Brahms - fit for children?

[jayne lee wilson]

"Life was so easy; suddenly hatred broke out; a grave situation was created; but life goes on."

Thus runs Schoenberg's own little programme for the Piano Concerto, TS... it may help.
I'm rather fond of the piece, especially that explosive scherzo so soon after the beginning, and the gloomy, ruminative slow movement. Always tend to think, I really should play this more often...

I never saw the inside of a concert-hall till the age of 18. (Solo trip, on the bus, to RLPO for DSCH 8 with Maxim Shostakovitch). Didn't do ME any harm!

[teamsaint]

"Life was so easy; suddenly hatred broke out; a grave situation was created; but life goes on."

Thus runs Schoenberg's own little programme for the Piano Concerto, TS... it may help.
I'm rather fond of the piece, especially that explosive scherzo so soon after the beginning, and the gloomy, ruminative slow movement. Always tend to think, I really should play this more often...

I never saw the inside of a concert-hall till the age of 18. (Solo trip, on the bus, to RLPO for DSCH 8 with Maxim Shostakovitch). Didn't do ME any harm!

Thanks Jayne. Yes , I knew the quote, but have forgotten about it when listening !Doh !! (I know you brought it into play when discussing Mozart #40).
I find it unputdownable just at the moment....one of those things where you wake up in the morning and can't wait to hear it !

as for concert halls, (kids or not) there might be a nice niche business in running trips to some of europe's finest.....if its thursday it must be the Semperoper.....that sort of thing.

[Tapiola]

Just back from the Brahms 3...

Master Taps loved the Bizet L'Arlesienne Suites in the first half; he recognised the Overture melody from a computer game he plays

As for the Brahms itself (imo B's most difficult symphony despite - or maybe because of - its brevity and concentrated nature), Master T enjoyed the outer movements best, though his attention was flagging during the inner movements. I looked at him at one moment during the intermezzo third movement and could almost read in his face Beecham's evaluation of Brahms: "that old bore".

In sum, he very much enjoyed the evening. The student band played very well. Especially fine string sound and intonation.

Well worth it!

[amateur51]

Just back from the Brahms 3...

Master Taps loved the Bizet L'Arlesienne Suites in the first half; he recognised the Overture melody from a computer game he plays

As for the Brahms itself (imo B's most difficult symphony despite - or maybe because of - its brevity and concentrated nature), Master T enjoyed the outer movements best, though his attention was flagging during the inner movements. I looked at him at one moment during the intermezzo third movement and could almost read in his face Beecham's evaluation of Brahms: "that old bore".

In sum, he very much enjoyed the evening. The student band played very well. Especially fine string sound and intonation.

Well worth it!

This is great news Taps - well done!

Now's the time to play him Schoenberg's orchestration of Brahms piano quartet no 1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schoenberg-Brahms-Piano-Quartet-No/dp/B00369K1GA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367534079&sr=8-1&keywords=Brahms+Schoenberg+Rattle

I hope that the Mars bar was up to scratch during the interval

[Hornspieler]

Does the child play an instrument? Many musicians can cite going to a concert as around this age as a formative experience. Let us know how it went.

In 1941, at the height of the Blitz, I was taken to hear the Beckenham County School orchestra play a concert conducted by that great champion of music for young people, Dr Hubert Clifford.

Egmont Overture
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Jupiter symphony

The soloist in the concerto was 13 year old Hugh Bean (one of the school's pupils).

I never looked back and two years later, I started to learn to play the French Horn.

Bizet is the ideal type of music to appeal to a receptive young person. Cheerful tunes combined with flowing melodies

Go for it!

HS

[Ferretfancy]

In 1941, at the height of the Blitz, I was taken to hear the Beckenham County School orchestra play a concert conducted by that great champion of music for young people, Dr Hubert Clifford.

Egmont Overture
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Jupiter symphony

The soloist in the concerto was 13 year old Hugh Bean (one of the school's pupils).

I never looked back and two years later, I started to learn to play the French Horn.

L'Arlessiene is the ideal type of music to appeal to a receptive young person. Go for it!

HS

I love L'Arlessiene, especially in Beecham's performance, and Minkowsky gave a complete performance of the incidental music at the Proms a few years ago.
I do have a tiny problem with it, however. When I was about 15, at my boys boarding school, we put on a performance of the The Taming of the Shrew, one of Shakespeare's weaker plays to say the least. The all male cast battled on fairly successfully, but we all had to do deeply embarrassing can can style dancing with Bizet's farandole as incidental music. The painful memory stays with me!

I wonder if others here have similar memories triggered by music that they actually love ?

[salymap]

I love L'Arlessiene, especially in Beecham's performance, and Minkowsky gave a complete performance of the incidental music at the Proms a few years ago.
I do have a tiny problem with it, however. When I was about 15, at my boys boarding school, we put on a performance of the The Taming of the Shrew, one of Shakespeare's weaker plays to say the least. The all male cast battled on fairly successfully, but we all had to do deeply embarrassing can can style dancing with Bizet's farandole as incidental music. The painful memory stays with me!

I wonder if others here have similar memories triggered by music that they actually love ?

Oh dear, any photos Ferret? I'll try and think of some memories.

[Tapiola]

This is great news Taps - well done!

Now's the time to play him Schoenberg's orchestration of Brahms piano quartet no 1

I hope that the Mars bar was up to scratch during the interval

Yes indeed. It was one of the half-sized ones (pack of four for £1), though he did ask for a creme egg on the way home (request denied... )

[Tapiola]

In 1941, at the height of the Blitz, I was taken to hear the Beckenham County School orchestra play a concert conducted by that great champion of music for young people, Dr Hubert Clifford.

Egmont Overture
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Jupiter symphony

The soloist in the concerto was 13 year old Hugh Bean (one of the school's pupils).

I never looked back and two years later, I started to learn to play the French Horn.

Bizet is the ideal type of music to appeal to a receptive young person. Cheerful tunes combined with flowing melodies

Go for it!

HS

Lovely memories HS

[Nick Armstrong]

he did ask for a creme egg on the way home (request denied... )

[Ferretfancy]

Oh dear, any photos Ferret? I'll try and think of some memories.

salymap

Dubious visuals are not allowed on this site! Suffice it to say that on reading the reviews, George VI died soon afterwards.

[Serial_Apologist]

It's pretty faithful to what Brahms would probably have done, had he orchestrated it. Only in the finale does AS manage to make JB sound like Shostakovitch, by the addition of xylophone.

[Tapiola]

It's pretty faithful to what Brahms would probably have done, had he orchestrated it. Only in the finale does AS manage to make JB sound like Shostakovitch, by the addition of xylophone.

Oooh, Master T would love that!

[ahinton]

it was more Blondie than Blomstedt for me at that age

That reminds me of my having told someone a long time ago that, while most others at school were listening to The Beatles and the Stones, I was listening mainly to Boulez and Stockhausen...

Anyway, there's simply no telling how a child might respond to this, that or the other music although it's generally best, I think, to take them to live performances and observe their responses than see what happens when they listen to recordings. A friend once took his 6 year old son to a Boston SO concert that opened and closed with a Mozart symphony and the concerto in the first half was one of Prokofiev's two for violin (I forget which). The young lad had previously been to at least one of the big Tchaikovsky ballets and was enthralled, but I think that this was his first live orchestral concert experience. He loved the first half and was very enthusiastic about what he was hearing. The second half opened with a certain composer's Variations for Orchestra; he loved this, too and, when he saw an elderly man with a stick walking up to the rostrum to acknowledge the applause, his father explained that this was Elliott Carter, who had written the piece that had just been played. The little fellow was utterly thrilled. At the end of the symphony that followed (which he also very much enjoyed), he asked his father "but where's Mr Mozart?"...

Now I rather doubt that most people would assume that a 6 year old would be content to sit through almost half an hour of Carter, but this boy didn't just sit through it - he was clearly concentrating and taking it all in as far as he was able.

[Nick Armstrong]

Oooh, Master T would love that!

Seriously, ammy's suggestion is a great one. It's really spectacular live