This review originally appeared at Green Man Review.
Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in A Minor, Op. 102
Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G. Minor, Op. 25 (Rondo alla Zingarese and Presto)
It seems odd to us now that Johannes Brahms, although in demand as a pianist, had trouble gaining recognition as a composer. This was in large part because of his outspoken opposition to the musical philosophies of Franz Liszt and the then-dominant New German School in music, which became the basis of his well-known feuds with Wagner and Bruckner. (Liszt, be it noted, eventually became Wagner’s father-in-law.) Needless to say, Brahms and his music survived the controversies.
Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra incorporates an unusual choice of solo instruments, according to essayist David Grayson. In part, this was because Brahms had promised to write a piece for cellist Robert Hausmann, a valued colleague, and because his relationship with the great violinist Joseph Joachim was strained: a peace offering, of sorts. Consequently, instead of writing for two instruments with identical or near identical ranges, Brahms created a work offering expanded opportunities for contrast and color. Adhering strongly to classical forms, the three-movement concerto does have passages of interest, but is somehow not fully satisfying.
I will confess that the Double Concerto has never been my favorite Brahms: it has somehow just never seemed quite up to the caliber of his other orchestral works, and as often as not seems to get lost in itself. Brahms was a masterful composer, one who could not only make intelligent use of the forces at his disposal but could imbue his creations, built on a solid, almost architectural foundation, with a passion and a grandeur that many attempt and few achieve. When compared to the Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68 (which really cemented Brahms’ reputation as Beethoven’s true heir, which in German music of the time was the highest possible accolade), or the undeniably brilliant Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in D Minor, Op. 15, however, the Double Concerto comes up lacking; the intensity, the immense vision, the strong, overarching line, the wit, just simply are not there. (It may seem odd to refer to “wit” as a characteristic of a composer often seen as ponderous, but one only has to listen to the delightful Beethoven-style fugato passage in the First Piano Concerto — a kind of mini-homage — to see that Brahms was not only capable of it, it was completely natural for him, at times almost inevitable.) Somehow, in relation to his other orchestral works, the Double Concerto, although it has passages that are highly engaging, is just . . . flat.
It would be presumptuous in the extreme to ascribe this to the performances here: Isaac Stern and Yo-Yo Ma are both deservedly legendary soloists, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, one of the world’s greatest, is led by Abbado, a brilliant conductor, and they all know their Brahms.
Of equal stature is the group assembled to render the Piano Quartet No. 3 and the selections from the Piano Quartet No. 1, offered as a bonus track. The two soloists from the Double Concerto join Emanuel Ax and Jaime Laredo in a chamber work that seems to have all the substance the Double Concerto lacks. That this is the kind of “scratch” group fans dream about only adds to the enjoyment.
The Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, which is one of the works that helped cement Brahms’ reputation as a composer, grew out of an earlier, three-movement quartet in C-sharp Minor, now lost. Apparently having reservations about the earlier composition, Brahms set it aside for nearly twenty years, then returned to transform it into a chamber work that somehow has all the grandeur, all the intensity, of his greatest orchestral works. From the very beginning measures, Brahms has created a lyrically tragic mood that catapults into passages that are astonishing by their very scale: Brahms seems to have thought in terms of an orchestra, even when writing for four musicians. I am fond of chamber music to begin with; I am extraordinarily fond of this work, which was new to me. It has all of the potency that one looks for in Brahms, with passages of amazing intimacy and truly wondrous emotional depth. There is a unity of mood throughout that somehow never becomes depressing, interspersed as it is with moments of an amazing sweetness that, thanks to the sensitive performances, never becomes cloying.
The “Rondo alla Zingarese” and “Presto” from the Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, one of Brahms’ more popular chamber works, suffer only from not being presented as part of the complete Quartet. Demanding, lively, and lyrical, infused with the vitality of the Gypsy traditions in Hungarian music (hence the “alla Zingarese”) they provide a rousing finish to the collection.
This disc is worth having for the Third Piano Quartet, which is superbly written and superbly performed. If the Double Concerto is Brahms that you enjoy, I doubt that you can find a better rendering.
(Sony Musical Entertainment, 2003) [Isaac Stern and Jaime Laredo, violin; Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Emanuel Ax, piano; Claudio Abbado, conductor, Chicago Symphony Orchestra]
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