I'm not a specialist in the "classical" period (broadly defined...), but I've had some affinity since youth, and so classical music remains something of a context for my other musical explorations. In other words, I'm not intending to break any new ground with this discussion — as it'll mostly be a simple presentation of my favorite pieces by Brahms — but do offer it in terms of my overall musical context. And besides, some readers might just be curious about my favorite Brahms albums.
In the latter sense, though, things have really changed since the previous version of this page, written in July 1998: In particular, it's far easier to sample recordings, including individual tracks, etc. From that perspective, my prior format here recommending albums has become dated, and so I'm intending a more straightforward presentation today, focusing on favorite pieces — with some recording notes, but not as emphasized (& I'm not intending to continue creating separate recording files here either...). One thing about the classical context is that there are so many available recordings, relative not only to medieval music (where I'm usually looking for new research or executions...), but of course to contemporary improvisation as well, where nothing is really the same twice. So there're a lot of Brahms interpretations available these days, from many decades ago to more recent readings, and I definitely don't audition them all. But I did recently do a listening binge, prompting some new (for here) favored interpretations. (I'm not into the mid-20th century classics that some listeners enjoy so much. For one thing, I find that that interpretive style concentrates too much on a "main line" for me. And I still seek out mostly new readings, but am finding that the interpretive styles that formed around when I formed many of my own intellectual priorities, i.e. late 20th century, do still tend to resonate with me....)
So I'm not going to justify my favorites much (& indeed there's really nothing "new" about Brahms to be found here...). As noted, there're many discussions in many places already, so this is more of a personal orientation. And for my little survey, I'm going to start with the Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op.68 (1876): Brahms spent much of his early career confronting Beethoven & others, i.e. dealing with their legacy in the context of his own musical expression, and so the First Symphony was long in coming. It's still somewhat over-ambitious, but sets the stage for the "mature" Brahms. (And this sort of struggle with tradition seems to be built in for most composers now, while it was still more novel for Brahms....) And I continue to enjoy the Gardiner set (released 2008-2010) overall for the four Symphonies — while the prior listing here had been Bernard Haitink with the Boston Symphony on Philips (1991-1996), and now there's the Michael Gielen Edition Volume 3 (2016) with a worthwhile survey as well. (I guess I've yet to form a separate enthusiasm for individual versions, for whatever reason.) So my intention below is to mention every "major" (instrumental) work from the First Symphony onward....
But as the Gardiner survey already emphasizes, much of Brahms' output is actually vocal music, whether larger choral & orchestral productions or voice & piano songs or various ensembles in between. And I find the vocal music to be an interesting context for the symphonic & chamber music, but German Romantic vocal music has never been a genre I've particularly enjoyed. So that (ample) output will remain in the background here, as will the solo keyboard works (& Brahms didn't write e.g. any piano sonatas in his later career...), but I do intend to mention everything else. In that sense, I also often find that — at least for composers I particularly enjoy — I come to value the later music more in general, and that continues to be true of Brahms, with the String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op.111 (1890) & late clarinet works being summits. (It's about building a style.) Still, there's other wonderful music leading to those summits....
And so next (while Brahms was still in his 40s...) is Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op.73 (1877) a more flowing work than the first — but not at the heights of the final two Symphonies for me. It was followed by the Violin Concerto in D major, Op.77 (1878) — a piece that still seems to set the stage for later music, but can be intriguing (e.g. from Kremer & Harnoncourt...) — & then Academic Festival Overture, Op.80 (1880) & Tragic Overture, Op.81 (1880). The latter does find more of a place in my listening life lately... as, unfortunately, it seems more & more apt for our world.... Some of the original material from the Violin Concerto was then "finished" into the Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb major, Op.83 (1881) a triumphant & original sort of work that really seems to establish Brahms as his own composer. And I've had a soft spot for the first Stephen Hough album (Virgin, 1990), but have slowly been persuaded by Hough's new reading on Hyperion (released in 2013). The Second Piano Concerto continues to seem central to Brahms, and although it's often relatively assertive, also involves the sort of equivocation that I associate with late modernity (at least in the arts...), the sort of twilight that certainly seems (at least from this vantage point...) to have been felt by the late Victorian Era.... (And cue my ongoing thoughts elsewhere on decolonization....)
From there (& that achievement of stability?), Brahms wrote two of his most seductive — but sometimes unbalanced — chamber works, the Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op.87 (1882) & the String Quintet No. 1 in F major, Op.88 (1882). For me, these pieces include various intriguing passages, and seem innovative (within the "conservative" vibe of Brahms...), also making interpretation a little trickier: It seems I'm constantly cycling through readings of the Piano Trios — a central thread in Brahms' chamber output — then, but my recent binge has landed me on the Nicholas Angelich/Renaud Capuçon/Gautier Capuçon (Virgin, 2004) reading of Op.87. And then Op.88 had been even more elusive for me (i.e. in recorded performance), but now I've really come to enjoy the interpretation by Quatuor Sine Nomine (Claves, 1997) — i.e. clearly from my own era, but only recently brought to my attention.
The next two instrumental pieces are then already Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op.90 (1883) & Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op.98 (1885). And I'd noted in the prior essay how the Fourth Symphony had been a favorite since youth, but these days, the pastoral Third Symphony seems to have moved ahead in my affections.... Still, these are clearly two of my favorite symphonies — probably without qualification. Following the "experiments" of Op.87 & Op.88, they also start to suggest (more masterfully...) different expanses of time, e.g. windows onto other worlds, continuing in our absence. (In this, I would say that Brahms begins to evoke past, present, future in differing registers — & usually with equivocation. But also with a sense of differing temporal speeds.) Of course, much has already been written (elsewhere) about these symphonies....
Following the Fourth Symphony, Brahms then turned immediately to a series of chamber works, the Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op.99 (1886), the Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op.100 (1886), and the Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op.101 (1886): The Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op.78 (1879) had already appeared (in something of a pairing with the Violin Concerto), but Brahms' duo sonatas tend to be considerably thinner than his more "symphonic" (in a chamber context...) Piano Trios. They also tend to feature folk elements more to the fore, including evoking more song-like moments. So I haven't generally appreciated the duo sonatas as much over the years, but do want to note the Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op.108 (1888) as the climax of that idiom. And I've appreciated the "period" style by Isabelle Faust & Alexander Melnikov (Harmonia Mundi, 2015) in this piece.... It retains a sort of modesty, but also presents a sort of compact late-19th century modernity.
Op.101 is another favorite piece of mine, though, evoking a kind of crystalline timelessness at times, but also an ongoing passion... a kind of figuring of ideality that sits at another apex for Brahms (pending the last works). In some ways then, the Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102 (1887) is the lighter work — or maybe it should be called a Fifth Symphony instead! (Or else an orchestral piano trio....) But I've always enjoyed this piece & its folksy-tuneful quality, so much more emphatic at times than Brahms' more equivocating pieces, a celebration of friendship it's said... and it seems that one can also usually recall (perhaps phantom) feasts & glories while listening. And the first recording that captured me was Gielen (now available again...), although I featured the Kremer/Hagan/Harnoncourt reading for that here too for a while, but during the latest listening cycle, I've most enjoyed the reading on Naxos (2019) by Antoni Wit with Tianwa Wang & Gabriel Schwabe: It's a contemporary take with big sound (& this piece doesn't seem to pose big interpretive challenges, always seeming to sound good...). And then for Op.101, my updated favorite has become the relatively fierce rendition by Christian Tetzlaff/Tanja Tetzlaff/Lars Vogt (Ondine, 2015)....
But there's also the Piano Trio No. 1 in Bb major, Op.8 (1854/1889): This piece apparently involved a lengthy germination early in Brahms career, but then returns (rewritten in 1889, i.e. subsequent to Op.101) as almost a "new" composition. In this, it also stands outside of a chronology — although not (musically) in the sense that I've noted above. So I'm not sure what to make of it — as it sort of conjures the same "process" feelings as Symphony No. 1 — but do turn to it sometimes (& it's actually the longest of the trios...). Per my recent binge, then, my favorite for Op.8 has been Trio Wanderer on Harmonia Mundi (2007), and in fact that might be my recommended set for all of the trios in one place. (Altenberg Trio, originally from 2001, is another solid option if one's looking for a single set.... But I wasn't particularly thrilled with my Op.87 & Op.101 choices for the other trios.)
And then there's the Op.111 Quintet (1890), as already noted, a long-time favorite of mine: This piece has a sort of perfection (& summary quality) to it, although it conjures much besides.... I've long enjoyed the Melos Quartet album (Harmonia Mundi, 1991), but have also warmed up to the reading by Quatuor Sine Nomine (Claves, 1997) more recently as well. Moving quickly through these late masterpieces, then, the Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op.115 (1891) is another apex — & I also particularly enjoy the Melos reading (with Michel Portal), more recently along with (again) that from Sine Nomine (with Thomas Friedli; Claves, also 1997).... (The one thing about Op.115, though, is that it's rather similar to Op.111 in many ways — & so maybe not as original in that sense. Still, it's clearly one of Brahms' most-hailed chamber works, and likewise a favorite for me.) The Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op.114 (1891) is then a more fickle piece — that I haven't always appreciated as much, as it can fall too easily into being overly sad or overly acerbic... — but I've recently enjoyed the interpretation by Martin Fröst, et al. (Bis, 2005). That album also includes worthwhile readings of the Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120 (1894) — supplementing my longtime favorite from Gervase de Peyer (Chandos, 1987). The latter transcend my feelings of limitations around the earlier duo sonatas, and are again top favorites. It's hard to imagine Brahms never having written them.
Is there more to say? Probably, but hopefully some brevity is also worthwhile.... (And let me just add — explicitly — that the constitution & interactions of Brahms' chamber music have surely inflected my ensemble preferences for jazz & improvised music more generally....)
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Todd M. McComb 14 October 2021