The Brahms Experience

[french frank]

Brahms is to be the next subject of Radio 3's 'composer focus'. It's not clear from the press release that this is to be the usual 'clear the schedules/every note he wrote' promo for the station, so may be more worthwhile than some have been.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2014/r3-brahms-experience

But they don't miss a chance for a 'meet the people' opportunity for those who are interested in going behind the scenes to meet the producers and presenters, which will certainly appeal to some. In Bristol

[Serial_Apologist]

Brahms is to be the next subject of Radio 3's 'composer focus'. It's not clear from the press release that this is to be the usual 'clear the schedules/every note he wrote' promo for the station, so may be more worthwhile than some have been.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2014/r3-brahms-experience

But they don't miss a chance for a 'meet the people' opportunity for those who are interested in going behind the scenes to meet the producers and presenters, which will certainly appeal to some. In Bristol

Ooh aah me lovelies!

(Where's eighthobstruction, when you need him?)

[LeMartinPecheur]

Something that always strikes me about JB is the very small number of failures in his oeuvre. What he published is all still in repertoire except where the whole genre has suffered an eclipse (secular partsongs, short choral/orchestral pieces e.g.). So his notorious self-criticism seems to have served him very well - bring on these programmes!

OK I do accept that some sad souls (like Tchaik and Britten) will say that all Brahms is a failure...

I may have asked this Q before: why is there an Aldeburgh live recording of BB playing the Liebeslieder Waltzes with Arrau, Harper, Baker, Pears, Hemsley if he hated Brahms as much as is said??

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I may have asked this Q before: why is there an Aldeburgh live recording of BB playing the Liebeslieder Waltzes with Arrau, Harper, Baker, Pears, Hemsley if he hated Brahms as much as is said??

Because he liked these particular works, I would imagine. As a teenager, Britten greatly admired Brahms - his diaries are full of appreciative comments - just as long as it wasn't Boult conducting them!

[Ferretfancy]

Because he liked these particular works, I would imagine. As a teenager, Britten greatly admired Brahms - his diaries are full of appreciative comments - just as long as it wasn't Boult conducting them!

He didn't like Elgar either, but he recorded The Dream of Gerontius -something I find hard to forgive!

[BBMmk2]

I thought Boult was a very good interpreter of Brahms?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I thought Boult was a very good interpreter of Brahms?

So do I. But Boult was given the "choice" repertoire with the BBC orchestra that left Frank Bridge looking after "the leftovers" - Britten was very partisan, and believed that Bridge was a far better conductor than Boult.

[Roehre]

I thought Boult was a very good interpreter of Brahms?

Depends.
some of his interpretations, of the orchestral serenades e.g., are less than admirable. His recording of the 2nd op.16 IMO a straightforward failure. Of course this may be a misjudgement from EMI's part, as IIRC these are his very last recordings apart from the Parry Symphony 5, but as the latter is a must have, the Brahms definitely aren't.

[Roehre]

If it is wall to wall Brahms, then there may be some discoveries being broadcast.
Though he hardly left any sketches (a result of what happened with Beethoven's sketches right under Brahms' nose as Nottebohm and Mandyzcewski explored and published these, offering a view into Beethoven's workshop) there are some compositions which survived because he couldn't destroy them any more as these were out of his reach.
These were found among the papers of friends and some admirers.
That there exist two versions of the trio opus 8 is caused by the work being published and many copies of the original 1854 version already being dispersed beyond the composer's reach.

There are some piano pieces, organ pieces, the (attributed, but almost certainly his) piano trio in A, alternative versions of some mvts (like one in Symphony 1 and symphony 4), alternative instrumentations (the viola/clarinet/violin sonatas op.120 e.g., or the quintet/double sonata op.34, and the Haydn-variations op.56), some songs and a Mass, which attribute to general knowledge and appreciation of Brahms works, and are worth to be heard.

It will also be interesting to hear about the 2nd violin concerto, the 2nd Academic overture, the 5th symphony etc.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

He didn't like Elgar either, but he recorded The Dream of Gerontius -something I find hard to forgive!

You might forgive BB for his wonderful recording of Elgar's Introduction and Allegro.

[BBMmk2]

I am never too sure of these composer focus programmes of Radio 3. It smacks of cheap programming.

[french frank]

I am never too sure of these composer focus programmes of Radio 3. It smacks of cheap programming.

There appear only to be five (?) evening concerts from Bristol - St George's and, swelp'us, from Colston Hall - and the week's Essay series. I wonder if the 3-week Sound of Cinema Experience was a lesson: July-September was also Proms quarter and the listening figures were quite low - 11th out of 15 for Proms seasons.

[CallMePaul]

There are some piano pieces, organ pieces, the (attributed, but almost certainly his) piano trio in A, alternative versions of some mvts (like one in Symphony 1 and symphony 4), alternative instrumentations (the viola/clarinet/violin sonatas op.120 e.g., or the quintet/double sonata op.34, and the Haydn-variations op.56), some songs and a Mass, which attribute to general knowledge and appreciation of Brahms works, and are worth to be heard.
It will also be interesting to hear about the 2nd violin concerto, the 2nd Academic overture, the 5th symphony etc.

There are some snippets by Brahms, eg cadenzas to several Mozart and Beethoven piano concerti, that no-one plays now (although Beethoven's cadenzas for K466 seem to be the default choice) that it would be interesting to hear in context. And moving to more substantial, published works, how about a good performance of the cantata Rinaldo? This does not appear to have been performed by a major orchestra nor recorded since René Kollo retired. There must be a tenor willing to take it on - it would be ideal for Jonas Kaufmann but he is probably too busy to study the work, but maybe someone like Mark Padmore could be interested?

[Roehre]

There are some snippets by Brahms, eg cadenzas to several Mozart and Beethoven piano concerti, that no-one plays now (although Beethoven's cadenzas for K466 seem to be the default choice) that it would be interesting to hear in context. And moving to more substantial, published works, how about a good performance of the cantata Rinaldo? This does not appear to have been performed by a major orchestra nor recorded since René Kollo retired. There must be a tenor willing to take it on - it would be ideal for Jonas Kaufmann but he is probably too busy to study the work, but maybe someone like Mark Padmore could be interested?

There exists a lovely Naxos CD with this type of snippets.
Rinaldo is a work as near as possible to what a brahmsian opera(-scene) might have been.
But 35 minutes with only a male voice is a bit too much for most of us, I'm afraid.
Nevertheless it is certainly worth to be performed.

[kernelbogey]

The Brahms Experience

The Brahms Experience looks like an interesting and different take on focusing on a single composer: linked live concerts, CD Review, COTW etc. I look forward to delving into this. Starting a thread here as I can't find that it's yet been referred to on the boards.