I will post my comments and rating later this week. You can listen to the concerto HERE. If you’ve seen my “Top 100 Classical Music Favorites” on this site (HERE) you can easily ascertain that I’m no fan of Brahms. Oh, there are pieces by Brahms I enjoy – it’s not that I don’t like his works – he’s just not one of my “go to” composers when I listen to classical music. For this week, though, when deciding on which piece to listen to, I randomly opened a book I own called Composers, Their Lives and Works, and I landed on pages 158 and 159 – the entry for Johannes Brahms. Opposite a timeline of Brahms’ key works is a quote from Clara Schumann, “It is as though he (Brahms) has been sent by God himself” – and the timeline shows that in 1853, Brahms met “Robert and Clara Schumann, who recognize his genius and promote his career.” The next key date, 1859, states, “Premier of Piano Concerto No. 1 in Hanover, with Brahms himself as soloist.” I decided at that point to listen to Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 not realizing that I have, indeed, heard this piece before. I recognized it immediately when I heard the dramatic opening with its intense timpani roll and impassioned strings. I just haven't listened to it enough to know that this was Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1. Shame on me! So what did I think of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1? Did I enjoy it? Well, yes -- and no. I loved the first movement. With its drama, power, passion and pathos, who wouldn't? However, I'll admit that I wondered what could have been achieved with this movement if it had been in the hands of Beethoven or maybe even Schubert? (Or others?) This criticism might sound a bit harsh, but some sections of Brahms' work sound to me like heavy-handed Hanon exercises for full orchestra. The depth of this concerto just did not reach the same level as the Rach 2 or the Grieg A Minor. Those two concertos hook listeners from the start and hold their interest to the very end. I lost interest with the second and third movements of this Brahms concerto. Even the melodic, slower sections of the Rachmaninoff and Grieg works hold listeners in rapt attention because the music is so beautiful. Not so with this piece. While the first movement might move audiences to stand and cheer for more at its conclusion, the dull Adagio and the run-of-the-mill Rondo might make them just want to stand and leave. My final assessment of the piece: "Wowza-wow" for the first movement; "meh" for the rest.
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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