Re: Brahms' Chamber Works

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Harold Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
[...]
>Well, I certainly appreciate your response. I do plead guilty to being
>greatly influenced by the obvious, and the more "heart on the sleeve"
>lyrical it is, the more I have the tendency to swoon.  (Exception:  The
>Tschaikowsky 5th, which I found to be excessively and 
>episodically dripping with saccharine`)

A fair point, IMO.  I like it in parts, but switch off (sometimes
literally) half way through the last movement, when the big tune arrives
for the last time, with the tedious sextuplet accompaniment.  I much
prefer 4, 6, 2 and 3, in that order.  One can learn much about clear and
effective orchestration from Tchaikovsky.
 
>I'm hung up on Brahms, mostly because early encounters with his music,
>other than the 3rd  Symphony and the 1st and 4h to boot, had led me down
>the path of
>evaluting him asunexciting, pedantic, and, God forgive me!, boring.
>Those were the judgements of a 19 and 20 year old juvenile (me), who at
>that time  was going mad over Petruschka and  Mathis der Maler.


I was a bit older than that when I was bowled over by Brahms' 2nd Piano
Concerto and learnt the Horn Trio from the inside.  Stravinsky came
later again, but I was into Hindemith at age 21, mainly because I played
the Horn Sonata (on horn) and some of the other duo sonatas on piano:
always a good way to learn about a new composer.

>In later years, I began to hear Brahms with new ears, and to marvel over
>the subtleties contained in his music.  'Nuff said.
>
>What about your tastes?  

I like a fairly wide variety of music, from Binchois to Carter via Byrd,
Gibbons, G Gabrieli, Corelli, J S Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
(especially Symphony 3, Piano Conc. 4 & string quartets from Op. 95
onward) Debussy, Ravel, Janacek, Berg, Gershwin, Kern, Parker, Mulligan,
Barber, Messiaen.  I also dislike quite a lot of music (e.g. much
Vivaldi, most Verdi, most Bruckner) and switch off singers who use
inappropriate vibrato (right now I am listening to a gorgeous Galli-
Curci recording from 1927 - warmth without wobble!).

>You're into composition, eh?  How I envy that.
>Who are your guiding starts?  

My harmonic language is mostly conservative mid-20th C., centred on
Hindemith and Shostakovich.  I pick formal ideas from all over the
place: ritornello form from the Baroque; sonata form from the Classics;
serialism (not necessarily dodecaphonic) from the second Viennese
school; thematic unity across movements from Mozart, Mendelssohn,
Schumann, Brahms, Franck and many others.

>How far along are you, and have you
>composed anything yet that you  would consider to be performable?

I am just coming to the end of my PhD work, intending to submit my
portfolio in Spring 2004 (just before my 70th birthday).  Two of my
compositions were written for a string orchestra that I used to conduct,
so they have already been performed.  As an undergraduate I wrote a
three movement Sonatina for Alto Saxophone and Piano (influenced by
Hindemith) that a talented fellow undergraduate performed, with me on
piano.  A short solo cantata for soprano and strings was performed for a
University composition competition, but may not go any further.  In
June, I conducted wind playing friends in a play-through of my Octet,
and two of them asked for sets of parts, so that may get more
performances.  My biggest work, a Sinfonietta for Wind Orchestra, is
performable, I think, and may get a performance in Costa Rica - there
are some outstanding questions on that.

>I haven't had much opportunity to really discuss  serious music, and
>would certainly enjoy batting the subject about a bit!  But please
>understand you are writing to someone who lacks formal education in
>this area, but who does have an undying
>love and respect  for it/
>
Do you play an instrument or sing?  I used to play quite a lot and
learnt about many composers from inside their works.  I also coached my
offspring, who are better players than me, in chamber music for local
music festivals and competitions - I still have fond memories of hearing
them play the Brahms Clarinet Quintet.  Nowadays I listen much more.
Because entry criteria for mature students are much more relaxed than
for the young, who are supposed to have A-level Music with harmony, I
was allowed to take the BA course in music at Reading University with no
previous qualifications other than piano performance at Grade 8
(Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music).  It turned out that my
extended practical experience as an amateur player was an adequate
preparation.

-- 
Ken Moore
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
pg composition student, University of Reading