Last week we examined the opening [exposition] section of the first movement of Brahms’ Second Symphony as a way into the composer’s musical thinking. This week it’s the turn of the middle [development] section (You can go straight to Carlos Kleiber’s interpretation of said development by clicking here.)
Listen:
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73
00:45 – I. Allegro non troppo
15:25 – II. Adagio non troppo
25:05 – III. Allegretto grazioso (Quasi Andantino)
30:35 – IV. Allegro con spirito
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Apart from the four symphonies, Brahms also wrote a considerable amount of chamber music. There are string quartets, quintets and sextets; sonatas for violin, for cello and for clarinet; piano trios and a quintet for piano and strings.
Amongst the earliest of these works is the String Sextet Op. 18, written in 1860 when the composer was just twenty-seven. It’s scored for two each of violins, violas and cellos.
String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat, Op. 18
00:00 Allegro ma non troppo
11:38 Andante ma moderato
20:38 Scherzo: Allegro molto
23:44 Rondo: Poco allegretto e grazioso
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Finally, a choral work. Brahms’ fine setting of Friedrich Hölderlin’s Schicksalslied [Song of Destiny]:
(with English translation)
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Pontarddulais!
The Art of Listening 