In Reply to: Has anyone else come late to Brahms? posted by MichaelV8 on April 15, 2012 at 08:39:07:
Too many musicians view and perform Brahms as if he was a late romantic composers a la Bruckner. Thick textures do Brahms' music no favors.
The best place to start with Brahms are his piano concertos: highly original works. Suggested recording: Fleisher/Szell/Cleveland (Sony).
Next, get the Piano Quartet No.1. You're guaranteed to enjoy it. Go with Gilels/Amadeus Quartet (DG)
You obviously need to have all of the symphonies and overtures. Go with the Dohnanyi/Cleveland's incisive and energetic recording on Warner. I'd say listen to the symphonies and overtures in this order: Academic Festive Overture, Haydn Variations, Symphony No.2, Symphony No.4, Symphony No.3, Symphony No.1 and tragic overture (I personally found 1st symphony the hardest to get into).
For fun, get Schoenberg's arrangement of the Piano Quartet No.1. Robert Craft's recording with Chicago on Sony is far and away the best.
After that, go back to chamber music with his solo piano music. "Variations on a Theme by Paganini" is thrilling; Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel is accessible. The piano sonatas can be a bit dense. There's a great budget box of the solo piano music with Julius Katchen (Decca).
Final thing to get: Trio for Horn, Violin & Piano. Go with the Serkin/Tree/Bloom recording on Sony.
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Follow Ups
- RE: Has anyone else come late to Brahms? - Thornhill 16:11:29 04/15/12 (9)
- Thanks for the recommendations. Most helpul. - BillyBenBilly 17:45:05 04/16/12 (0)
- Don't forget the lieder and piano waltzes and intermezzi - rbolaw 09:21:49 04/16/12 (3)
- RE: Don't forget the lieder and piano waltzes and intermezzi - Thornhill 17:59:43 04/16/12 (2)
- RE: Don't forget the lieder and piano waltzes and intermezzi - rbolaw 12:04:38 04/17/12 (1)
- RE: Don't forget the lieder and piano waltzes and intermezzi - josh358 18:15:16 04/19/12 (0)
- If you think Brahms Orchestral music suffers from denseness - Chuck Y 19:26:37 04/15/12 (2)
- RE: If you think Brahms Orchestral music suffers from denseness - Thornhill 18:02:36 04/16/12 (1)
- That's interesting Thornhill - jult52 06:11:08 04/20/12 (0)
- RE: Has anyone else come late to Brahms? - ahendler 18:31:27 04/15/12 (0)