:27

moment continues on in relative peace

24:29

in contemplation. Gentle horn calls propel

24:31

the soloist to more. Of

24:34

the exodus one down to it's tender

24:36

close. but

25:21

as if is comfortable not abide the

25:23

soloist this time takes charge and with

25:26

almost a literal shout have an announcement

25:28

takes us into the developed And

26:05

as if to stamp the supremacy of the

26:07

angular main theme into the minds of his

26:09

listeners, Brahms ruminates on it, allowing

26:11

it to be a jumping off point for

26:14

the soloist to play some of the most

26:16

virtuosic music yet in the piece. Brilliantly,

27:01

Brahms then brings back a second

27:03

theme, but not the warm F

27:05

major one, but instead the minor

27:07

key one from the introduction. But

27:10

we also get an understanding of the F

27:12

major second theme as well in the rocking

27:15

accompaniment in the strings, which mimics the rhythm

27:17

of the F major theme. Brahms

27:20

has now fused these two themes together.

27:22

They are two sides of the same

27:24

coin, orbiting around the

27:26

angular and grief-stricken main theme.

28:01

All of this polarization is leaning us somewhere.

28:04

The roiling music at the beginning of the

28:06

development is now beginning to take shape with

28:08

a feeling of tremendous importance. And

28:35

in what I consider to be one

28:37

of the most devastating and thrilling moments

28:39

in all of Western classical music, Brahms

28:41

builds the entire orchestra up to a

28:44

gargantuan climax, hammering

28:46

away with Beethoven's fate motif

28:48

as we are hurled into the

28:50

recapitulation. But

29:37

Brahms is not going to let us off easily, never.

29:40

Now that we are back in the recapitulation,

29:42

we would expect to hear the soloist finally

29:44

play the main theme. And

29:46

they do that, but not in the way you would

29:48

expect. The

30:06

soloist plays an E major, a

30:09

shocking modulation from the powerful D

30:11

minor we just reached. The

30:13

music is now broken, and

30:16

it takes a series of cascading scales

30:18

and a petulant orchestra to finally take

30:20

us back to D minor, the correct

30:22

key. I'll

31:01

skip forward to the coda now, which at

31:03

first sounds very much like the development. But

31:27

the main theme is now becoming overwhelming. It

31:30

layers itself into the accompaniment,

31:32

while the piano desperately plays

31:34

arpeggios going up. Try

31:36

to hear all three elements, the piano

31:38

scales arpeggios, the violins playing

31:40

the main theme, and the violas, cellos,

31:43

and basses answering it. And

32:20

here is where that whole symphonic concerto

32:23

thing rears its ugly hang. If

32:25

the orchestra plays at the volumes prescribed

32:28

by Brahms, the soloist is almost completely

32:30

buried in the avalanche of orchestral sound.

32:33

But one would assume Brahms wanted

32:35

the soloist to be heard pounding away, so

32:38

the conductor and the orchestra have to be

32:40

very careful to not cover the soloist while

32:43

also trying to retain the intensity in the

32:45

music. This tension, perhaps

32:47

intended by Brahms, will take us

32:49

to the thunderous conclusion of a

32:51

nearly 25 minute movement

32:53

that featured no long cadenza

32:55

or solo passage for the soloist.

32:59

Brahms would never write a movement

33:01

like this again, and its power

33:03

and cohesion despite its immense length.

34:04

Brahms was not generally a composer

34:06

of extremes. His music

34:08

is probably most often described as autumnal,

34:10

which gives you an idea of the

34:12

subtle shadings of his music. But

34:15

his earlier music showed a tremendous amount of fire, as

34:17

you just heard, along with those

34:19

extremes of emotion. But his earlier

34:21

music showed a tremendous amount of fire,

34:24

as you just heard, along with those

34:26

extremes of emotion, both in terms of

34:28

passion, but also peace. For

34:31

his slow movement, Brahms embraces those

34:33

extremes one more time, with

34:35

a profoundly beautiful and touching meditation

34:37

that is in stark contrast with

34:39

the turbulence of the first movement.

35:17

Brahms composed the first movement of the

35:20

concerto before Robert Schumann's death. This

35:22

movement came after. Clara

35:25

Schumann was only allowed to see her husband in

35:27

the final days of his life, as he

35:30

lay in a nearly comatose state. Clara

35:33

fed Robert jam from her finger, while

35:35

Brahms stood in the corner of the

35:37

room, at the age of 23. After

35:41

Robert's death, a decision loomed for

35:44

Clara and Brahms, and in the

35:46

end, whatever happened, Brahms pulled away,

35:49

making the decision that he would be alone

35:51

forever. While this was

35:53

a devastating blow to Clara, the two remained

35:55

friends for the rest of their lives, and

35:58

a letter to Clara Schumann. Bronze wrote to

36:01

her, quote, I am painting a

36:03

tender portrait of you, which will be the

36:05

Adagio. Over

36:38

the top of the score, Brahms wrote down

36:40

a phrase from the Latin mass, blessed

36:42

is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Brahms

36:46

certainly held up Clara Schumann as a

36:48

kind of divine force, but

36:50

he also worshipped Robert as well. Perhaps

36:53

this title was meant both as an homage

36:55

to Robert and the portrait of Clara. The

36:58

web of complexities that is expressed by this

37:00

piece is unbearable at times.

37:04

The music is full of traits that Brahms would

37:06

develop further as he matured. He

37:08

uses chains of thirds, which create a

37:10

fullness to the sound, while also developing

37:12

a lyrical gift that creates the endless

37:15

lines that Brahms is famous for. Again,

37:17

I want to emphasize that Brahms wrote this when he was

37:20

between 23 and 25 years old. While

37:54

the first movement often featured the orchestra and the soloist

37:56

at odds with each other, in this movement the orchestra

37:58

and soloist were the first to perform the orchestra and

38:00

soloist. of us gently trade phrases, though

38:02

after the opening introduction the orchestra's

38:05

response is always muted, soft,

38:07

and distant. It's as

38:09

if the piano is trying to reach the orchestra,

38:11

but can't find a way in. The

39:16

middle B section of the movement is

39:19

what Yafim Bronfman, the wonderful pianist, calls

39:21

a serenade. The piano takes

39:23

on an accompanimental role, as the winds

39:25

sing out a new and passionate But

40:10

this theme is related to the first movement, and

40:13

to Beethoven's famous fate motif from the

40:15

Fifth Symphony. Here's the Beethoven though

40:17

you probably don't need a reminder. Here's

40:28

the first one of the Brahms. And

40:50

now listen to the serenade again. It's

40:52

slower to be sure, but it's the same rhythmic

40:54

idea. Already at a

40:56

very young age, Brahms is taking influences from

40:59

Beethoven and his music and turning them into

41:01

something of his own. This

41:31

movement is quite long, at around 15 minutes

41:33

in performance, but it

41:35

employs a very simple ABA

41:37

form, with one big exception.

41:40

In the Return of the A theme,

41:42

the music suddenly unleashes a passionate version

41:44

of the choral melody played by the

41:46

winds. There is almost no other

41:49

19th century concerto where the orchestra plays

41:52

such an important role in the musical narrative.

41:55

The choral theme is never specifically played

41:57

by the soloist, it's the property of

41:59

the orchestra. orchestra, and the soloist only

42:01

is allowed to comment on it. The

42:31

first movement featured no cadenza, the

42:33

traditional long solo passage for the

42:35

soloist to show off their virtuoso

42:37

pyrotechnics that is a feature of

42:39

almost every single classical era concerto.

42:42

If it did, the movement might have lasted 30 minutes. So

42:46

Brahms compensates by placing a surprising cadenza

42:48

in the slow movement. But

42:50

there are no virtuoso antics here. The

42:53

cadenza is subdued, subtle, and shaded.

42:56

It's an example of the remarkable colors Brahms

42:58

was already able to create in his piano

43:01

writing. The

43:36

movement ends in the first version of the chorale

43:38

theme marked to be played as softly as possible.

43:41

The music and perhaps Brahms's feelings for

43:43

Clara are finally at rest. And

43:46

all that's left is a third and final

43:48

movement to finish off this epic work. So

44:10

I made a little joke here, but I promise you it's

44:12

a relevant one. For those of

44:15

you not familiar with this concerto, what I just

44:17

played for you was the opening of the third

44:19

movement of Beethoven's piano concerto No. 3 in C

44:21

minor. The reason it's

44:23

relevant is that much of the last

44:25

movement of the Brahms concerto is almost

44:27

a phrase-by-phrase copy of the Beethoven. Brahms

44:31

always struggled with last movements, and there was

44:33

no bigger struggle for him than this last

44:35

movement. The first two movements

44:37

are so emotional and are filled with so

44:40

much baggage that Brahms did not want to

44:42

finish the concerto with a frivolous and light

44:44

final movement, which would have been the expectation

44:46

for a concerto. Beethoven,

44:49

despite the seriousness of his C minor

44:51

concerto's first two movements, found

44:53

a way to make his minor key

44:55

last movement sound both serious and fun

44:57

in a brilliant compromise. Brahms

45:00

found this a bit more difficult. Compare

45:02

the first phrases of both concerto's last

45:04

movements. Beethoven. It's

45:47

like an extremely serious person trying their best

45:49

to tell a joke, then thinking better of

45:52

it and giving up. Either

45:54

way, both concertos feature a solo piano

45:56

opening, followed by the orchestra responding with

45:58

a slightly expanded voice. version of the

46:00

tune. In Brahms' case, the

46:02

tune is gruff and blunt. Even

46:25

the accompaniment that the piano plays

46:27

for the orchestral version of the

46:29

theme is the same between Brahms

46:31

and Beethoven. Let's look at the

46:33

16th notes underneath the earbead. Brahms

46:55

used Beethoven as his model since he struggled

46:57

so much to come up with a concept

46:59

for this last movement. The

47:02

parallels continue as Beethoven writes a clever little

47:04

cadenza to bring him back to the main

47:06

tune. And Brahms, while continuing

47:08

the pulse in a way that Beethoven does

47:10

not, goes basically with the same idea.

47:14

Here they are again, back to back, first Beethoven. Then

47:31

that. At

47:53

this point is the first diversion that Brahms

47:55

makes from Beethoven, though it is only very

47:57

brief. Beethoven Quickly finds his way to

47:59

the end of the tune. Cheerful second themed.

48:01

it's an huge contrast with the

48:03

opening theme and shows the facility

48:05

Beethoven enjoy the in rapid mood

48:08

shifts. Brahms

48:34

takes a bit longer to find his

48:36

way the process For Bronson his music

48:38

was always a laborious one. At this

48:41

point in his career he didn't have

48:43

the fun this to make such a

48:45

rapid changes. Beethoven did though perhaps he

48:47

didn't want you as his be seen

48:49

in this rondo into exactly the same

48:52

as and Beethoven is a bit more

48:54

greedy and pretentious than Beethoven's. But.

49:29

Now the rolls reverse. both composers need

49:32

to get back to their aid themes

49:34

again. According to the rules of the

49:36

rondo, Beethoven plays a very brief past.

49:40

key and has the pianist a noodle

49:42

around with a dizzying scale Brahms

50:21

actually lightens things up a little, giving

50:23

the orchestra a softly pulsating syncopated melody

50:26

marked to be played sweetly. But

50:58

like a good disciple, Brahms' transition back

51:00

to the main tune is remarkably similar

51:02

to Beethoven. Again,

51:33

the Rondo tune can almost be

51:36

superimposed bar by bar with Beethoven.

51:38

We then get the C theme, and in both

51:41

cases the music is an inspiration. Beethoven

51:43

moves into the subtle key of

51:45

A-flat major, while Brahms changes the

51:47

key to a warm B-flat major

51:50

in one of his most inspired

51:52

tunes. First Listen to

51:54

Beethoven, then Brahms. He.

52:53

Grabbed a family of problems at Little

52:55

Cutters of Homage the beta like long

52:58

trills while the orchestra plays the melody

53:00

and a beautiful dialogue with the orchestra.

53:03

At. This point in the me that you're meant

53:05

to be going back to the A music

53:07

but Beethoven and want to has quirkier moments

53:09

added a mini few is a surprise. And

53:12

so Brahms does exactly the same thing.

53:48

And both composers will use this feeble music to

53:51

move back to the A theme. That

53:53

the monthly thing is a a

53:55

bit of plagiarism from bronze. But

53:57

to me what is remarkable about

53:59

it is that wall Brahms's copy

54:02

the structure and phrase life wholesale

54:04

from Beethoven. This music stance completely

54:06

on his own is a wonderful

54:08

testament to Brahms's abilities. Sure it

54:10

might not be as profound as

54:12

the first to movements, but even

54:14

bronze and minute the distance impossible

54:16

to achieve in a moment to

54:18

expect to be lighter than the

54:20

first. Round

54:49

the base of and returned back to their

54:51

be themes in the same way as they

54:53

did in their first generation and they also

54:56

arrive at the traditional contends I in a

54:58

similar way as well. But then things start

55:00

to change. Beethoven's to them that is flashy

55:02

while Brahms rights that says should be played

55:05

like a fantasy, it is an extremely virtual

55:07

sex and it brings into the long and

55:09

glorious coda of the contrary. Print

56:00

between these two concertos, Beethoven's coda is

56:02

light and cheerful and C Major the

56:04

key he's been flirting with all along

56:06

Brahms does allow them is actually got

56:09

a D Major, but instead of something

56:11

laden cheerful, he begins a long and

56:13

drawn out coda that repeatedly seems to

56:15

be finding it's way to the ending.

56:17

Only the pullback. First

56:20

Sebring think that glorious from

56:22

earlier. And

56:55

this music is only an introduction to

56:57

what I call code a be a

56:59

folksy version of the main to wasn't

57:02

of the accompany him in the shallows.

57:04

Brahms adored folk music and even in

57:06

this most serious of concertos he finds

57:08

a way to put it into the

57:10

music. We.

57:35

Then get another variation of the main to

57:37

and what I call coda. See, it seems

57:39

to be here that Brahms's groping for the

57:41

true ending. Why

58:12

love to issue the keepers creativity into account

58:14

for the time you get to the second

58:16

to them for of the code affection? One

58:19

can really get the feeling that Brahms was

58:21

just a young man when he wrote this

58:23

map. For. The

58:57

final page of of the concerto are

58:59

a romp to the fence, with the

59:01

timpani joyfully accompanying the scampering cattle all

59:03

the way to the ending. Brahms.

59:34

Premiered the Peace and Friendly Han Over

59:36

where it received a good a slightly

59:39

perplexed reaction and like see a few

59:41

days later things did not go well.

59:44

During this period of musical history,

59:46

the audience was expected to applaud

59:48

between movements if they enjoyed it.

59:50

But in the Leipzig performance after

59:52

the first moments twenty five minutes

59:54

of heart pounding, we passionate music

59:56

with Brahms of the Cattle as

59:59

soloist. The violence.

1:00:01

Same. After the slow movements, At.

1:00:04

The end of the third movie,

1:00:06

Brahms reported step Three pairs of

1:00:09

hands clapped very tentatively and slowly,

1:00:11

followed by a chorus of hisses

1:00:13

from the audience. Seeking.

1:00:16

Brahms shook the conductors hand and

1:00:19

left the stage devastated. The.

1:00:21

Reviews were to put it mildly. And.

1:00:24

One. Said quotes: this works to

1:00:27

not give pleasure save it's serious

1:00:29

intention, has nothing to offer but

1:00:31

waste baron dreariness for more than

1:00:34

three quarters of an hour, One

1:00:36

must endure this routine and rummaging

1:00:38

this dragging and dryness. This terry

1:00:41

an impression of phrases and flourishes.

1:00:43

Not only one must teach in

1:00:45

this fermenting mass, one must also

1:00:48

swallow a desert of the surrealists

1:00:50

didn't know. Not. Only

1:00:53

must one taken this fermenting

1:00:55

mass? One must also swallow

1:00:57

a desert of the surrealists,

1:01:00

dissonances and most unpleasant sounds.

1:01:04

Brahms. For his part, try to put a

1:01:06

good faith that range was friends with a

1:01:08

few off him quotes. I think it's the

1:01:10

best thing that could happen to one. It

1:01:12

forces you to collect your thoughts and raises

1:01:14

your courage. After all, I'm still trying and

1:01:16

groping. But. The hissing was too much

1:01:18

of a good thing, wasn't it? In.

1:01:21

Time as it always seems to be, this

1:01:23

concerto would find its audience and it remains

1:01:26

one of the most popular concertos performed these

1:01:28

days. I performed at a

1:01:30

couple times and let me tell you

1:01:32

nothing to compare the hearing that and

1:01:34

rowohl of the load d that begins

1:01:36

the peace or the twists and turns

1:01:38

it takes on it's way to the

1:01:40

rollicking conclusion. Brahms's.

1:01:42

And Swofford says in his essential

1:01:45

biography on Browns decided to attempt

1:01:47

to concerto on an absolutely epic

1:01:49

scale at the age of just

1:01:51

twenty three. In. Fact: he

1:01:53

decided to reach for the emotional impact of

1:01:55

something like Beethoven's ninth Symphony soon. A bit

1:01:57

of a didn't achieve until the end of

1:01:59

it earlier. In the I'm The

1:02:02

Concerto is a reflection of Brahms's use. Perhaps it's

1:02:04

a little bit longer than it needs to be.

1:02:06

Perhaps it is too many endings? Perhaps the last

1:02:08

moment doesn't live up to the first to. But

1:02:11

considering what Brahms was going through at

1:02:14

the time and is difficulties translating these

1:02:16

feelings in the music, the concerto stands

1:02:18

as a testament to brothers use, his

1:02:20

relationship with the human family. And.

1:02:23

His place in musical history. Thanks

1:02:35

so much for listening to us today.

1:02:37

We'll have some more exciting stuff for

1:02:39

you in a couple of weeks, so

1:02:41

don't miss our next episode. If you

1:02:43

like, would you heard today? please feel

1:02:45

free to rate and review the show

1:02:47

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show him or disability please And any

1:02:51

questions to. Speaking of podcast at email.com

1:02:53

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1:02:55

and a Good Sport Parts has monetarily

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1:03:00

of Contest. Thanks and I thought you

1:03:02

again after a while.