As I listen to this recording, now for the fourth time, I am suddenly impressed with the realization of a piece of music as a living and breathing child, borne by a composer and then changed and influenced by each person in whose hands it is placed. Here, Brahm's child is caressed and kissed by a loving and wise man into warm smiles and the sweetest places of sleep. Brahms would have been touched to see this child of his mind treated with such expert affection.
Beautiful comment. In fact, I'm in tears. Overwhelmed by this interpretation, and then your words. Sometimes the joy and sadness of the world and its precious treasures causes me sweet pain, and excruciating pleasure. I thank you.
You know the way every pianist plays brings out his innate characteristics. You can hear the beauty of Seymour’s soul in his playing…love, truth n selflessness which are the characteristics of our Creator. You are divine Seymour. You are such an inspiration to us ❤❤❤
While listening this piece, i thought of Tolstoy words about the most important quality of any work of art: sincerity, sincerity and sincerity! Thank you Mr. Seymour for reminding me of what is worth in this world.
Dear Mr. Bernstein: I am lying in bed listening to this and it moved me to tears. Such tenderness and beauty. It makes me think of what one must feel when contemplating the wonder of life. ❤
I am so delighted to find that Seymour has a recording of this piece. He has ruined all other interpretations for me. No matter the tempo marking - Seymour displays a deep and cosmic understanding of the music and of the piano, in this piece and every other. Brings me to tears every single time.
Thank you to put into sound so many emotions and unexplicable things that between the notes Brahms wrote to the soul direct to your fingers. This performance is eternal from the second before it started to sound. Thank you to make music making and art much more than a profesion. Thanks for being music and convert sounds into tears in every line. THANKS
The most beautiful interpretation of this piece I think I've ever heard. The immense sensitivity, the colors, all so beautiful. His students are very lucky to be able to study with such a musician and teacher.
This Intermezzo has always been special to me. And now that you, a radiant soul, have played it, it's even more so. You touch my heart. Thank you, Mr Bernstein.
A recently discovered piece of music for me- I heard it on a tv programme and searched till i found it. I have therefore been listening to all the renditions on youtube and some of the masterclasses and discussions on how it should be played. I can honestly say this is one of the best - for me it IS the best. Most times, all i have heard is a beautiful melody being competently played. This is like a film playing before my eyes. I cannot see the pianist- a good thing in my opinion as it makes you listen instead of watch- but the sheer depth of emotion he brings to this piece lifts it beyond the renditions i have heard before into something amazing. I know there are many interpretations but his effect is glorious. It is like a love story between him, the music and the piano. It moves me to tears, the others didn't, that says it all.
Lieber Herr Bernstein, ich finde ihre Videos und ihre Musik Auffassung sehr inspirierend für mich. Ihre Interpretation rührt an etwas sehr sehr tiefem in der Seele. Und ich denke, genauso gerührt wie ich, wäre auch Johannes Brahms, wenn er sie hören könnte.
Pure Poetry... Pure Sentiment... Pure Intimacy... Pure Joy... Pure Music... Pure Life... Pure Being there... Ideal way of rendering this Unique and most loving piece of Brahms... Bravo Maestro Bernstein... I had the pleasure to have met you in Utah many years ago. Your comments and our conversations remain in my soul as everlasting treasures... wherever You may be, I Thank you so much...
The interpretation brought me to tears. Such sweet pain and excruciating pleasure! I thought the muses, fate, call it what you will , had given me quite enough for one night. Then i read these comments and an reduced again to blubbering idiocy. Each and every one of you , separately had an experience similar to mine, yet filtered through your unique life experiences. I know you. You are my friends, my people. I love you. There IS beauty in the world. We find what we look for. We found it together. Thank you all so much for putting your feelings into words so eloquently. I felt it too.
This is such a poignant interpretation of this piece it really touches my heart! Your tempo, dynamics and beautiful voicings really express the tenderness ,I feel Brahms intended I first heard this piece some months ago played by Richard Goode at a virtual Y2K concert and fell in love with it so have been learning it and have listened to many other versions but you bring such an emotional depth with your touch Thank you for sharing !
Thank you so much for your service in Korea. I have just finished watching you in the movie...I cried also as soon as you bursted into tears..I love your playing, thinking, mind, music and so on..no words cannot describe how much I respect your being. Thank you for your existence. Soo-Hyun Park
I couldn't listen to this playing without weeping. How marvelous music is this ...... Very moving perfomance. Life is truely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this, Mr.Seymour.
I am so curious when people say they are moved by music, I either don't have the intellectual training to understand what is going on, or more likely I have an emotional void. I know it's hard to describe feelings or why you feel, but I really do wonder what it must be like tobe moved by music. Is it an appreciation of all the relationships created between notes in time (a cerebral experience which causes wonder which then creates emotion) or is it simply an indescribable, visceral reaction without much conscious thought, the sounds themselves are simply playing your emotional instrument?
@@callmedenoWith most, it is the intuitive reaction to the relationships between notes regarding their timing, placement and duration (that, in relation to the established metrum of the piece) and the tonal relation of the notes to each other, in chords and melodies. All clean intervals are fractional relations of the frequencies of two notes to each other, octaves being 1/2, fifths 3/2, etc. Think of how the different mathematical relations of the parts of crystals to each other work together to form beautiful configurations in space; music does the same in sound, with the additional components of volume and time.
wow! what a performance! This piece is for me considered one of the hardest pieces musically. And Maestro you just does it!!! I have watched your other videos on your thoughts about life, music, humanity and etc. You simply inspire me as what I want to be as a person, and as a piano teacher. You are my landpost now. May all the good health and wellness with you! Sincerely, MHW
So beautifully played, with such incredible dynamics. Like the piano is a living being when played with such an incredible touch and artistry. Lovely beyond words.
@@SeymourBernstein Maestro, human beings and musicians like you--and especially the combination of the two--are so rare a treasure. Who and what you are radiate from your very being the moment one meets you, and to hear those elements translated in your music like this is to witness a miracle. It simply is.
@@SeymourBernstein Oh, Maestro. Your spirit is a beacon in a world that sorely needs you and the example you set. The fact that you can communicate your light though humanity's highest art form is a great gift to us all.
Thank you so much for recording and sharing this, my favorite Brahms Intermezzo, for the New Year, dear Seymour. I discovered this piece at age 19 and I played it at my mother's wedding to her second husband that August of 1977, in our quaint Congregational Church in our town in Vermont. My mother was herself a classical pianist and cellist and always said that she loved the "changes" in this Brahms piece. I am so happy to hear your playing on this snowy day north of Seattle. You always touch my heart with your playing and videos.
Such a delicate and tender touch, directly transmitted from the ear to the listening, ever longing heart! Thank you Mr. Bernstein for your wonderful playing!
What a marvelous rendition ! I came to your youtube canal to discover some rare Mischa Mischakoff recordings and then discover one of the most subtil and sensitive lecture of this intermezzo. Many thanks from France.
Copied by CC from; Tonebase. Hi, I have made a point of listening to Seymour Bernstein's recording of the Brahms's Intermezzo 118 No 2 and I've also listened to as many other performances of this piece as I can find, of course, there are countless other recordings. I should probably add that I have played this piece for a great many years so I am very familiar with it. I won't speculate how I think Brahms played this Intermezzo but I would be willing to bet that Clara Schuman's version sounded pretty much like Seymour Bernstein's offering. There are elements of Gould's recording of this piece which are intriguing but if this piece were a written poem I think it would be more akin to a love Sonnet by poets such as Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret Browning. This Intermezzo is a tender and subtle whisper from one heart to another, it's a mature, reflective conversation. The piece is both poignant and intellectually intricate at the same time. From the performances I've heard of this piece there seems to be a serious tendency to overplay it and give it overt romantic dimensions which aren't intended to be emphasized. My money is on Seymour Bernstein's interpretation; for me it's the most beautiful and personal performance of this Brahms Intermezzo that I have ever been fortunate enough to hear. I am so thankful that Seymour Bernstein recorded it. For a beautiful surprise I encourage others to listen to his recording. Thank you.
Mr. Bernstein did another beautiful recording this piece for "Seymour: an Introduction," and I used that recording as the soundtrack for a video I made (the demonetization was worth it). The video is a montage of rain pouring onto a small-town neighborhood. My hope was to recreate the feeling sitting on a porch, ruminating, while the eye subconsciously drifts from one part of the showered environment to another, marking each change of thought. The video is linked here. I hope it's worth the time it takes to watch it: th-cam.com/video/4cFDwNPenks/w-d-xo.html
My two favorites of 118-2 are Volodos and Perahia, I get lost in the beauty of their interpretations, occasionally reminding myself to breathe and always surprised when they end so (subjectively) quickly. Here, I was surprised to find myself checking from time to time, wondering when it would end.
I've finally discovered why I have never found Brahms' music compelling enough. It is quite simple - he led a pretty ordinary life. No pain - unlike Schubert, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Chopin. Rachmaninoff etc I think that is indeed the reason. We cannot learn from people who have not suffered. As Dostoevsky said, art is only meaningful when connected to suffering.. and I don't speak f Bach and others like him, whose music has been so colossal as to brook no disputation as to its greatness.
It is quite well-known how his love for Clara was a great source of pain and joy, as you can well hear in the piano works. I really don't see how you'd consider his life void of pain. But of course, if his works don't touch you, that's a matter of taste.
Brahms didn't talk about his pain and loneliness. It was expressed in music. Perhaps too subtle for those used to the emotional indulgences of , say, Tchaikovsky. Brahms made you work for it. Those who find him dull or difficult are those who don't do the work. Eventually one discovers he was fascinating as a person and the perfect amalgam of classical structure and romanticism. One foot in the past the other in the future. It's remarkable that with Brahms there is no early and late period. He was a mature composer from the start, born ( as Schmann said) " fully formed".
I don't think it's possible to play this with more, love and tenderness. This makes me want to re-study it. With YOU!
Carol, are you ever the darling of darlings. Thank you.Seymour
As I listen to this recording, now for the fourth time, I am suddenly impressed with the realization of a piece of music as a living and breathing child, borne by a composer and then changed and influenced by each person in whose hands it is placed. Here, Brahm's child is caressed and kissed by a loving and wise man into warm smiles and the sweetest places of sleep. Brahms would have been touched to see this child of his mind treated with such expert affection.
And respect.
Beautiful comment. In fact, I'm in tears. Overwhelmed by this interpretation, and then your words. Sometimes the joy and sadness of the world and its precious treasures causes me sweet pain, and excruciating pleasure. I thank you.
@@jefolson6989Thank you for putting my thoughts and emotions into words.
absolutely, beautifully put
The voices! I didn't hear them until now! Thank you❤
You know the way every pianist plays brings out his innate characteristics. You can hear the beauty of Seymour’s soul in his playing…love, truth n selflessness which are the characteristics of our Creator. You are divine Seymour. You are such an inspiration to us ❤❤❤
My dear @rouxinong1531 , Your comments moved me deeply. Heartfelt thanks to you.
Seymour
Dear Seymour.
I am inspired by your presence.
Thank you for giving the world
your calm, loving, soft, deep mind.
I find peace from you.
While listening this piece, i thought of Tolstoy words about the most important quality of any work of art: sincerity, sincerity and sincerity!
Thank you Mr. Seymour for reminding me of what is worth in this world.
How generous of you dear Anastasija. This moved me deeply. Seymour
the glowing embers of a loving heart. so magical, and so profound. thanks for the gift, Mr. Seymour.
Hao, how beautiful, how touching. It is particularly meaningful to me because it comes from someone I admire so much. Heartfelt thanks.Mr. Seymour
Sublime….scraping the heights of beauty. I can’t imagine Brahms himself playing this with more emotion.
Dear Mr. Bernstein: I am lying in bed listening to this and it moved me to tears. Such tenderness and beauty. It makes me think of what one must feel when contemplating the wonder of life. ❤
I am so delighted to find that Seymour has a recording of this piece. He has ruined all other interpretations for me.
No matter the tempo marking - Seymour displays a deep and cosmic understanding of the music and of the piano, in this piece and every other.
Brings me to tears every single time.
Thank you to put into sound so many emotions and unexplicable things that between the notes Brahms wrote to the soul direct to your fingers. This performance is eternal from the second before it started to sound. Thank you to make music making and art much more than a profesion. Thanks for being music and convert sounds into tears in every line. THANKS
Joseph, I cannpt tell you how deeply moved I was to read your note. Heartfelt thanks to you. Seymour
Thank you, Maestro Bernstein, for such a dynamic, melodic, and tender rendition of this jewel. This performance brings me to tears every time.
The most beautiful interpretation of this piece I think I've ever heard. The immense sensitivity, the colors, all so beautiful. His students are very lucky to be able to study with such a musician and teacher.
Your playing is so beautiful, and just the way I imagine this piece to be. Everyone else I’ve heard on youtube plays it way too fast. I love you!
I can recognize your endless love and respect for music and others. Heaven on every note. Thank you.
This Intermezzo has always been special to me. And now that you, a radiant soul, have played it, it's even more so. You touch my heart.
Thank you, Mr Bernstein.
Dear Mavis, your note moved me deeply. Thank you for such a beautiful response to Brahms and my playing. All good wishes to you.
Seymour
@@SeymourBernstein How wonderful to receive your response, Mr Bernstein. You are a truly loving person. Thank you.
Please stay safe and well.
@@SeymourBernstein I really agree this IS a special piece and your interpretation is extremely musically played and touching
A recently discovered piece of music for me- I heard it on a tv programme and searched till i found it. I have therefore been listening to all the renditions on youtube and some of the masterclasses and discussions on how it should be played. I can honestly say this is one of the best - for me it IS the best. Most times, all i have heard is a beautiful melody being competently played. This is like a film playing before my eyes. I cannot see the pianist- a good thing in my opinion as it makes you listen instead of watch- but the sheer depth of emotion he brings to this piece lifts it beyond the renditions i have heard before into something amazing.
I know there are many interpretations but his effect is glorious. It is like a love story between him, the music and the piano. It moves me to tears, the others didn't, that says it all.
Exquisit Performance ! very affective and intimate...
Lieber Herr Bernstein, ich finde ihre Videos und ihre Musik Auffassung sehr inspirierend für mich. Ihre Interpretation rührt an etwas sehr sehr tiefem in der Seele. Und ich denke, genauso gerührt wie ich, wäre auch Johannes Brahms, wenn er sie hören könnte.
Pure Poetry... Pure Sentiment... Pure Intimacy... Pure Joy...
Pure Music... Pure Life... Pure Being there...
Ideal way of rendering this Unique and most loving piece of Brahms...
Bravo Maestro Bernstein... I had the pleasure to have met you in Utah many years ago. Your comments and our conversations remain in my soul as everlasting treasures... wherever You may be, I
Thank you so much...
So human and so expressive as also painfully beautiful.
What a sensitive and touching performance. Mr. Bernstein brings out the incredible sweetness in this composition.
I am deeply touched by your music, Mr. Seymour. You motivate me to play this piece. Thank you so much.
Dear Hui, your response moved me greatly. Thank you.
Seymour
The interpretation brought me to tears. Such sweet pain and excruciating pleasure! I thought the muses, fate, call it what you will , had given me quite enough for one night. Then i read these comments and an reduced again to blubbering idiocy. Each and every one of you , separately had an experience similar to mine, yet filtered through your unique life experiences. I know you. You are my friends, my people. I love you. There IS beauty in the world. We find what we look for. We found it together. Thank you all so much for putting your feelings into words so eloquently. I felt it too.
Thank you for 8 Minutes of constant (positive and warm) goosepimples and shivers down my spine. :-)
Dear May, what a beautiful response to my playing! So dear of you. Thank you.Seymour
Dear May, your response moved me deeply for which I thank you. Seymour
Such exquisite loveliness! How very, very beautiful!
What a surprise! He played this fantastic music at 92.
Having studied this piece with you--I was overwhelmed by its beauty when played by you. You are truly an inspiration to me. Thanks
Hall, is this ever dear of you. Thank you so much.Seymour
Dear Hal, just discovered your inspirational response. It moved me deeply.Thank you.
Seymour
A wonderful rendition - bravo, Mr. Bernstein !! 👏🏻
Thank you for this timeless gift of your love and exceptional talent. Somewhere in the Universe, Brahms is smiling.
Dear Sun Beam (such a charming name), my deepest thanks for such a generous response to my playing. It moved me deeply.
Seymour
So much of living in this. There is no substitution for life. Thank you for this blessing.
Jeffrey, how dear and generous of you. Thank you so much,Seymour
Jeffrey, I just discovered your overwhelming compliment. It means a great deal to me. Thank you. Seymour
Seymour Bernstein Hope you are safe and well. 🙏
This is such a poignant interpretation of this piece it really touches my heart!
Your tempo, dynamics and beautiful voicings really express the tenderness ,I feel Brahms intended
I first heard this piece some months ago played by Richard Goode at a virtual Y2K concert and fell in love with it so have been learning it and have listened to many other versions but you bring such an emotional depth with your touch
Thank you for sharing !
세이모어. 브람스 인터메조, 육이오 전쟁과 함께 당신이 걸어온 삶의 여정이 함께 느껴집니다. 당신이 연주하는 아름다운 음악을 오래오래 듣고 싶습니다.
Truly soulful as you are looking back with all feelings.
Dear zhizhi2007, what a supremem compliment. Deep thanks to you.Seymour
This and Gould’s recordings are my favorite of this intermezzo :)
A dream of beauty and musical wisdom.
Birgit, what a supreme compliment. Heartfelt thank you.Seymour
Wow, dear Birgit, this is something to treasure. Heartfelt thanks.Seymour
Thank you so much for your service in Korea. I have just finished watching you in the movie...I cried also as soon as you bursted into tears..I love your playing, thinking, mind, music and so on..no words cannot describe how much I respect your being. Thank you for your existence.
Soo-Hyun Park
My dear Soo Hyun, your message moved me deeply. HEartfelt thanks.Seymour
박수현 your note moved me deeply. Heartfelt thanks to you.Seymour
I couldn't listen to this playing without weeping. How marvelous music is this ...... Very moving perfomance. Life is truely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this, Mr.Seymour.
Dear Narfita, your response moved me deeply. Heartfelt thanks to you.Seymour
I am so curious when people say they are moved by music, I either don't have the intellectual training to understand what is going on, or more likely I have an emotional void.
I know it's hard to describe feelings or why you feel, but I really do wonder what it must be like tobe moved by music. Is it an appreciation of all the relationships created between notes in time (a cerebral experience which causes wonder which then creates emotion) or is it simply an indescribable, visceral reaction without much conscious thought, the sounds themselves are simply playing your emotional instrument?
@@callmedenoWith most, it is the intuitive reaction to the relationships between notes regarding their timing, placement and duration (that, in relation to the established metrum of the piece) and the tonal relation of the notes to each other, in chords and melodies. All clean intervals are fractional relations of the frequencies of two notes to each other, octaves being 1/2, fifths 3/2, etc. Think of how the different mathematical relations of the parts of crystals to each other work together to form beautiful configurations in space; music does the same in sound, with the additional components of volume and time.
wow! what a performance! This piece is for me considered one of the hardest pieces musically. And Maestro you just does it!!! I have watched your other videos on your thoughts about life, music, humanity and etc. You simply inspire me as what I want to be as a person, and as a piano teacher. You are my landpost now. May all the good health and wellness with you! Sincerely, MHW
So beautifully played, with such incredible dynamics. Like the piano is a living being when played with such an incredible touch and artistry. Lovely beyond words.
Dear Collee, your response to my playing moved more deeply than I can say. Heartfelt thanks, and all good wishes to you.
Seymour
Dear Colleen, your response to the Brahms Intermezzo in A major moved me deeply. Heartfelt thanks, Seymour
Glorious, beautiful, and pure love.
Dear Natasha, what an extravagant compliment. So appreciative. Warm wishes to you.Seymour
@@SeymourBernstein Maestro, human beings and musicians like you--and especially the combination of the two--are so rare a treasure. Who and what you are radiate from your very being the moment one meets you, and to hear those elements translated in your music like this is to witness a miracle. It simply is.
dear Natasha, your note moved me deeply. How beautifully you express your feelings. I can't thank you enough. Heartfelt gratitude.Seymour
@@SeymourBernstein Oh, Maestro. Your spirit is a beacon in a world that sorely needs you and the example you set. The fact that you can communicate your light though humanity's highest art form is a great gift to us all.
Natasha your responses to me and my playing are beyond what I deserve. Heartfelt gratitude for your support of me.Seymour
Can't describe with my words. THANK YOU and respect your life.
Amazing beauty, wow!!
Thank you so much for recording and sharing this, my favorite Brahms Intermezzo, for the New Year, dear Seymour. I discovered this piece at age 19 and I played it at my mother's wedding to her second husband that August of 1977, in our quaint Congregational Church in our town in Vermont. My mother was herself a classical pianist and cellist and always said that she loved the "changes" in this Brahms piece. I am so happy to hear your playing on this snowy day north of Seattle. You always touch my heart with your playing and videos.
Sabrina, your note touched me deeply. Thank you so much.Seymour
this is so beatiful it makes me ugly cry every time. Youre a legend.
as impeccable as it gets
Such a delicate and tender touch, directly transmitted from the ear to the listening, ever longing heart!
Thank you Mr. Bernstein for your wonderful playing!
Daisy, what extravagant praise. I deeply appreciate your response.Seymour
So very beautiful! Thank you.
Dear Robert, heartfelt thanks.Seymour
The most intimate performance of this piece ❤
What a marvelous rendition ! I came to your youtube canal to discover some rare Mischa Mischakoff recordings and then discover one of the most subtil and sensitive lecture of this intermezzo. Many thanks from France.
Thank you Ad Musicam for such a positive response to my playing. I deeply appreciate it.Seymour
I love your Brahms. It's like a dream!
Dear Jy, what a beautiful compliment for which I thank you.Seymour
Copied by CC from; Tonebase.
Hi, I have made a point of listening to Seymour Bernstein's recording of the Brahms's Intermezzo 118 No 2 and I've also listened to as many other performances of this piece as I can find, of course, there are countless other recordings. I should probably add that I have played this piece for a great many years so I am very familiar with it. I won't speculate how I think Brahms played this Intermezzo but I would be willing to bet that Clara Schuman's version sounded pretty much like Seymour Bernstein's offering. There are elements of Gould's recording of this piece which are intriguing but if this piece were a written poem I think it would be more akin to a love Sonnet by poets such as Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret Browning. This Intermezzo is a tender and subtle whisper from one heart to another, it's a mature, reflective conversation. The piece is both poignant and intellectually intricate at the same time. From the performances I've heard of this piece there seems to be a serious tendency to overplay it and give it overt romantic dimensions which aren't intended to be emphasized. My money is on Seymour Bernstein's interpretation; for me it's the most beautiful and personal performance of this Brahms Intermezzo that I have ever been fortunate enough to hear. I am so thankful that Seymour Bernstein recorded it. For a beautiful surprise I encourage others to listen to his recording. Thank you.
The best!
Bravo, you are real Virtuoso
Dear 최재범 , thank you for this supreme compliment. Warm wishes to you.Seymour
Beautiful playing, Seymour!
Deepest thanks dear Yiyang. My love to you.Seymour
mashallah
♥️Brahms♥️Seymour♥️Music
Dear Reyes, wow! Three hearts! Can't do better than that. Many thanks and warm wishes to you.Seymour
Very movingly played with great sensitivity.
Shirley, how darling of you. Lots of love.Seymour
Loved your attention to the inner voices that so many pianists overlook.
Dear Shirley, once again, heartfelt thanks.Seymout
❤
Mr. Bernstein did another beautiful recording this piece for "Seymour: an Introduction," and I used that recording as the soundtrack for a video I made (the demonetization was worth it).
The video is a montage of rain pouring onto a small-town neighborhood. My hope was to recreate the feeling sitting on a porch, ruminating, while the eye subconsciously drifts from one part of the showered environment to another, marking each change of thought. The video is linked here. I hope it's worth the time it takes to watch it:
th-cam.com/video/4cFDwNPenks/w-d-xo.html
0:17
My two favorites of 118-2 are Volodos and Perahia, I get lost in the beauty of their interpretations, occasionally reminding myself to breathe and always surprised when they end so (subjectively) quickly. Here, I was surprised to find myself checking from time to time, wondering when it would end.
Più teneramente non si puó
I've finally discovered why I have never found Brahms' music compelling enough. It is quite simple - he led a pretty ordinary life. No pain - unlike Schubert, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Chopin. Rachmaninoff etc I think that is indeed the reason. We cannot learn from people who have not suffered. As Dostoevsky said, art is only meaningful when connected to suffering.. and I don't speak f Bach and others like him, whose music has been so colossal as to brook no disputation as to its greatness.
It is quite well-known how his love for Clara was a great source of pain and joy, as you can well hear in the piano works. I really don't see how you'd consider his life void of pain. But of course, if his works don't touch you, that's a matter of taste.
@@hartobanuharp good point - hadn't thought of that
Brahms didn't talk about his pain and loneliness. It was expressed in music. Perhaps too subtle for those used to the emotional indulgences of , say, Tchaikovsky. Brahms made you work for it. Those who find him dull or difficult are those who don't do the work. Eventually one discovers he was fascinating as a person and the perfect amalgam of classical structure and romanticism. One foot in the past the other in the future. It's remarkable that with Brahms there is no early and late period. He was a mature composer from the start, born ( as Schmann said) " fully formed".
Tempo far to slow spoiling the piece. almost stalls in places.