Very true. Although Richard uses musical terminology (inversion, cadence, canon) he often qualifies what he says by using a basic English explanation to clarify. He gives his time and his rich musical knowledge to enrich our musical understanding. Many thanks to him.
I love it how you are discussing Brahms, then take a detour to mention some favorite Dies Irae motives in other works, after which you take a detour to mention a Haydn symphony which has a melody related to Dies Irae, and then you again take a detour to remind us of Haydn's great sense of humour. That's just amazing!
My favorite symphony. My parents only had classical music records and baby sitter put the same records on every day, over and over. I started humming this whole symphony-still can do it-when I was 4-5. True story
This work is one of the greatest creations of the human mind. I've listened to this work for 60 years and it always deeply moves me. I love all of his symphonies but the Fourth holds a special place in my heart. As a 15 year old, it took me awhile to "get it" but, once I did, it became a part of my DNA. My favorite renditions are by Bruno Walter and Karl Bohm. Astonishing analysis. I will listen to it again and again.
I a SO late to the Brahms game. in my 20's I thought he was boring old-fashioned and lame...I liked Shostakovich, Bartok, Debussy, Stravinsky, Strauss then.... I mean I still those guys.. but comparatively I am RADICALLY more obsessed with Brahms symphony 4. For about the last year or 2. I listen to it quite frequently now. whereas I'm just not that into Shostakovich right now. I first had my breakthrough with Brahms just as my Dad was dying of cancer in 2015. He struggled with it for a while and I was 2500 miles away for most of his last year. I do have regrets about that. But that Violin Concerto by Brahms!!! Wow!! I just happened to give it a chance and it blew my mind. It took several more years for me to get into the symphonies.. and the 4th is just MINDBLOWINGLY phenomenal!!! Thank you for covering this.
Brahms was for me one of the greatest challenges; I've been listening to his music since I was a child and it was only after entering my mid-40s that I began to truly synthesize each of his symphonies as the immense, brilliantly organic masterpieces that they are. It was Hugo Wolf who, in what I believe was a written newspaper critique of Brahms, one day chastised Brahms for his ability to "create something out of nothing." For me, THAT is the mystery and the appeal of Brahms and perhaps the singular key to understanding his prodigious genius: how a simple turn of one melodic phrase leads, ineluctably, to another, and then another, each more seamless, powerful, unique and seemingly irreplaceable than the next. Needless to say, his music, like that of JS Bach, will live on forever. Thanks for this terrific video, by the way, real value added and greatly appreciated. regards
Well done! I'm always amazed by how naturally you weave in intricate details into your analysis, while always making sure that everything is coherent and understandable. As an analyst myself, I know how hard it is to achieve this balance, and you've clearly perfected it. Thank you for your work!
The first time I heard of this piece was once I performed in an orchestra (I played the second violin part). This is an enjoyable piece, not only for the audience, but also very enjoyable for the player. And now I’m addicted to this piece and I need to hear it once a day.
After hearing your explanation and examination of this wonderful piece of music, I look forward to this Brahms symphony being played at a concert with a completely new set of eyes and ears!! Huge thanks!!
That apocalyptic cadence clearly imitates the organ the way that the chord is held by the woodwinds, and the fact that it is a baroque like plagal cadence itself. In the exposition, the first repeat of the theme with decoration also really reminds me of Bach’s famous passacaglia where he uses similar winding scaling ornamentation.
i don't make many comments, but wow. this technical analysis was such an eye opener to me - ive loved this symphony for years but ive never seen such a well done and in depth analysis of this symphony, and this video is just so marvellous. edit: may i also kindly and sincerely request for an analysis of brahms's piano quintet in f minor? it's also been one of my favourite works and i wld love to see your take and meticulous analysis on that work.
@@Richard.Atkinson I rank both his string quintets and his piano quartet equal to the piano quintet, but it's tough to think of an overall single greatest non symphonic work. This is arguably your best one too
Brilliant. I know that Bernstein recording very well, and there is no other that captures the frightening intensity of that final page as perfectly. Thanks for this great analysis!
How you have been on TH-cam for 10 years and escaped my searchlight is beyond me but you have won a new subscriber. While watching your presentation and believing you to be some kind of musicologist I was a bit disheartened and critical of your approach to this miracle of human creation but looking further for more information about you and how you came to make such videos I was a bit impressed. You realize of course how the perspective of your profession infuses your approach to understanding musical expression but I wonder if you also realize how no matter how much you dissect, examine and analyze the subject of your attention you will never understand or know what it is that makes you love. Life and "soul" are beyond the human mind and to know them well one must surrender to what they give you without mental interference. Compliments on your graphic technique of presentation which only a mind like your own could have devised.
this movement is everything Brahms was building up to in his entire life, my mind can't comprehend what the 5th Symphony would be like. also would love videos about the 4th movements of his 3rd Symphony and F minor Quintet, or anything by him... I just want more Brahms :D
It’s funny you specifically mention those two movements (finale of 3rd Symphony and finale of piano quintet) because I consider those his two greatest movements that aren’t from the 4th Symphony. I will definitely make videos on both one day.
You made us wait 9 months(!!) for this next Brahms symphony installment, but I daresay it was well worth the wait! Thank you for sharing your thorough & informative analysis of this magnificent movement. The Brahms symphonies have always occupied a special place in my heart ever since I borrowed a score containing all 4 beautiful works from the library decades ago & enjoyed hours of exploring / discovering the musical magic & mysteries Brahms so brilliantly buried within them. Your insightful & well thought out commentary & clarification on how the entire movement is thematically constructed & connected adds layers of appreciation & even more meaning to the untold hours of enjoyment the symphony has brought to all of us music lovers throughout the 130+ years since its premiere. Lastly, I really love how your cogent analysis fits in to the whole Wagner program music vs. Brahms absolute music debate. All the thematic richness, inversions, development, inventiveness & innovation on display in this movement, which are so clearly communicated in your wonderful analysis, provide powerful proof & confirmation that no program is needed to bring the dramatic effect! In Brahms' masterful hands, this movement uses the thematic musical information so deftly woven into the textures of the various sections to build the richness & tension until the climactic moments in the coda that bring the movement to a resounding close with those impactful timpani plagal cadence beats in the final measures. It is no wonder we all respond so fervently & lovingly to this beautifully & brilliantly constructed masterpiece! Bravissimos to Brahms & kudos to you on yet another great addition to your channel! I look forward to your commentary on the other Brahms movements yet to come- especially on the 2nd symphony, which is my personal favorite.
Symphony 2 will probably be last (my least favorite... but even so, still one of the greatest masterpieces in the literature). For me, its finale is by far its greatest movement.
the final movement of the 2nd is my go-to, my pick me up, my lift my spirit sure thing whenever i feel in need of some musical joy to balance out all the insanity of this world we find ourselves living in. it never ceases to have its enchanting effect on me! & trust me, i do not mind waiting for you to hit the rest of the movements of the 4th & 3rd wonders by Brahms with your insightful analysis & deeply revealing words of clear commentary on the way until you arrive at #2!
What a well researched analysis. Thank you for showing your love of this piece to me. I was in tears at the end, as I could feel your connection to this music.
Started rehearsing this a few weeks ago in Vienna, very useful analysis - and some unpacking is really needed. So many things happening at once, so many layers, Brahms requiring us to look deep into the well... Looking forward to seeing your work on the other movements!
It's incredible, flawless, marvelous how you explain all the secrets so that the big picture can be seen and heard! Admirable! I love your channel and appreciate your dedicated work. Thank you so much for sharing your skills with us! So great!
This has been one of my favourite symphonic movements since I first heard it almost forty years ago ... but I had no idea it was so complex. Thank you for such an instructive and entertaining lecture.
One of my favorite symphonies! Leonard Bernstein has a great video on TH-cam where he explains this symphony. It’s a good prequel to this detailed video. Thanks for making the complicated understandable.
@@Richard.Atkinson I did hear the mention of LB video, but I guess I was calling it out for other non music majors like me 😊. But thanks for the time stamp!!!!
Wow. Your best video yet. Superbly done, and has given me further insights into, I agree with you, Brahms' most perfect creation. I'm presenting the 4th in my Sunday spinning class with a program associated with it. Really jumping off the deep end with this. You've helped me get this in my ears at an even more granular level. Will be exhausted at the end. Thanks.
How did I only just find this channel now? These are absolutely incredible videos. Very good job. I look forward to watching them all in the coming weeks.
What a lovely gift for the (lunar) new year! :D I love how your admiration for this piece is so palpable that your enthusiasm is barely contained as you analyze it. This is peak content.
Yet another important discovery: at what you mean by "the final culmination by the now ascending faster entries of the blue sceme" 49:25, the downbeats (C-B-D-C#) actually marks a BACH motif. To make it not just a coincidence, at the repeat at 49:31 the BACH is directly presented in the flute and oboe parts (which you just normally outline in the ubiquitous blue color).
Wow!! After listening to this glorious piece for 50 years, you have opened an entirely new world for hopefully many more years of added appreciation. Thank you!
Thank you for the astonishing analysis. This is the kind of insight students want to hear from a good teacher after working hard and for longtime on complex classical repertoire like this symphonic gem. Not only you reveal ideas, process, structures and relationships but also we see intertextuality working with clarity : inner, withing Brahms' own thematic world as well as external, with works of other composers. The evolution of musical language seems to be such that the thematic material and stylistic signatures of a passed era becomes so generic comparing to the following one that a deceptive simplicity takes place and veils deep structure of music. Analyzing Brahms by a musician from the XXI century seems as challenging as Brahms himself analyzing XVIth century polyphony. I could not resist noticing, at the end of your second chapter, that the imitative figures (green highlighted) accompanying the theme do morph, from measure 98, into a “cryptomnesic” quotation of the Beethoven's’ 7th symphony's scherzo. As for the 16th notes (@31’43’’), It might be simply the march like character and the tempo choice that makes this interpretation inevitable. Hope my comment is not pedantic, this is just a way to express gratitude for so generously sharing knowledge that takes a lot of time and patience to work.
I didn't understand your sentence about Beethoven's 7th when I first read it last year because I was thinking of the scherzo itself and not the trio. Now it makes sense!
I clearly remembered when I was in high school I got a free ticket to the concert of our city (3rd tier) symphony orchestra playing Brahms Symphony No.4. They didn't play it well but still I fall in love with this symphony and Brahms' work deeply, after I heard this coda section, especially the ending chords. Now for the first time I know it is Brahms' iconic *Plagal Cadence*
Much appreciation & admiration, Richard. You've done it again. A splendid dissection of Brahms crowning achievement. It's fitting & illuminating that you refer to figures so influential on Brahms (Bach, Haydn, Beethoven). There's so much to say about this wonder-work. But your study unifies its most important elements. A sublime example of musical analysis at its finest. Thank you.
I'm only 1/4 into this and already it's one of the best things of this type I've ever heard/seen/read, and that's 50 years' worth. I can't wait to see the rest!
Well ... whew ... I reached the end! My head is spinning a little, and next I'll re-view it, knowing now how things turn out. It seems like every note in the score is primary material, and if labeled with letters (A, B, C etc.) the prime symbols (A', A'', A''', A'''', A''''', A'''''', etc.) would reach closer to infinity than in any other piece of comparable length. (You already ran out of colors just to label distinct motifs.) I've learned, analyzed, or simply heard often a decent share of Brahms, and I thought I knew where to look for clues. But I clearly have much to learn here -- I didn't suspect what a bombshell this movement was. So, back to square one ... of this video. And putting a recording of the piece itself on repeat in the car for a while.
Great analysis, Richard! I was also stunned when one day I realized that that woodwinds in the first bars of the movement were imitating the main theme in an offbeat manner. Brahms craftsmanship was simply extraordinary.
Wow! I played this piece in college as a violinist. One of my favorites. Never really analyzed a Brahms symphony. Didn't know how they were constructed. Thankyou so much for for your insight.
Came here to say this; when I orchestrated that sonata myself I noticed in particular a moment in the slow movement that suddenly jumps out as "oh that's Brahms 4!"
Hey there I am an amateur composer self studying and I really appreciate your videos. I have an intense interest in counterpoint and the shapes and patterns of music so these series of videos is really helpful to someone trying to figure this stuff out on their own. Thanks!
Superb analysis of an immortal masterpiece. I ilke how you reference other works as you explain, it is refreshing without being the least bit disrupting. Many thanks!
those last four timpani blows before the final note are absolutely brutal. thank you for dissecting amazing works like this to make insight a little easier for people like us
Weirdly I was almost expecting a plagal cadence the first time I listened to this symphony. Great educational content as always, and I’m looking forward to the fourth movement.
I love this analysis - instantly subscribed. I like especially that you found a way to "re-comparmentalize" a few of the thematic variations ("mysterious orange arch of arches" etc.) which is clarifying.
This video is fantastic! Brahms wrote this in 1893. Everyone told him he was finished, that he would never write a decent piece of music again, so he worked hard and went off in a park -- and sat under a tree. And he saw a deer running under the trees, and it gave him the idea. I read an article about it.
Actually, a few years before that (1885). I've never heard of that anecdote, but it reminds me of when Grieg tried to get Brahms to visit Norway because he thought it would inspire Brahms to compose a fifth symphony. I wish Brahms had followed this advice!
I'm simultaneously so familiar with this piece that none of the deceptive cadences are at all "deceptive" (at this point it'd sound a lot more strange if it wasn't a deceptive cadence!), yet so unfamiliar that I didn't know about the woodwinds echoing the main theme right at the beginning! The most mindblowing for me was all the times I never noticed the green theme show up.
I feel the same, John. But my favorite assertion in music theory studies was by Henry Onderdonk, an incredible pedagogue and Modernist composer. He said that sheer generativity is not so unusual in the arts. What distinguishes the greatest master composers is a sense of judgement in architecture, which then allows them to make the surprising sound inevitable.
@@rosiefay7283 deceptive cadence is a term used in music theory. an authentic (or perfect) cadence starts on the 5 chord (dominant) and resolves to the 1 chord (tonic). A deceptive cadence starts on the 5 chord, but does not resolve to 1. 5 to 6 is a pretty typical kind of deceptive cadence and that's what we see her. B major to E minor would be a perfect cadence, but B major to C major is a deceptive cadence (in the key of E minor). the thing is though, cadences in Brahms are usually a whole lot less obvious than in works of earlier classical composers, so the expectation of a clearly punctuated perfect cadence is smaller, therefore the "deception" of the deceptive cadence is less striking.
54:54 oh my god I heard a bone-chilling scream. This analysis was an AMAZING ride, very well crafted as always. Thanks so much, I'm more in love with Brahms everyday. As a side note, if it's possible, I'd love to hear your insight on any of Brahms sextets and also, your take Verklärte Nacht, a piece with this kind of intensity that I always seem to return to for more.
Richard, how do you do that? I am shattered! Nearly an hour analysis for one movement. Even the whole symphony is not that long. I have heard the Brahms symphonies for very long years now, but I haven't understood them so far, I think. I and I am sure I will never understand them fully, but I am so thankful , that you enlight them for us all. Thank you so much !
What an amazing analysis, thank you so much! I was wondering if you were planning one day to do something similar for his concerti? I've always considered them to be as mind-blowing as the symphonies, and as they introduced me to Brahms they'll always have a special place in my heart.
Sir, Thank you so much! I am surprised---- I have learned so much from your Conference---- "way" more than I had ever expected! I enjoyed it so much---- it brought me great satisfaction as well as fulfillment and personal growth! This the way Music should be taught, particularly, those who love Classical Music and live their lives wanting to, seriously, explore the depths of such truly wonderful craftmanship of High Art!!
Can't believe I'm late to the party; must've been youtube being stupid again. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for you to do a video on Brahms 4!
Fantastic, as always! I loved the extra graphics you added in time to the music, they were really helpful for hearing things that are happening in the background!
Always loved watching your analysis! Your videos have helped me so many times during my undergrad years studying in music school! Would love to see your analysis on Mendelssohn's string octet!
I'm just starting my journey into composing classical music in a somewhat romantic style and your analysis are invaluable to me. Thank you for all these shared knowledge!
I played the timp part for this symphony a few months ago. Kind of wish I'd seen this video before now. I had no idea I was the star of the movement! Sometimes when you're behind the battle lines you can't see the big picture, especially when you spend minutes at a time counting rests.
Wonderful, really wonderful analysis of one of my favourite pieces of music. I've heard your romance (because it IS a romance) till the last words, and now I can better understand the beauty of this music and of Brahms's genius. My sincere compliments for your rich and significant work!
In reading these comments I was waiting for someone to recognize the genesis of this hour long autopsy of an experience of beauty and I am glad you said it. The creator of this video presentation LOVES his subject and wants to share what he feels with others. In that light he is asking his listeners to become more intensely engaged with him in an experience that has given him what we all desire from life. . . joy!
@@JohannnesBrahms Of course, but I see nothing extraordinary in what you say: it's normal getting in feeling with music when you speak about it, we do the same thing when we speak about other less moving subjects, such as society, politics, and so on. What I like to remark is the richness of hints and examples in this analysis, because this music, in spite of its indoubted beauty, is difficult, and deserves a clear explanation
@@girolamopiccolo2764 Beauty in music cannot be analyzed. The structure of music can be analyzed. One can appreciate music in either way. Structural analysis can show you how the music is put together and can highlight the unity of its various parts but it cannot describe the meaning of the music. That meaning can only be understood when one listens with the heart.
@@JohannnesBrahms They are two different levels: in a first moment, what you feel prevails when you listen a music for the first time, you associate persons, situations, memories, etc. In a second moment, you are curious to know how a composer built his music, which harmonic solutions, chords, developments of the notes. But, if you have a little practice, you often mix these two aspects, so music returns to be unique
Thankyou so much for these videos! I really love the long tangents you go on, they open my eyes to the rich history of and linkage between so much of western music! I would really love a video on Mahler 9's Adagio
@L rehearsal mark, the recapitulation, it has always been noteworthy to me that this is a fine example of Brahms' intentional 'paving-over' of previous generations' seams in sonata format by offsetting the return of the primary theme (undeveloped) a few measures after the return of the home/tonic key. The effect is exceptionally smooth and particularly in keeping with the overall nearly-lullaby, ethereal and devastatingly (yet marginally understated) tragic tone of this movement.
thank you for this brilliant and insightful piece of analysis!! i thought it rather apt that the number of references to other works diminishes as the video progresses, both relative to your other (also consistently thoughtful) videos and the first half of the video, almost as if brahms' work is both so sufficiently rich that it demands such deep analysis by itself, and completely original that there is simply no precedent for this spectacular symphonic movement. looking forward to the rest of this series!
It’s incredible how this man single handedly brought top quality musical analysis to the mass audience. Really an achievement in its own right
Very true. Although Richard uses musical terminology (inversion, cadence, canon) he often qualifies what he says by using a basic English explanation to clarify. He gives his time and his rich musical knowledge to enrich our musical understanding. Many thanks to him.
Some of the best analytic content I’ve ever seen. This has taught me so much about a work I’ve loved for decades. Thank you dearly.
I love it how you are discussing Brahms, then take a detour to mention some favorite Dies Irae motives in other works, after which you take a detour to mention a Haydn symphony which has a melody related to Dies Irae, and then you again take a detour to remind us of Haydn's great sense of humour. That's just amazing!
But the best is the tango at 21:13 …
My favorite symphony. My parents only had classical music records and baby sitter put the same records on every day, over and over. I started humming this whole symphony-still can do it-when I was 4-5. True story
This work is one of the greatest creations of the human mind. I've listened to this work for 60 years and it always deeply moves me. I love all of his symphonies but the Fourth holds a special place in my heart. As a 15 year old, it took me awhile to "get it" but, once I did, it became a part of my DNA. My favorite renditions are by Bruno Walter and Karl Bohm. Astonishing analysis. I will listen to it again and again.
This coda is one of the few musical moments I know that literally make me cry and give me goosebumps EVERY SINGLE TIME I listen to it.
I a SO late to the Brahms game. in my 20's I thought he was boring old-fashioned and lame...I liked Shostakovich, Bartok, Debussy, Stravinsky, Strauss then.... I mean I still those guys.. but comparatively I am RADICALLY more obsessed with Brahms symphony 4. For about the last year or 2. I listen to it quite frequently now. whereas I'm just not that into Shostakovich right now. I first had my breakthrough with Brahms just as my Dad was dying of cancer in 2015. He struggled with it for a while and I was 2500 miles away for most of his last year. I do have regrets about that. But that Violin Concerto by Brahms!!! Wow!! I just happened to give it a chance and it blew my mind. It took several more years for me to get into the symphonies.. and the 4th is just MINDBLOWINGLY phenomenal!!! Thank you for covering this.
Brahms was for me one of the greatest challenges; I've been listening to his music since I was a child and it was only after entering my mid-40s that I began to truly synthesize each of his symphonies as the immense, brilliantly organic masterpieces that they are. It was Hugo Wolf who, in what I believe was a written newspaper critique of Brahms, one day chastised Brahms for his ability to "create something out of nothing." For me, THAT is the mystery and the appeal of Brahms and perhaps the singular key to understanding his prodigious genius: how a simple turn of one melodic phrase leads, ineluctably, to another, and then another, each more seamless, powerful, unique and seemingly irreplaceable than the next. Needless to say, his music, like that of JS Bach, will live on forever. Thanks for this terrific video, by the way, real value added and greatly appreciated. regards
This is..... I have chills. Didn't think my estimation of Brahms could be any higher, but thank you.
Well done! I'm always amazed by how naturally you weave in intricate details into your analysis, while always making sure that everything is coherent and understandable. As an analyst myself, I know how hard it is to achieve this balance, and you've clearly perfected it. Thank you for your work!
10:00 - classic Atkinson: a tangent in a tangent in yet another tangent! :)
If that’s what it takes to get to Haydn…
@@Richard.Atkinson haha, fair enough! And it’s not a complaint - we learn more this way!
Inception
"Sometimes these world-class musicians don't practice enough."
I heard Sergiu Celibidache scream *_"VIOLAAAAAA!"_* when you said that.
The first time I heard of this piece was once I performed in an orchestra (I played the second violin part). This is an enjoyable piece, not only for the audience, but also very enjoyable for the player. And now I’m addicted to this piece and I need to hear it once a day.
After hearing your explanation and examination of this wonderful piece of music, I look forward to this Brahms symphony being played at a concert with a completely new set of eyes and ears!! Huge thanks!!
That apocalyptic cadence clearly imitates the organ the way that the chord is held by the woodwinds, and the fact that it is a baroque like plagal cadence itself. In the exposition, the first repeat of the theme with decoration also really reminds me of Bach’s famous passacaglia where he uses similar winding scaling ornamentation.
i don't make many comments, but wow. this technical analysis was such an eye opener to me - ive loved this symphony for years but ive never seen such a well done and in depth analysis of this symphony, and this video is just so marvellous.
edit: may i also kindly and sincerely request for an analysis of brahms's piano quintet in f minor? it's also been one of my favourite works and i wld love to see your take and meticulous analysis on that work.
It's probably his greatest work that isn't a symphony. It's definitely on my list!
@@Richard.Atkinson I rank both his string quintets and his piano quartet equal to the piano quintet, but it's tough to think of an overall single greatest non symphonic work. This is arguably your best one too
I much prefer the third and second piano quintet over the first
@@cschlums2235 You're thinking of the quartets. There's only one quintet!
@@necroyoli08 And there are 3 piano quartets!
Every time you played part of the piece I had an immense urge to close the video and just listen to the whole symphony…
...I wasn't going to watch this whole thing... I did. I was mesmerized. Thank you.
I had such a giddy reaction when I saw this in my notifications, I can't wait to re-watch this 50 times
Honey wake up a new Richard Atkinson analysis dropped
IT’S HERE!! …some of my days are framed by this work…one takes in these notes like they were always there…. by design ..innately. Love your work!
The legend has returned... And what a video it is!
I learn so much from these videos! Every sentence is packed with knowledge
Quite phenomenal. Thank you for all the work you put into this.
Every time I come back to Brahms, I’m reminded of how moving his music is.
Brilliant. I know that Bernstein recording very well, and there is no other that captures the frightening intensity of that final page as perfectly. Thanks for this great analysis!
How you have been on TH-cam for 10 years and escaped my searchlight is beyond me but you have won a new subscriber. While watching your presentation and believing you to be some kind of musicologist I was a bit disheartened and critical of your approach to this miracle of human creation but looking further for more information about you and how you came to make such videos I was a bit impressed. You realize of course how the perspective of your profession infuses your approach to understanding musical expression but I wonder if you also realize how no matter how much you dissect, examine and analyze the subject of your attention you will never understand or know what it is that makes you love. Life and "soul" are beyond the human mind and to know them well one must surrender to what they give you without mental interference.
Compliments on your graphic technique of presentation which only a mind like your own could have devised.
I've only been doing this kind of video for 5 of those 10 years, so that could be why.
this movement is everything Brahms was building up to in his entire life, my mind can't comprehend what the 5th Symphony would be like.
also would love videos about the 4th movements of his 3rd Symphony and F minor Quintet, or anything by him...
I just want more Brahms :D
It’s funny you specifically mention those two movements (finale of 3rd Symphony and finale of piano quintet) because I consider those his two greatest movements that aren’t from the 4th Symphony. I will definitely make videos on both one day.
Incredible analysis. This channel is an absolute gem.
You made us wait 9 months(!!) for this next Brahms symphony installment, but I daresay it was well worth the wait!
Thank you for sharing your thorough & informative analysis of this magnificent movement.
The Brahms symphonies have always occupied a special place in my heart ever since I borrowed a score containing all 4 beautiful works from the library decades ago & enjoyed hours of exploring / discovering the musical magic & mysteries Brahms so brilliantly buried within them.
Your insightful & well thought out commentary & clarification on how the entire movement is thematically constructed & connected adds layers of appreciation & even more meaning to the untold hours of enjoyment the symphony has brought to all of us music lovers throughout the 130+ years since its premiere.
Lastly, I really love how your cogent analysis fits in to the whole Wagner program music vs. Brahms absolute music debate. All the thematic richness, inversions, development, inventiveness & innovation on display in this movement, which are so clearly communicated in your wonderful analysis, provide powerful proof & confirmation that no program is needed to bring the dramatic effect!
In Brahms' masterful hands, this movement uses the thematic musical information so deftly woven into the textures of the various sections to build the richness & tension until the climactic moments in the coda that bring the movement to a resounding close with those impactful timpani plagal cadence beats in the final measures.
It is no wonder we all respond so fervently & lovingly to this beautifully & brilliantly constructed masterpiece!
Bravissimos to Brahms & kudos to you on yet another great addition to your channel!
I look forward to your commentary on the other Brahms movements yet to come- especially on the 2nd symphony, which is my personal favorite.
Symphony 2 will probably be last (my least favorite... but even so, still one of the greatest masterpieces in the literature). For me, its finale is by far its greatest movement.
the final movement of the 2nd is my go-to, my pick me up, my lift my spirit sure thing whenever i feel in need of some musical joy to balance out all the insanity of this world we find ourselves living in. it never ceases to have its enchanting effect on me!
& trust me, i do not mind waiting for you to hit the rest of the movements of the 4th & 3rd wonders by Brahms with your insightful analysis & deeply revealing words of clear commentary on the way until you arrive at #2!
The 2nd is my favorite, too! I think the fourth mvt could save the world.
What a well researched analysis. Thank you for showing your love of this piece to me. I was in tears at the end, as I could feel your connection to this music.
Started rehearsing this a few weeks ago in Vienna, very useful analysis - and some unpacking is really needed. So many things happening at once, so many layers, Brahms requiring us to look deep into the well... Looking forward to seeing your work on the other movements!
It's incredible, flawless, marvelous how you explain all the secrets so that the big picture can be seen and heard! Admirable!
I love your channel and appreciate your dedicated work. Thank you so much for sharing your skills with us!
So great!
This has been one of my favourite symphonic movements since I first heard it almost forty years ago ... but I had no idea it was so complex. Thank you for such an instructive and entertaining lecture.
One of my favorite symphonies! Leonard Bernstein has a great video on TH-cam where he explains this symphony. It’s a good prequel to this detailed video. Thanks for making the complicated understandable.
20:43!
@@Richard.Atkinson I did hear the mention of LB video, but I guess I was calling it out for other non music majors like me 😊. But thanks for the time stamp!!!!
@@katrinat.3032 Link in the description for anyone interested!
Wow. Your best video yet. Superbly done, and has given me further insights into, I agree with you, Brahms' most perfect creation. I'm presenting the 4th in my Sunday spinning class with a program associated with it. Really jumping off the deep end with this. You've helped me get this in my ears at an even more granular level. Will be exhausted at the end. Thanks.
I have absolutely zero formal training in music and yet I am enjoying this thoroughly. Incredibly well done !
How did I only just find this channel now? These are absolutely incredible videos. Very good job. I look forward to watching them all in the coming weeks.
More, more. This is a great tool for teaching analysis. Good, clear presentation.
What a lovely gift for the (lunar) new year! :D
I love how your admiration for this piece is so palpable that your enthusiasm is barely contained as you analyze it. This is peak content.
I'm glad my enthusiasm is still obvious, despite the monotone delivery!
Yet another important discovery: at what you mean by "the final culmination by the now ascending faster entries of the blue sceme" 49:25, the downbeats (C-B-D-C#) actually marks a BACH motif. To make it not just a coincidence, at the repeat at 49:31 the BACH is directly presented in the flute and oboe parts (which you just normally outline in the ubiquitous blue color).
meh...
Wow!! After listening to this glorious piece for 50 years, you have opened an entirely new world for hopefully many more years of added appreciation. Thank you!
This might be your best video. I loved it and I'm sure it will help a lot of young and not so young musicians to appreciate music even more.
Thank you for the astonishing analysis. This is the kind of insight students want to hear from a good teacher after working hard and for longtime on complex classical repertoire like this symphonic gem. Not only you reveal ideas, process, structures and relationships but also we see intertextuality working with clarity : inner, withing Brahms' own thematic world as well as external, with works of other composers.
The evolution of musical language seems to be such that the thematic material and stylistic signatures of a passed era becomes so generic comparing to the following one that a deceptive simplicity takes place and veils deep structure of music. Analyzing Brahms by a musician from the XXI century seems as challenging as Brahms himself analyzing XVIth century polyphony.
I could not resist noticing, at the end of your second chapter, that the imitative figures (green highlighted) accompanying the theme do morph, from measure 98, into a “cryptomnesic” quotation of the Beethoven's’ 7th symphony's scherzo.
As for the 16th notes (@31’43’’), It might be simply the march like character and the tempo choice that makes this interpretation inevitable.
Hope my comment is not pedantic, this is just a way to express gratitude for so generously sharing knowledge that takes a lot of time and patience to work.
I didn't understand your sentence about Beethoven's 7th when I first read it last year because I was thinking of the scherzo itself and not the trio. Now it makes sense!
I clearly remembered when I was in high school I got a free ticket to the concert of our city (3rd tier) symphony orchestra playing Brahms Symphony No.4. They didn't play it well but still I fall in love with this symphony and Brahms' work deeply, after I heard this coda section, especially the ending chords. Now for the first time I know it is Brahms' iconic *Plagal Cadence*
Much appreciation & admiration, Richard. You've done it again. A splendid dissection of Brahms crowning achievement. It's fitting & illuminating that you refer to figures so influential on Brahms (Bach, Haydn, Beethoven). There's so much to say about this wonder-work. But your study unifies its most important elements. A sublime example of musical analysis at its finest. Thank you.
I'm only 1/4 into this and already it's one of the best things of this type I've ever heard/seen/read, and that's 50 years' worth. I can't wait to see the rest!
Well ... whew ... I reached the end! My head is spinning a little, and next I'll re-view it, knowing now how things turn out. It seems like every note in the score is primary material, and if labeled with letters (A, B, C etc.) the prime symbols (A', A'', A''', A'''', A''''', A'''''', etc.) would reach closer to infinity than in any other piece of comparable length. (You already ran out of colors just to label distinct motifs.)
I've learned, analyzed, or simply heard often a decent share of Brahms, and I thought I knew where to look for clues. But I clearly have much to learn here -- I didn't suspect what a bombshell this movement was.
So, back to square one ... of this video. And putting a recording of the piece itself on repeat in the car for a while.
Great analysis, Richard! I was also stunned when one day I realized that that woodwinds in the first bars of the movement were imitating the main theme in an offbeat manner. Brahms craftsmanship was simply extraordinary.
Watched the first few minutes, good stuff! I’m not ready for this yet, but will like and save to watch later when the time is right! 👍
Wow! I played this piece in college as a violinist. One of my favorites. Never really analyzed a Brahms symphony. Didn't know how they were constructed. Thankyou so much for for your insight.
I love so much this video, amazing!! Bravo, thank you for share it!
you deserve millions of subscribers i am NOT lying... the amount of effort you put in ALL of your videos... wow.. i really love your channel
The Hammerklavier also plays with thirds/tenths in a very similar way, throughout all the movements (especially in key relations)
True! I’ll be discussing key relationships in my videos on the two middle movements.
The Weingartner orchestration of the Hammerklavier sounds like a lost Brahms symphony in many places indeed, especially the slow movement.
Came here to say this; when I orchestrated that sonata myself I noticed in particular a moment in the slow movement that suddenly jumps out as "oh that's Brahms 4!"
also in the third movement there is a burst of energy that sounds extremely similar to brahms 4th first theme
@@cschlums2235 When it suddenly switches to duple meter?
Hey there I am an amateur composer self studying and I really appreciate your videos. I have an intense interest in counterpoint and the shapes and patterns of music so these series of videos is really helpful to someone trying to figure this stuff out on their own. Thanks!
Superb analysis of an immortal masterpiece. I ilke how you reference other works as you explain, it is refreshing without being the least bit disrupting. Many thanks!
those last four timpani blows before the final note are absolutely brutal. thank you for dissecting amazing works like this to make insight a little easier for people like us
So fascinating... I always felt that the coda here is one of the most heavenly pieces I have ever heard... Now I understand why... Thank you so much
The first Brahms I listened to is this Symphony and until now it amazes me especially the opening.
Already loved Brahms. Love his work even more now. Thanks.
Weirdly I was almost expecting a plagal cadence the first time I listened to this symphony. Great educational content as always, and I’m looking forward to the fourth movement.
Check the chords at letter K, bottom notes of the root position: (D#-Db-D#-C) (F-Eb-F-D). The chords are in a way playing the Dies Irae melody.
Amazing analysis, thank you so much! That Coda is my fav musical moment of all time
Utterly brilliant analysis. Always loved this piece.
I love this analysis - instantly subscribed. I like especially that you found a way to "re-comparmentalize" a few of the thematic variations ("mysterious orange arch of arches" etc.) which is clarifying.
This video is fantastic! Brahms wrote this in 1893. Everyone told him he was finished, that he would never write a decent piece of music again, so he worked hard and went off in a park -- and sat under a tree. And he saw a deer running under the trees, and it gave him the idea. I read an article about it.
Actually, a few years before that (1885). I've never heard of that anecdote, but it reminds me of when Grieg tried to get Brahms to visit Norway because he thought it would inspire Brahms to compose a fifth symphony. I wish Brahms had followed this advice!
I'm simultaneously so familiar with this piece that none of the deceptive cadences are at all "deceptive" (at this point it'd sound a lot more strange if it wasn't a deceptive cadence!), yet so unfamiliar that I didn't know about the woodwinds echoing the main theme right at the beginning! The most mindblowing for me was all the times I never noticed the green theme show up.
I feel the same, John. But my favorite assertion in music theory studies was by Henry Onderdonk, an incredible pedagogue and Modernist composer. He said that sheer generativity is not so unusual in the arts. What distinguishes the greatest master composers is a sense of judgement in architecture, which then allows them to make the surprising sound inevitable.
"Deceptive" is just Richard Atkinson's description of them, right? So, just an opinion of his that he might or might not think we share?
@@rosiefay7283 deceptive cadence is a term used in music theory. an authentic (or perfect) cadence starts on the 5 chord (dominant) and resolves to the 1 chord (tonic). A deceptive cadence starts on the 5 chord, but does not resolve to 1. 5 to 6 is a pretty typical kind of deceptive cadence and that's what we see her. B major to E minor would be a perfect cadence, but B major to C major is a deceptive cadence (in the key of E minor).
the thing is though, cadences in Brahms are usually a whole lot less obvious than in works of earlier classical composers, so the expectation of a clearly punctuated perfect cadence is smaller, therefore the "deception" of the deceptive cadence is less striking.
@@oboejdub Thanks. No need for me to add to this!
There are multiple parts where 8ths are played as 16ths. I can only think that this is intentional direction by ol' Lenny
This work simply shows what made the Atkinson great.
Omfg that coda. I have no idea how to describe the feelings it brought to me exactly.
At last! Thanks Richard, been really really looking forward to your analysis. I will start listening now....
54:54 oh my god I heard a bone-chilling scream. This analysis was an AMAZING ride, very well crafted as always. Thanks so much, I'm more in love with Brahms everyday.
As a side note, if it's possible, I'd love to hear your insight on any of Brahms sextets and also, your take Verklärte Nacht, a piece with this kind of intensity that I always seem to return to for more.
Absolutely fantastic!
My favorite composition of all time!!! Thank you for showing me why!!!
Richard, how do you do that? I am shattered! Nearly an hour analysis for one movement. Even the whole symphony is not that long. I have heard the Brahms symphonies for very long years now, but I haven't understood them so far, I think. I and I am sure I will never understand them fully, but I am so thankful , that you enlight them for us all. Thank you so much !
can i just say you're literally one of my favourite content creators....
What an amazing analysis, thank you so much! I was wondering if you were planning one day to do something similar for his concerti? I've always considered them to be as mind-blowing as the symphonies, and as they introduced me to Brahms they'll always have a special place in my heart.
Sir,
Thank you so much!
I am surprised---- I have learned so much from your Conference---- "way" more than I had ever expected!
I enjoyed it so much---- it brought me great satisfaction as well as fulfillment and personal growth!
This the way Music should be taught, particularly, those who love Classical Music and live their lives wanting to, seriously, explore the depths of such truly wonderful craftmanship of High Art!!
I audibly gasped when The Mysterious Pink Arch entered the chat. This is the most riveting analysis ever.
This is just mind boggling stuff... Also, thanks for dividing the video into chapters, it's really helpfull!
Can't believe I'm late to the party; must've been youtube being stupid again. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for you to do a video on Brahms 4!
Fantastic, as always! I loved the extra graphics you added in time to the music, they were really helpful for hearing things that are happening in the background!
This is definitely a piece that requires the extra graphics. But... that's also why the video took so long to create!
You have echoed my sentiments a lot better than I could have. Thank you!!!
I just now discovered your channel, so glad I did! Great stuff!😊
Always loved watching your analysis! Your videos have helped me so many times during my undergrad years studying in music school!
Would love to see your analysis on Mendelssohn's string octet!
11:46 Liszt Totentanz is a great example too
I'm just starting my journey into composing classical music in a somewhat romantic style and your analysis are invaluable to me. Thank you for all these shared knowledge!
Marvellous.
Thank you sir for opening this gate.
I played the timp part for this symphony a few months ago. Kind of wish I'd seen this video before now. I had no idea I was the star of the movement! Sometimes when you're behind the battle lines you can't see the big picture, especially when you spend minutes at a time counting rests.
The amount of effort you put into each of your videos is really inspiring! Can't imagine how much time it takes to film, edit, and everything else :)
Thank you for another wonderful video! I would love to see an annotated score video with this material
Can't wait to watch this! Thank you!
What a fantastic analysis! Thank you for your tremendous work!
Great way to make music theory fascinate the mind of one who's not normally interested, it hasn't yet realised it can be.
Brilliant work Mr Atkinson
24:31 Also I think that grey melody is a variation of the yellow theme (2nd theme of the sonata form).
It has some similarities.
Wonderful, really wonderful analysis of one of my favourite pieces of music. I've heard your romance (because it IS a romance) till the last words, and now I can better understand the beauty of this music and of Brahms's genius. My sincere compliments for your rich and significant work!
In reading these comments I was waiting for someone to recognize the genesis of this hour long autopsy of an experience of beauty and I am glad you said it. The creator of this video presentation LOVES his subject and wants to share what he feels with others. In that light he is asking his listeners to become more intensely engaged with him in an experience that has given him what we all desire from life. . . joy!
@@JohannnesBrahms Of course, but I see nothing extraordinary in what you say: it's normal getting in feeling with music when you speak about it, we do the same thing when we speak about other less moving subjects, such as society, politics, and so on. What I like to remark is the richness of hints and examples in this analysis, because this music, in spite of its indoubted beauty, is difficult, and deserves a clear explanation
@@girolamopiccolo2764 Beauty in music cannot be analyzed. The structure of music can be analyzed. One can appreciate music in either way. Structural analysis can show you how the music is put together and can highlight the unity of its various parts but it cannot describe the meaning of the music. That meaning can only be understood when one listens with the heart.
@@JohannnesBrahms They are two different levels: in a first moment, what you feel prevails when you listen a music for the first time, you associate persons, situations, memories, etc. In a second moment, you are curious to know how a composer built his music, which harmonic solutions, chords, developments of the notes. But, if you have a little practice, you often mix these two aspects, so music returns to be unique
@@girolamopiccolo2764 You can enjoy driving a Ferrari without ever looking under the hood.
Thankyou so much for these videos! I really love the long tangents you go on, they open my eyes to the rich history of and linkage between so much of western music!
I would really love a video on Mahler 9's Adagio
i always feel Brahms' unrequited love when I litstened to the beginning of this movement.
Extraordinary. Thanks so much!
@L rehearsal mark, the recapitulation, it has always been noteworthy to me that this is a fine example of Brahms' intentional 'paving-over' of previous generations' seams in sonata format by offsetting the return of the primary theme (undeveloped) a few measures after the return of the home/tonic key. The effect is exceptionally smooth and particularly in keeping with the overall nearly-lullaby, ethereal and devastatingly (yet marginally understated) tragic tone of this movement.
thank you for this brilliant and insightful piece of analysis!! i thought it rather apt that the number of references to other works diminishes as the video progresses, both relative to your other (also consistently thoughtful) videos and the first half of the video, almost as if brahms' work is both so sufficiently rich that it demands such deep analysis by itself, and completely original that there is simply no precedent for this spectacular symphonic movement. looking forward to the rest of this series!