I don't sit around all day listening to Brahms. Maybe I'll put him on four or five times a year. But if I was marooned on a desert island with only one piece of music, the one I would want would be his first symphony--although I like virtually everything he's ever done (that I've heard). Includes all four symphonies and a few shorter pieces. I thought this particular clip was especially wonderful because of the sound quality and the conductor. It's a very pleasing visual because she is relatively young and projects both serenity and happiness in a very mature way. Brahms in his own day was often dissed a little as a Beethoven clone. I can see where people could do that--I guess because of the choice of instrumentation? But to me they are radically different overall. I shall now deliver myself of the kinds of generalizations I sometimes see in music criticism--which may be meaningless but which satisfy some inner need: In Beethoven the will is in the service of the passions, in Brahms the passions are in the service of the will...So there.
P.S. I don't think I've ever seen a woman conductor of a symphony orchestra before even in the media.
P.P.S. I would be curious as to other people's choice of music for that hypothetical desert island...
R.
http://gg9-tto.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment