Because I don't have much experience "reviewing" (for lack of a better word) an album—or anything, for that matter—I'm afraid this won't be particularly organized, but I love writing about the pieces/recordings that are close to my heart, and I love sharing my love for these pieces with others, so here it goes:
Movement I.
You can't play this movement (much less any Brahms) without a sense of line and long-term development. You just can't. Every aspect of this piece, no matter how differing and counterintuitive it seems, works toward the same sort of musical goal. At times, there will be a luscious melody in the winds and the strings will be playing a strict rhythmic pizz., but both are simply complements of each other. This movement moves me in such a typically Brahmsian way. From the first opening, slightly (and typically) stretched pickup, you hear flowing anguish, love, loneliness... agh words do not suffice!!!!! But something that makes my heart ache in my chest and flow right along with it. Painfully beautiful might be a good one. Strikingly human. Powerful yet fragile.
One of my favorite parts of this recording is in the recap where the heart-wrenching horn/cello 2nd theme comes back in the higher original key and the horn flat-out WAILS! I laughed out loud the first time I heard that.
It certainly doesn't hurt that Carlos Kleiber makes some fantastic choices which are executed masterfully by the Vienna Philharmonic. You hear sections that are almost suspended in space, others that are super gooey with weighted tension throughout until the climax of that particular run, times where tutti silences are appropriately prolonged, and times where things are laid out one after another... and, if you're like me, you can't imagine it any other way. I mean, other interpretations are still legitimate but Kleiber seems to be reading Brahms' mind. When it's pensive, it's not boring. When it's tense, it's not rushed. Phrases are rounded off and given the time they need to transpire to their utmost potential without perpetually slowing down. Kleiber was a God.
Movement II.
As with ANY recording or performance, there will be something that, while awesome, isn't played the way you would have preferred it. In this recording, the opening of the 2nd movement is that part for me. (I probably have such an opinion about it because it's a huge 3rd & 4th horn excerpt and therefore I've studied it extensively and played it in a few auditions and concerts.) I understand why Kleiber chose to have it a bit punchy with accents (mimicking the pizz strings that follow rather than the slurred clarinet), but I think this beginning is meant to be a relentless, stark statement of the first theme. I think that would be better achieved by fiercely sustaining and driving through to the 1st and 4th beats. At the very least, it could use a bit more direction. The way it's played in this beginning almost smacks you in the face with the fact that the conductor is most likely conducting in 6 by emphasizing every beat, and it loses its overarching phrase structure. The following strings' pizz could very easily be played the same way considering they can't really sustain a pizz but they're able to keep the phrase structure... Anyway...
This clarinet line is really like a lovely little lullaby (woo alliteration!) with a bit of a pensive mood. The orchestration is really wonderful. Brahms artfully doubles the two clarinets on the repeated concert D#'s before the horn echo. There's a reason people think of the clarinet, horn and cello when they think of Brahms. You can tell how partial he was to those colors. Following this sweet introduction, the strings switch to arco and the pace moves along a bit from easily plodding along to flowing forward and more excited. What follows is simply glorious music that I'm sure you'd appreciate me not breaking down too much. As you come to the end, you're once again confronted by the horn/woodwind opening theme... It's quite a powerful effect! Beautimous!
Brahms often plays around with the meter (though he doesn't flat-out disregard it like Tchaikovsky, good grief!) so, unless you're really paying attention (which I don't think is necessary if you're just listening for pleasure), it will often be some time before you really know what beat you're on, especially in this slow 6/8. Hemiola is quite a common thing in Brahms' music. What I love, though, is that, while there are several arrival points and little climaxes, etc., when you come to the ultimate culmination of all the buildup, you find yourself on the downbeat once again, not a borrowed downbeat that only sounds like one.
One more note about Brahms: Brahms was pretty obsessed with organicism. You'll often hear a new theme emerge in a movement, but, if you look back a ways, you'll realize that he not only hinted at it before it became rather apparent, the theme itself was spawned from previous material! The absolute best example of this is his 2nd Piano Concerto. EVERY NOTE in that piece can be accounted for by the OPENING THEME in the horn and one 2-NOTE GESTURE introduced by the piano!! EVERY SINGLE NOTE!!! Isn't that crazy?!?!?! I think it is...
Movement III.
This movement is by far the most jovial movement of the piece. I love love love it! As my good friend would say, it makes my heart smile. :)
To better grasp my description of this movement, here is a link to the pdf of the score.
The movement is in 2/4. The motive that drives the movement is a measure of 4 descending eighth notes followed by a measure of 2 quarters with the first eighth note having a staccato over it, the second slurred into the third, and the forth slurred into the first of the two accented quarters in the next measure. Obviously, the way Brahms grouped it, there's a slight emphasis on the off beats and then an even bigger emphasis on the two quarters. As I mentioned earlier, Brahms is super obsessed with organicism. One of the ways in which he exercises this in this movement is by augmenting the emphasis on the off-beat and quite often putting tutti accents on the upbeat of the bar. There are several sections where, yet again, you might mistake the upbeat for the downbeat. While it sounds great when your brain perceives it that way, it sounds even BETTER (in my humble opinion) when you perceive it the way Brahms intended it. Which is why I've included a link to the score... The middle section, Poco Meno Presto, is a brief, calm respite from the bombardment of the euphoric mood of the movement. It gets a bit sleepy and then BAM! the bombastic mood of the movement simply can't contain itself and rudely interrupts the anticipated stillness on, of course, the upbeat. This carries on in the fashion it began the movement with some added loveliness including a bit of an ascending windup made up of the theme being quickly tossed back and forth between the winds/horns and strings, until a bit of a Coda/breakdown which begins with an ominous, brooding mood led by the ostinato timpani closes it out. (note: the timpani hit right before and subito piano right at the beginning of the coda are both on the offbeat) Highlights from the coda include horn 2nd beat interruptage (oh, you'll hear it, don't worry), an awesome crescendo in the timpani that is totally not written but I love that Kleiber decided to put it in there anyway, and fabulous brass fanfare!! Yessssss Also, this movement is basically a timpani/triangle showdown. Most baller triangle part ever...
The 3rd movement of this recording stands out the most to me as far as innovative decisions go. Not just in the timpani crescendo, but also in the things Kleiber brings out, the balance, and the pacing. He really brings out the back and forth between strings and winds. The best part is the shear weight he puts on those two accented quarter notes in the motive. Remember how I was describing the opening and where the weight was and how the most weight would logically be on the two accented quarters of the 2nd bar? Yeah, Kleiber definitely understood that... Not only are they weighted in color, accent, length, articulation, etc., he literally lengthens them slightly!!! As Yzma from "The Emperor's New Groove" would say,"It's brilliant brilliant BRILLIANT, I tell you!! GENIUS, I say!!" You will hear NOTHING like it in any other recording. Seriously. Love this recording so much!!!
Movement IV.
My gosh, it's epic. I think that's why it's taken me so long to write about it. I must apologize in advance for the length of my "review" of this movement. I absolutely love this movement, but even when listening to the piece, it's hard for me to listen to this one because it pulls me in so much. It steals my heart and forever deepens it ever so slightly before handing it back to be dealt with. Gah.
Good Lord, where to start??
A lot of people will try to tell you this is a passacaglia, but it is not. The flute interrupts what could possibly be a passacaglia and introduces a "B" section. Without this section and the coda at the end, it could possibly be considered one with a few tweaks, but it would not be the same at all!
Written in 3/4, this movement is outlined by the repetition of a chord progression which is usually 8 bars long (this is why most get hasty to label this a passacaglia). The first half is pretty generic with a descending bass traveling in leaps and an ascending soprano traveling in steps, and the second half starts with an applied chord that kicks off a driving cadential force to close it out which is often highlighted by a "kick" of some sort like a timpani roll to the cadential 6/4. The second half really lends itself well to hemiolas. These may be pretty basic observations, but you would be surprised how few recordings reflect this basic analysis. Go Kleiber for keeping this in mind and really communicating Brahms' genius manifestation of this simple yet powerfully straight-forward chord progression! Two more general notes about this progression: I can't remember how many statements there are of this progression, but I think it's around 39 (I don't really think the number is important enough for me to count or look up). I'm pretty sure this is a quote from one of Bach's cantatas... As is often the case with Brahms (and as we have found in previous movements), there is a definite emphasis on the second beat, sometimes so much so that you can't really be sure where the downbeat is.
I really love a lot of the pacing of this movement in this recording. Kleiber knows which statements to connect and which to pull back a bit at the end. In the 2nd statement of the theme, the downbeats are really sustained and the 2nd beat pizz/tbones are very much on the front of the beat, almost seeming to interrupt the downbeat, which I think is genius. After the mono-rhythmic first statement, you really need to sustain the energy and intensity (it is marked Allegro energico e passionato, after all). This statement is connected to the next with a dim into the more fluid, two-pickup woodwind statement, which is connected to the next with a cresc. and a second and third beat drive in the bass to the more militaristic, staccato statement. In the second half of this statement, dots become accents, sustained timpani is added, Brahms adds sustained off-beats in the horns to drive it rhythmically, the orchestration gets louder and the last bar is slurred, creating ultimate sustain in tension which leads to the most agitated, passionate statement yet. This next section is kind of a culmination of all the textures Brahms introduced in the first 4 statements. Appropriately, Kleiber pulls back leading into such a weighty section.
It builds and builds until it bursts into a fp that floats beneath a descending flute-dominated chromatic scale (a foreshadowing diminution of the descent into the 3/2 B section) that starts to peter out until the strings flourish back into the previous frenzy that is once again interrupted by the same fp and unwinding scale down. This eventually leads us into a floating overlapping hair-pin wind/string tradeoff statement that is executed with excellent overall contour on the Vienna Phil's part. One last lame attempt is made at bringing the energetic feeling back with triplets and offbeats but the mood finally succumbs to a more subdued, pensive one: the B section.
I am so very impressed with Kleiber and Vienna's ability to take a passage such as this, and make it seem yearning and forward-moving, yet not hurried; heart-broken and contemplative, yet not lugubrious. I think the key is in the steadiness of the "offbeats," the choice tenutos that are leaned-on a bit more in the flute, and the overall pacing of the still 8-bar phrase in the whole chamber ensemble. I have a feeling you might think they don't take enough time. I would normally be inclined to agree with you (assuming that I'm right about your reaction), but if you listen to it mathematically, you see that the flutist is using true rubato—they move forward just as much as they move back. Also, in the context of the gradual slowing down preceding this section and the fact that the pace of the movement has suddenly been doubly augmented, I think Brahms has written the slower pacing into it enough already. It's like when people do a huge ritard at the end of Brahms' Haydn Variations or the end of the first movement of his first Symphony before the coda—it's already been notated into the piece! Not only that, to keep the yearning feeling that is such a part of this piece, you have to keep moving forward, or else it feels lethargic. PLUS, within the context of the B section, the beginning is not the best place to start pulling back. It wouldn't flow into the next statements.
SPEAKING of which! Following this heart-wrenching flute solo, we enter the only passage in the relative major. Following the little oboe solo, Kleiber ever so slowly begins to pull-back the feel of the piece with the trademark trombone choral highlighted in places with horns and then woodwinds. Not so much the tempo as where within the beat the notes are placed. This allows Kleiber to bring the momentum grinding to a halt with the flute's descending scale that echos the oboe and horn's. My initial reaction to how very slow Kleiber gets here was "Um... What?? Oh.... hmmmmmmmmm...." Pretty much just the fact that I have the utmost respect for Kleiber's decisions (especially towards the end of his life, when this was recorded) made me consider this decision, initially (how pompous of me!). But I've come to realize it makes complete sense: the B section basically finally looses steam and the sleepy mood of it finally overtakes it...
...only to have A prime take over with a vengeance. The choices in this first statement are tremendous, in my opinion. Beginning in the old tempo and style that started the piece and then, with the string pickup and bump up to ff, a boost in tempo which drives the phrase to the sf of the last measure which is leaned on with a tenuto on an appoggiatura which is quite fitting in its relevance. (I could go into keys and chord names here but I think it would be more conducive to the pacing to move on.)
Following this ensues a series of rather intense statements—Brahms will not let the almost desperate momentum be stopped again. Even the statement after this initial one, though it is softer, is still textured with urgent rhythmic language in the winds (absence of downbeats) and tremolo swells in the strings. This leads to a statement which utilizes the same sustained quarter, dotted-quarter, eighth pattern that was used in the 5th statement from the beginning. Two very rhythmically driven statements follow, the first in eighth notes, the second, eighth note triplets. (You hear that sizzling loud horn sound? That, my friend, is the easiest way for me to tell that I'm hearing Vienna—they play horns that are not played anywhere else in the world!)
This rhythmic drive culminates into a statement consisting of fast ascending scales and sf trombones on second beats, followed by a hemiola. What follows is the statement that is probably the most difficult to execute. It consists of staccato offbeats and triplets that alternate between two tones. A simple concept and one that isn't too difficult when the winds are doing the offbeats and the strings are doing the triplets, but when the two start switching, it gets tricky. (even the ever-amazing Vienna Phil starts to come slightly unhinged at the very end) The horns then come in with an intense statement of the theme backed by the same triplet/eighth pattern. At the end of this statement, a hemiola and then another hemiola which is twice as fast occurs over a pedal on the dominant which peaks with a tutti rest on beat 3. The next statement is a heightened reference to the 2nd statement with the sustained downbeats and emphasized 2nd beats, and the following is an energized, intense reflection of the 3rd statement.
We take a break from the torrential downpour of sound with a set of sweeping legato hairpins in the horns that are backed by a very typical compositional technique for Brahms in the strings. He gives the illusion of an almost rustling, whispering palate and texture using piano triplet broken double-stops that outline the chords with rising and falling arpeggios in the cellos which are later brought out of the texture more in the following statement behind the alternating placid chords in the winds. Eighth note arpeggios become triplets with ornaments under a more active melody in the winds. Two-note groupings in the following lighter statement with offbeats make it feel like it's suddenly in 2/4.
After a brief dim into almost nothing (but NOT a grinding halt by any means), accented quarters and biting offbeats bring back the feel of the previous statement and create a force that drives with a great intensity that builds, eventually adding timpani, and becomes a hemiola. (Listen to the harmony in the hemiola—such depth!) This ritards and gathers power and mass with the hemiola and depth of the orchestration and harmony, which erupts into the brilliance, energy, passion, and raw power of the coda.
The coda, marked Piú Allegro, begins with a strident statement of the first half of the norm with falling tremolo arpeggios in the strings, and then a series of tutti rests followed by a slow build in intensity which climaxes to trombone accents utilizing the soprano notes of the theme which drives a succession of hemiolas. The same fluid theme of the 3rd statement returns with intensity and leads to a repetition of the trombone motive in the winds and low strings, followed by a tutti hemiola which happens twice. The trombones continue this hemiola as they march down the scale and the strings outline the final chords with downward arpeggios. The final chord is held for a generous full measure, but no more.
And there you have it. I hope my praise did even a small bit of justice to the recording and the piece, and enhanced your listening experience at the very least.
Here's a link to buy the album on iTunes.
Great review. It's a pleasure to read it and it shows useful, interesting and witty aspects of this masterpiece, performed by a dreamteam (VPO/Kleiber). Thank you!
ReplyDeletegood! listening to it and reading
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