Brahms: Essential Works for Beginners
String Sextet No. 2 in G major
Symphony No. 1
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor
A German Requiem
Piano Concerto No. 2
Piano Quintet in F minor
Variations on a Theme by Haydn
Find recording reviews of the above works at ClassicsToday.com: https://www.classicstoday.com/
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I thought it was the Blomstedt Requiem that changed your mind.
I was introduced to the music of Brahms by way of a 2-cassette album, a sort of Brahms' Greatest Hits, on the Decca label. The works included:
Academic Festival Overture
Alto Rhapsody
Intermezzo Op.117 No.2
Haydn Variations
Rhapsody Op.79 No.2
Hungarian Dances (selections)
Symphony No.1
That was my Brahms primer, which got me to explore more of the composer, and never regretted a single minute of it!
Dear Dave. Well this one is likely to provoke more diverse answers than Bartok. In the interests of a wider array of things, I’d definitely have that String Sextet, the Second Piano Concerto and the German Requiem. I like all your other choices but I’ve never really warmed to the Piano Quintet for some reason. So yes smaller things, the vocal quartets op 17, with the harp and horn stuff, ridiculously echt romanticism. I prefer the second piano quartet, the enormous one, in A major (?) – amazing slow movement and another folk based and rhythmically exciting finale. I’d probably go for Symphony no 4, if forced to choose, for all the movements, not just the finale, but that finale has had so much influence on later music, it’s really important to hear this symphonic assertion of the passacaglia. And maybe a couple songs, for their special intensity. Probably “Auf einer Kirchoff”, and “Der Tod, das ist die Kuhle Nacht” (rather Wagnerian, backing up something you say there). There’s so much!
On the point of "don't be discouraged", Brahms's chamber music in particular seems to be very hit and miss with listeners. It's all well-crafted, and the pieces that resonate with me, I find absolutely heavenly, but some of the ones that don't can feel unbearably dull. I've heard others say the same, only there's surprisingly little pattern to which pieces they place in each category.
More than usual, I feel like a huge part of the process with Brahms's chamber works is listening to a wide range of pieces, deciding which ones resonate with you personally, and focusing on those at least to start with.
For years, Brahms, with the exception of his Sturm und Drang pieces, bored me. However, I had an epiphany, and as you say, a ton of wonderful music opened up to me. I'm still exploring, especially the songs.
Dear Mr. Hurwitz, as a complete beginner I cant thank you enough for this videos. Pure gold. I admire your patience lowing the level for us. You saved my summer with your channel. Muchas gracias!! Greetings from Spain
I got my Brahms. I have a bad habit of purchasing big boxes, the budget kind. I picked up the Brilliant Complete Brahms box and got into the Second Piano Concerto by a "no name " pianist, Karin Lechner, and wow. (The good thing about budget recordings in classical is that rarely are artists so inept they will drive you away from great music. They will, or can, direct you to BETTER performances. )
I was drawn to the work, to finding other interpretations. It might be my favorite piece of music, period.
I would have Included the Seranades. Early works, immediately attractive.
I love all of Brahms but love the Hungarian Dances best of all. Really.
The first Brahms piece I loved was the horn trio – Absolutely beautiful
Great talk. Brahms is extremely hit or miss with me. Ironically – because you have the opposite experience – the first piece that really resonated with me was A German Requiem. The march in the second movement struck me like a bolt of lightning.
Hmm, hadn’t thought about this, but I suppose Brahms, for all the unfair stuffy reputation, was one of the first “postmodern” composers. I mean he takes his inspiration from everywhere, does near quotes (symphony 4 finale with Bach, second piano quartet with quoting Schumann quoting Beethoven – hadn’t noticed that before!), passacaglias, Wagner etc. Surely there’s real Haydn all over the place. Not so stuffy!
I love your highlighting the ‘It Hit Me’ moment. For me, this inevitable experience combined with the question I got from an English lit prof ‘why do we re-read (such and such) poem today?: “So the next time we read it we’ll get more out of it” – has kept me going for many decades and counting with music. Keep listening indeed!! Thank you Dave
Good category. I'm not sure if you've done it before with other composers but it is a good one. One important point to remember is that just because a piece is good for beginners does not mean that it is somehow a lesser work.
I would like to add what Hurwitz mentioned at the beginning: lieder. I think the 2-disc set of Jessye Norman singing is all that's needed for getting to know Brahms' way with songs.
I like that your deep musical knowledge and long experience with the repertoire informs your choices for beginners. Understanding the logic underpinning your choices is as valuable as the list itself. Thanks for sharing your insights.
For a possible next step, many of the smaller piano pieces are attractive, and some of the later ones are very forward-looking.
Could you do ligeti next?
My first exposure to Brahms was as a piano student playing his late in life intermezzos and Capriccios, etc. These are very autumnal and reflective pieces which got me hooked on Brahms.
In 1972, when I was eight years old, we left the little town where I grew up and went to Richmond, Virginia for a few months while my dad was writing his dissertation. We lived on the campus of the Presbyterian seminary, and it so happened that the Richmond Symphony Orchestra used the school dining hall rehearsals, and somehow my parents got permission for me to attend them.
One of the concerts was Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music and Brahms's German Requiem. I was indifferent to the VW Serenade, but I loved the Brahms from the first note. I went to the concert – the first live symphony orchestra concert I ever attended. I was just thrilled.
It is always hard for me to understand why Brahms is difficult for some people. It grabbed me right away. It might be simply because my dad liked it. Thank you, dad. Mom bought dad the Klemperer recording of the German Requiem for Christmas after we moved back to the hinterland. But I think the present was at least partly for me.
His orchestral serenades are beautiful.
I love that 1st symphony. I love them all but Klemperer on the 1st is like a little slice of heaven.
One of my favorite DH quotes is from his German requiem video. "And then he has to fugue about it for 10 minutes." Lol.
Would Bruckner's list just be his symphonies 4-9, Dave? I personally think so
Though not specific to Brahms, I was delighted to hear you note that a piece of music that one may have had trouble appreciating for a very long time can suddenly, almost magically achieve clear, revelatory focus. I've experienced it more than once myself and it points up your apt advice to Keep on Listening.
I am particularly fond of the quintet for clarinet and strings op 115. So enchanting and intimate.
I learn so much from your discussions. Thank you.
I love that you said "Don't worry". Nothing more needs to be said. Listen to music and don't worry if you don't like it. Don't worry. There will be no test. But, with each listen, you will be closer to finding music that you like. Cheers!
Thanks Dave. I will take a good listening to the works on this list I do not know. Honestly, I struggle with Brahms. Other than the Piano Concerto No 2, the Handel variations (which I believe should be on this list) and the short pieces of OP 116 for piano, I find his music aimless. His melodies and themes in most of his works just wander and never come to a point. His music seems to ask an endless question, without an providing an answer, and thus lacks the structure I notice in the other great composers. I am aware he is genius, I just don't get him – but based on this, I will give it another try.
This is a really fine "primer" list. A good mix of orchestral, choral, and chamber pieces. No one would go wrong using this list as a beginner guide to Brahms' music.
I love all four of the Brahms symphonies, especially by Bruno Walter, so I definitely now need to dig deeper into his other compositions. Thanks Dave
Being a rock and roller, the first Brahms piece that got me is the first symphony. It started pounding and I thought 'man this must be Pink Floyd' (their early stuff I mean, Sisyphus off the Umagumma album came to mind) Now, everytime I try to get a rock and roller to classical I go: try Brahms first! Thanks for vids Dave
Brahms is a composer I'm still very much exploring. Not sure why, but he was viewed rather negatively in our household when i was growing up. His music came across as rather dull and pretentious at being a second Beethoven. But I'm appreciating it more now. I kinda "get" him now. Actually his approach is quite clever. Undoubtedly romantic in its dynamics, mixed with classical orthodoxy. I mean his 4 symphonies don't contain a scherzo as such, rather this intermezzi type movement, which cleverly offsets the heavier, more serious finales. But yes the sextet you mentioned is astonishing..
Great list, I personally thought you would have picked the 3rd symphony for the beginner but as you said, any of the 4 would work…any chance for a new installment of the How to Listen to Great Music series??? Or How it's Done??? I really like the current series too, I just miss those
I've no difficulty remembering my first introduction to Brahms. The date is etched in my memory. It was his 1st Symphony, Pittsburgh SO/Steinberg, and it was a Barmitzvah present. It's actually a very good recording and I think it still stands up well to the many subsequent recordings, very good Capitol Records sound too.
Hopefully your permission to voice a dissenting opinion will shield me from hateful comments, but I struggle to love Brahms. The first few pieces that I remember hearing are pretty much the lineup you made, swapping in the violin concerto for the piano. I was enthusiastic enough to buy the DG complete Brahms box and dutifully went through it. The Lieder were an almost unsurmountable barrier. But maybe you know a better option than Fischer-Dieskau. Ultimately, I didn't really expand on my initial list of favorites all that much. I generally think that the label of "academic" is appropriate more often than not. Maybe I'll have an "ah-ha" moment someday.
I came to Brahms via the Serkin/Ormandy recording of the B-flat Piano Concerto. It was part of the second classical album I ever bought myself–a Columbia box of "Four Great Piano Concertos" featuring the two Brahms, the Schumann, and the Mendelssohn 1.
I thought the second movement of the Brahms Second was among the most amazing things I had ever heard–I played it over and over again. I have since collected many other versions of the piece (Serking/Szell, Richter/Leinsdorf, Gilels/Reiner, Pollini/Abbodo, Fleisher/Szell. etc.), but that Philadelphia version remains my favorite. I sometimes read that Serkin was not as virtuosic as some others, and I don't know what people are talking about. His ability to maintain speed, phrasing, and rhythm in the piece is astonishing. And Elsa Hilger's cello solo is mesmerizing.
My wife, being the perfect spouse that she is, found me a replacement box of that 40+ old original for my birthday a few years back, and I continue to listen to it with pleasure.
Wonderful talk as usual. My story is about my father who had a great record collection and my mother complaining he spent too much on different performances of the same thing.
On this occasion he had bought the string quintet opus 111. The moment I heard it I ran from the back of the house to the living room hi-fi (pre-stereo) and shouted, “what is this? It is so beautiful and so amazing!”
My father winked at me and then said to my mother, “See, you can never have too much beautiful music”.
Brahms chamber music is his greatest.
I think most people in the know prefer Brahms's chamber works to his orchestral ones, but, as you say, newbies find chamber music somewhat unapproachable. I think part of this is because in the chamber format instrumental weaknesses are much more exposed. A string player with an unfortunate vibrato or weak intonation can be smoothed over when they are subsumed into the larger sound of an orchestra, but in a chamber setting that player is in your face and unavoidable.
As a long-time music enthusiast, it has taken me a long while to warm up to the Brahms symphonies. I'm still trying to appreciate his concertos, especially the Piano Concerto No. 2; so I have not really been motivated to explore his other works. HOWEVER (as you so often say in your "best of" reviews), your recommendation of the String Sextet No. 2 has re-invigorated my interest in Brahms' other works, especially his chamber works. I am also really enjoying listening to the String Sextet No. 1 and your other recommendation of the Piano Quartet. Brilliant recommendations sir!