There’s More to Brahms Than You Think
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 พ.ย. 2022
- Why Brahms takes patience to understand, why his music is emotionally demanding, and how his music inspired me to write for clarinet quintet.
Check out Henle's Brahms Scores: www.henle.de/en/brahms
Brad Cherwin, guest and clarinet
Professor Gudrun Jalass, guest
Featured musicians:
Amy Hillis and Eric Kim-Fujita, violins
Hee-Soo Yoon, viola
Sebastian Ostertag, cello
Henle Verlag, sponsor and scores
Ben Havey, research assistance
Julius Meltzer, translation
Brad and I are performing again on Dec. 2 in Toronto:
www.westendmusic.ca
Video clips featured:
String Quintet Camerata Pacifica: • Brahms: String Quintet...
Piano Sonata in F Minor Claudio Arrau: • Brahms - Piano Sonata ...
Symphony No. 4 NDR Elbphilharmonie: • Brahms: Sinfonie Nr. 4...
Violin Sonata No. 3 Michael Rabin: • Michael Rabin and Garv...
Postillons Morgenlied: • Johannes Brahms: Posti...
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As a violist in 1974, I met Dr. Richard Lert who was the godson of Brahms. He kept looking and studying me from a distance as I played in the orchestra he was conducting. I am a rather big and portly guy. He had been a conductor of the Vienna Phil and many other famous orchestras. He was even friends with Richard Strauss. Anyway, one day he watched and heard me playing one of my improvisations on the piano. He became fascinated with me and loved my music. He then told me that I reminded him so much of Brahms. He even offered to conduct me in a performance of the Bach Brandenburg 6th Concerto for 2 violas. He became my first conducting teacher and mentor. I was captivated by the stories he told of Brahms that no one knows. Brahms was indeed a huge super genius, paradox, mystery and complex personality. And yet, one has only to play and study his music to truly know him.
I want to know some of those stories.
Wow, that's fascinating, I love stories like these, thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing. What amazing experiences you’ve had.
A privileged viola bear you are
Perhaps you would want to publish those stories, those memories of his godson. Surely it would be a very interesting book, many of us music lovers would read it.
I had a very serious surgery about a year ago which left me in the hospital for almost two weeks recuperating. The first day I was out of surgery I had the intuition to listen to some Brahms on my iPhone. I don't know why - I liked Brahms before but it was casual. I plowed through the Brahms catalog in that hospital bed, frequently brought to tears. People would ask me why I'm crying and all I could say was that 'it's just so beautiful'. I think being that close to death (not being dramatic) unlocked a part of me that could finally be open to Brahms' language and palette. Of the things I listened to, I probably listened to the clarinet quintet the most. I grew up listening to a lot of punk rock but when the chips are down, it was Brahms who got me through this. Thank you @NahreSol
This is a top class video, and a beautiful composition too. This channel is an absolute credit to classical music.
I totally agree but Ms Sol's reach is way beyond classical music. Her contributions are quintessential examples of what it means to be a cultured human being who is in touch with their emotions and intellectual understanding.
@@martifingers Very well said, and absolutely what I feel (for what that's worth of course! 🙂)
Brahms saved my life after I'd listen to him as a lost 16 year old boy wanting to commit the end to my life. The D minor piano concerto 2nd movement gave me hope, built my spirit anew and showed me that even in despair we all should at least aspire to be better.
I very much understand your sentiment - to aspire to be better. There is so much brilliance created in a piece of music and in the performance too. I needed reassurance in my life when I had a health scare. Coming across a classical concert that was on the tv one evening, made me so grateful for everything. Benjamin Britten Piano Concerto I think it was. Brahms has richness power and romanticism to me. Hope you don't mind replying to your post. From 🇬🇧
@@julies2633 That's okay. I'm glad you understand it. I'll take a listen to Britten's piano concerto, never knew he wrote one. Thank you for your response, I hope your health is much better. I'm in 🇿🇦.
It’s interesting that it is that piece that reaches you so deeply - Brahms took years to work on that concerto as a way to process Robert Schumann’s suicide attempt and his own relationship with Clara in those early years (of the second movement Brahms wrote Clara: “I am painting a beautiful portrait of you , it is to be the adagio.”)
@@dovrosenschein147 I know it took a while for him to complete it. The concerto was initially started as a symphony, but you know how meticulous Brahms used to be. I figured I would share that part of my life to show that even though Brahms' music may seem intimidating, there is something profound about it.
@brandonmartin5650 Indeed there is something profound about it! The 2nd movement of the Op. 15 is my favorite movement of both the Brahms piano concerti. I am learning to play it, after all these years!
It’s hard to go into Brahms’ music world. But when you do, it’s hard to going out.
Ha ha, so true. It's addictively complex and thick-chorded (beauty of sound), with interesting harmonic shifts, and wears its heart firmly on its sleeve.... while staying with the constraints of classical form. Like Bach met the Romantics (Schumann, Liszt, Chopin etc) and they decided to record together.
Absolutely correct. He is like the hunter .
Can’t think of anything clever or erudite to post about Brahms. Just want to say I love Nahre Sol’s channel primarily for the way it/she always lifts me up. How she often shares her vulnerability as a musician and as a human being is completely disarming. Widening musical awareness, getting deep into the creative process , living vicariously as a successful classically trained pianist and enjoying her amazingly descriptive musical vocabulary are all just bonuses. ❤️
Well said!
I love Brahms. IMHO, his Op. 116/117/118/119 sets are the most poignant piano works ever composed.
and Op. 76 set
@@msotil YES!! It's great.
Honestly all of Brahms piano works are incredibly good... the sonatas, ballades, rhapsodies and all the other works from op 76 to the late works... he was amazing and sometimes gets underappreciated imo.
I am obsessed with Brahms honestly... I read all his letters and reading a biography about him, learning several works of his and working on listening to all compositions he ever did
Op. 116 was a huge influence on me when I was younger. The no. 3 in g minor from that set is remarkable. It starts in a furious and dissonant g minor that unexpectedly gives way to a middle section in Eb lydian that feels like you've been lifted from the depths of hell into the heavens. It's beautiful and one of my favorite pieces of music.
@@MrPSaun Oh I love the capriccio in g minor... I was practicing it a bit a while ago and its a fun piece and incredibly beautiful in the eb lydian section... but generally all his late pieces afe incredibly well written. Simply masterpieces
I have been a Brahms enthusiast for almost half a century. I don't get tired of his music.
Brahms communicated and addressed grief and loss in an unusually acute and compassionate way. He could be a gruff and brusque person, but his music is some of the most massively consoling.
The Brahms requiem is quite possibly my favorite choral piece. Just so many stunning passages.
Now relistening :) thanks for the inspiration.
I have grown into an enormous fan of Brahms, though it took time for it to really settle in.
I often find myself analogizing brahms to things of natural beauty (which is a bit ironic, in terms of how carefully and deliberately crafted his music is). The old growth forest was beautiful and ancient long before you set your eyes on it. It's not there for you, but you are there basking in its splendor. There's something timeless, inevitable, enduring, about it.
In Brahms, every little modulation or transformation is foreshadowed, prepared, fulfilled, and tied off with such elegant care that we don't even see it happening - it just happens. It's a bit more like a river and less like a road. I adore the beauty of the river, and the craftsmanship required to recreate natural beauty with so little affectation.
Brahms often lets the rhythms run against the meter, often hiding or obscuring the meter, sometimes outright ignoring it. I think of it as being rather like prose: in poetry, the text is rhythmic and metered (think of a limerick, or shakespeare's iambic pentameter for example), but in speech and in prose, the text is rhythmic but unmetered. I don't think that Brahms' music is particularly speech-like, but I like this analogy because of how much of the music we are exposed to are songs, and Brahms' melodies, even when beautiful and lyrical, often aren't song-like. He loves his five bar phrases, he scorns the use of predictable phrase structure like the period or sentence, and writes melodies that stretch over bar lines and cadences that overlap into the next phrase or next key instead of having a full stop and line break for beginning the next. When other composers imitate speech, they use recitative. Brahms never sounds like recitative, he always sounds much more natural and inevitable, rather than forced or contrived. It's a river that carries you in its current and you enjoy the journey. With his motivic and thematic brilliance he can give even the biggest surprises and quick turns, and it always feels like a smooth ride rather than a rocky one. Every beautiful sight that you see on your journey is exactly where it belongs and there's no where else it could have been, because he has so brilliantly recreated the feeling of natural and organic beauty.
Is a church more beautiful than a mountain? Is a church more beautiful because it is more symmetrical, its design more purposeful and deliberate, the lines are straighter, the points cleaner, the colours in the stain glass chosen to match? Is the poem more beautiful than the short story because of its rhymes and cadence?
Brahms builds a church with unassailable architectural skill, yet it also has the eternal beauty of the mountain. In his music, Brahms writes a beautiful paragraph of touching prose, yet when closely examined, you discover that it followed all of the rules of poetry, without even knowing that it was a poem.
Dont try to „explain“ music with words. Its useless.
@@leonardoiglesias2394 are you watching a youtube channel that talks about music with words? i am
This was really nicely said, and actually goes to my trying to understand the languages of artistic expression, and how to apply it to my own prose writing.
@@leonardoiglesias2394 Are you unintelligent?
"Brahms often lets the music run against the meter, often hiding or obscuring the meter, and sometimes outright ignoring the meter."
From my perspective as a guitarist, that reminds me of many great blues guitarists. And there is perhaps a word for that: "the pocket".
Jimi Hendrix is an excellent example of that idea, applied in extremis. Variable tempo, reverse sound, odd time signature(for polyrhythms), odd uses of delay and interesting meter and note/chord choices.
"Permanent music" indeed.
I studied Brahms when I was in college! He IS my favorite composer and the reason why I went into composition!
Brahms was a big fan of making aspiring composers cry; there was the time he read a score by a student. when finished he paused and then said, "where did you get such good manuscript paper ?"
That was his friend Max Bruch.
Oh another good story is that a good friend called Hermann Levi of Brahms asked him to judge his composition... I remember reading in his letter "There are 7 heavens. One thing is for sure, you wont get into the heaven of composers"... he demolished his friend lol
Good ol German humor
My theory teacher told the story that Claude Debussy showed up at Brahms' house, and handed the servant a card which read "Claude Debussy, French Musician". Brahms looked at the card, said "There's no such thing", and didn't let him in.
@@hortehighwind8651 Aber die Amerikaner meinen, wir *haben* keinen Humor!
Brahms' chamber music is truly some of my favourite music ever! Thanks for featuring him on your channel
I remember hearing Brahm's Intermezzo in A (op 118 no 2) for the first time as an adult. While most trained pianists have heard and played it, I (not a trained pianist!) had never heard it. I became obsessed with the piece and the more I heard it, the more it brought me to tears. Brahms is definitely the melody man. Wonderfully said by your friend "... it's (emotion) always beneath the surface and almost breaking through, but he uses these masterful structures to hold them in".
Brahms is not 'the melody man' and would have been insulted by that - if you listen to the first bars of his op.1 it's like he actually wrote an ugly theme on purpose to build a sonata out of, already he had more sophisticated ambitions as a composer than writing melodies. The intermezzos are all extremely beautiful agreed - Glenn Gould's recordings are as perfect as any piano playing I've heard
@@helvete_ingres4717 imo the award for "melody man" goes to Schubert for me but you cant deny that Brahms did indeed write a lot of incredible melodies....
Brahms has the heartbreaking death, from all the composers I read the biography of.
The last person to see him was a women, Lady Truxa and she she told us his last moment :
"At 8.30pm, I came close to his bed. He sat and tried to say something. But he couldn't. Big tears filled his eyes and runned on his skinny cheeks. He looked at me intensely, let himself fall back and past."
The most heartbreaking death... That's debatable.
Passed!
His last words were pretty good too, to a friend who gave him a glass of wine: “Thank you, that tasted good. You’re a good man.”
Team Schumann.
@@FrankBell that was heartbreaking.
Greetings from Opole, Poland. I love everything about Brahms and yes, it took me a while to get to him. Knowing his biography is not essential, of course, but it helps. There is one bio episode that I always refer to - once, one of Brahms's friends overheard him playing alone, and it turned out that Brahms was playing and crying at the same time. This always gets me.
14:20 It gave me chills. So good! Beautiful writing and playing!
I think Brahms music is by far the most emotional music ever. And in all ways. Often just within a few seconds. No other composer has such wide span. Only Beethoven can compete.
Beautiful composition! I love performing and listening to Brahms. From orchestral point of view, playing his music is like the weight of Beethoven with the refinement of Mozart. And Bach is always in the air. I agree, his music grows and deepens over time.
I can attest to Brahms growing on you. I didn't really understand what the fuzz was all about when I listened to his symphonies for the first time. But now his fourth and third symphony are among my favorite symphonies ever and I kind of get what he means by "permanent music".
I also love that your ad in the video is for something literate/musical and not stupid
I agree, but not gonna lie, it would be humorous af for a Nahre Sol video to have a mid-roll sponsorship by RAID SHADOW LEGENDS. Just the tone shift would be jarring.
@@lautreamontg or like BlueChew - eww
Your videos are always so interesting, engaging and content-rich, while still being really accessible. Love your stuff!
I look forward to every video that you post! Thank you!
Congrats on the awesome sponsorship!! And on the beautiful music you composed
Your composition was delightful, demanding of my attention, and moving. Well done!
Your piece is fantastic ! Love your channel
Omg, so amazing! Kudos to you and the musicians!
As a professional pianist myself, I want to Thank you for everything you do in your Channel. You're extremely good at everything you do, as a pianist, composer, TH-camr, teacher, and probably other things I don't know.
Never doubt yourself, and Thank you once more for (although indirectly) being part of my Life as a musician as well.
Amazing work, Nahre! You truly are in a league of your own, and I always enjoy your videos.
I really really appreciated for your great efforts on making this video. You have to spend a lot of time doing so much research on Brahms’ life and music. It’s so inspiring and encouraging me to love classical music again. Thank you very much! You are Fantastic! Bravo! 👏🏻😍🥰🎉🎊
I just discovered your channel, all your videos are wonderful. I love Brahms and your composition is wonderful. Thank you for your generosity.
Very nice composition Nahre, and thank you for sharing these thoughts with us! Love Brahms' music.
Nahre, I love your music. Please post more of it!
Love your composition! and the performance of the excellent musicians involved.
thank you for this video! I've never been a huge fan of Brahms and this made me hear him in a whole new light.
Thank you so much Nahre for sharing this video! 😊🙏
Beautiful work, fitting yet different...bravo!
Thank you Nahre, your videos are always very informative, interesting and inspiring!
Thanks for making this available.
I think this is the first time I've seen classical performers play off iPads and yet it makes perfect sense. Especially in a festival setting! Lovely composition, great video!!
Soooo intriguing!!!! I love this!!!! Can't wait to explore more Brahms!
Thank you for sharing your music with the world! Your quintet is awesome!
What a wonderful start to my day.
I love the sound and feeling of your composition, Nahre. I hope you are able to make a recording available for us to purchase. It is very cool to hear it in the context of Brahms.That is really quite amazing company to keep. And I think your piece stands up beautifully on it's own as well.
Thank you for sharing so much insight into Brahms life and music, as well as your own music!
Your composition is stunning, thank you for this video and all your work 🥰
Brahms is the sole reason I wish I had bigger hands. How much I would love to play his Ballades and other works without having to break half the chords of the piece..
Edit: congrats on getting sponsored by Henle, would be a dream for me if I was a TH-camr
Dude. I’ve never understood Brahms. I am putting on all my ([Brahms] records again. Wonderful vid.
Your music is so well-stated and beautiful. When we finally got a fuller texture from the strings with arco, the harmonies were so gorgeous. I could tell the musicians felt the same way. Bravo to all of you!
Congratulations! I love your composition!
Yet another fascinating and erudite video, thank you Nahre Sol for such wonderful insights and congratulations on your gorgeous composition. 😍😍👏👏👏
I got in such a mood from your piece 🙌🏽 and somehow found myself thinking about Stravinsky in many of the phrases. Such a lovely piece, and collab! It dawned upon me how little I know about Brahms. Thanks 🙏🏼
While I was in it for the Brahms, I also really enjoyed your composition!
Fantastic!!
Amazing work! Very inspiring
Loved this.. love Brahms and your composition
Marvelous production. Great research. Interesting and beautifully narrated.
What a beautiful piece, Nahre. The descending third is a typical Brahms motive, so I loved how that was so present in your quintet. The commentary around it was lovely as well. But I would love a video with your piece alone (and perhaps a score to study it further?)
Thanks again. I really enjoy your channel!
It says on Wikipedia that Wiegenlied (the Cradle Song), "was dedicated to Brahms's friend, Bertha Faber, on the occasion of the birth of her second son. Brahms had been in love with her in her youth and constructed the melody of the 'Wiegenlied' to suggest, as a hidden counter-melody, a song she used to sing to him." He composed it when he was 35.
I love the piece at the end. You are so talented. It is beautiful.
I love these videos on specific composers. And I love The Interludes for Clarinet Quintet too. Thank you Nahre
Wow! That piece at the end was a nice treat!!!
Your composition blew me away! 🤯.
Congrats and thanks!
Happy birthday Brahms! One of my favorites. His horn trio, piano works, waltzes, symphonies, and even his 51 exercises for piano are among my favorite things in existence. Thanks for this wonderful tribute Nahre!
really beautifully explained by your friend with the analogy to the conflicts between major minor, instruments, etc.... great music, too! i especially liked the beginning.
Wonderful! lovely video and amazing new music. Thanks!
I love your channel! Beautiful composition. Thank you.
Nahre, you are the absolute best1. I love that piece you wrote to go along with Brahms. and I love your contagious enthusiasm, and the clarity with which you describe and elucidate complexity. Thank you, thank you.
I love every single one of your videos. Thank you for rekindled my love for classical. Brahms is my favorite. Always has been. Probably will be until I die.
I was introduced to Brahms' music in middle school by my choir conductor, and his choir music was simply amazing for me as a teenager. So many strong emotions, trying to break through the surface, but always holding slightly back, so much passion and feeling in every phrase. He will forever be my favorite composer
Your additional music to the Brahms Clarinet Quintet is GREATTTT! Hope to have a CD one day.
I loved this. Never knew anything about Brahms' life, but this makes so much sense, and enriches my appreciation of him. Thanks so much!!
Very well done, Nahre, is a tremendous challenge write music that match as an interlude of any Brahms work. Lovely music.
It's true, Brahms grows on you. At first, I found it kind of difficult to enjoy his music and I couldn't understand why. Eventually, The 3rd movement of his 3rd Symphony is what drew me in. His Cello Sonata No. 1 is a masterpiece. I really enjoy is 4th Symphony as well.
I fell in love with Brahms at age 3. My parents had a 1940 recording of his 3rd Symphony by Koussevitsky/Boston Symphony. I loved the whole thing, not just the 3rd movement (which gets people often with it's stunning beauty and sadness). In this video, she says something similar to what I often say about him - that no composer rewards repeated listening better than Brahms. Whenever I read or hear someone disparaging him or merely saying they don't like his music, I want to say "Listen to his 3rd Symphony 3 times in a row and get back to me".
What a lovely video...I love being educated and delighted with new music...hardly ever happens together...thanks for this. I thought the ensemble was terrific, and I love how the clarinet comes in after the intro...really nice!
Brava! Beautifully done...
Thank you, Nahre! I adore yours videos!
They are fantastic! Always!
Thank you! My soul is delighted 💕
And yet... I very-very love Brahms too🎶
What a gorgeous piece you've created! I love the textures and melodic movement! Also, to create such a non-trivial emotional arc in such a short 'interlude' is no mean feat. Absolutely gorgeous, cheers!
Beautiful composition and I loved going through the reflection on Brahms to converse with his music.
I haven't listened to a huge amount of Brahms and have found him less intriguing than his reputation would suggest. But I think you have successfully made the case to revisit him while trying to do so with a fresh take.
I have loved Brahms since the first time I played the Academic Festival Overture at band camp.
Nahre: among all your compositions shown here, this one is probably my favorite. Thank you.
Thanks! The nerdy discussion isn't necessary in order to appreciate the music, but it does help me to understand more where you and Brahms were coming from.
Thank you for this instalment!! Brahms was my true gateway into classical music. I started with Bach organ music in Ottawa, then Brahms melancholic romanticism in Montreal in my late 20's, then Mahler and Satie in Toronto in my 30's and then Haydn and Handel in Ottawa again. Brahms, Mahler, Satie: mood, contemplation, meditation - the soundtrack I always return to of the beauty within. Your composition seemed to channel all three - brilliantly done!
Fascinating, thank you.
I started classical guitar at 14 and started borrowing music from a local library, because that's how we did it in the 80s. Brahms was one of the first I fell in love with. Such powerfully moving melodies. Your complementary composition is beautiful. Love the syncopated pizzicato opening and closing reminiscent of Ravel. Stunning clarinet playing.
More of these ??? Love it.
Excellent Nahre! thank you
Nahre, beautiful and haunting work! I appreciate Brahms more now.
I agree-I came to him late, through his solo piano pieces, and it was a revelation. The complex kaleidoscope of emotions he explores through elaborate rhythms and chord changes is pure genius. One can feel his deep intelligence in all of his works. Thank you for the video!👍👍
Thank uou for this and your recommendation of the scores!
I find your videos are so stimulating, at intellectual and musical level.
Wonderful video, Nahre. You can never get enough Brahams.
Bro my mom sang this lullaby to me as a kid without knowing it was Brahm's music, neither have I known!!! I'M SOOOO AMAZED I FINALLY FOUND OUT (she is too), THANK YOU!
Omg, the interlude is so beautiful
Thank you for this video Nahre.
I find Brahms music comfortable, relaxing and right for studying and reflexing, there's really something smooth but even dramatic, I read once that his music was associtated to feelings like melancholy, nostalgia and even autumnal, I love his piano and chamber music but even more his 4 symphonies, his 2 piano concertos and his violin concerto (which was part of the soundtrack from "There Will Be Blood" one of my favorite movies), I even love his 21 hungarian dances even if they were based on hungarian folk melodies (only the dances no. 11, 14 and 16 were original by him) but he really love Hungary as another homeland, hungarians must feel prod that Brahms rescued these melodies so that they remain in eternity.
Thank you Nahre Sol, your channel is one of the best music channels I ever found, a pleasure for all performes or listeners of classical music o like me who want to learn a little more, I like the joy and passion that you transmit through music. Greetings from Venezuela.
"process and release pent up emotions that are hard to release otherwise" ...ahh this is the stuff of the spirit and life! This is SO important. Endless Thanks! You have given a start to my journey into the Brahms world now. I have been on a quest to hear all of Bach's organ works, to understand Beethovens range, Scarlatti, and many more, but here Brahms is like facing human emotional ordeals within, that the release is a bit daunting and fear inducing - but thank you Nahre, I don't feel so alone in this journey now.
The camera or lighting thing you got going on is sooo good
Awesome video Nahre!
What a bit of luck to stumble in on your site!
From my early youth I've always loved the powerful, sometimes oddly structured and sensitive but deep and abstruse music of Brahms!
There is indeed much I can say at this time of my perception of his rare style of musical genius, but I could talk for hours and do little more than scratch the surface!
One of my favorite pieces though for instance, is his Double Concerto, for violin and cello, written during a vacation to Lake Thun in Switzerland, possibly between 1885-1887, which he composed as a tribute on behalf on his long time friend, Joseph Joachim, in an effort to help patch up differences between the latter and his wife, as well as to rekindle the remains of their own strained friendship, as they had not spoken for two years by that tine, due to personal differences of opinion.
Despite the fact that that particular revered piece had been lauded and enjoyed by millions, there was at least one other famous composer who seemed to have nothing but the most acidulous and critical remarks to express his opinion regarding it and that person appeared to be Eduard Lalo'. The reasons for his decided distaste seemed to be based on an inability to fully comprehend the depth of Brahms's music concerning that particular piece, I thought, rather than on actual quality or intrinsic understanding.
Oddly enough, I enjoy his music as well, especially his Synphony Espanole, opus 21, in five movements.
Well, I said that I could talk for hours about classical music!
But, alas, I now have a confession to make. I have indeed studied the violin while in my teens but deplorably neglected to keep it up. Therefore I can lay no legitimate claim to proficiency on any musical instrument at all, though I would love to do so!
Brahms' 4th symphony is one of the best by anyone.