Comments | matt_rah: Brahms 1

matt_rah

Brahms 1

Apr 13, 2011 23:05

Went to the New York Philharmonic tonight, for an astoundingly low price thanks to the NYPhil Meetup. They played Liszt Les Préludes, Gubaidulina Two Paths, and the Brahms 1st Symphony. The Brahms completely blew me away, and in fact I rushed home and purchased it and am listening to it again even now ( Read more... )

Comments 7

silvergoose April 14 2011, 03:08:08 UTC

Thanks for this! Very enjoyable read, and makes me want to listen to the symphony myself.

matt_rah April 14 2011, 03:29:17 UTC

Just finished listening to the 4th movement with the score; am even more convinced that my analysis-that the fundamental tension here is not V-I, but minor-major, is spot-on, although it's even more interesting than I had thought. He does things like resolve in major, but it's Ab major, which is still not good because it's the VI of C minor-and he got there in the first place by switching out the bass of C on a C minor chord to an Ab! He also uses A major, which is like, dammit, A is the relative minor of C! Brilliant stuff, and there are hints of the "bad ending" right up until the final entrance of the major key.

The other thing I think I finally really internalized is how, once you introduce people to a theme strongly enough, you can get away with only referencing it later on and that will be enough. He does that frequently throughout the 4th movement (and probably in the others as well but I have not studied them yet).

Matt

silvergoose April 14 2011, 03:39:46 UTC

Cool!

...not much more I can say, not having listened to it yet, but seriously neat!

(The comment has been removed)

matt_rah April 14 2011, 21:30:22 UTC

Thanks!!! See you tomorrow! Aieeeeeeeee.

Matt

instigator_ash April 15 2011, 12:24:56 UTC

My only exposure to Brahms is through the Liebeslieder Waltzes, but I love how he wears his heart on his musical sleeve.

teidhe April 25 2011, 02:52:30 UTC

I've been listening to this this weekend, but I haven't gotten to the point where I'm really absorbing the music, except for maybe half of the first movement (it takes me awhile). I'm trying to keep in mind the points you made here when I'm listening, though, and when I'm better acquainted with the piece, maybe we can discuss it further.

matt_rah April 25 2011, 04:01:32 UTC

Hooray!