{"id":6267,"date":"2014-08-17T23:40:34","date_gmt":"2014-08-17T22:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=6267"},"modified":"2014-08-18T00:24:32","modified_gmt":"2014-08-17T23:24:32","slug":"explore-the-score-brahms-serenade-no-1-in-d-major-reconstruction-of-original-version-for-nonet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2014\/08\/17\/explore-the-score-brahms-serenade-no-1-in-d-major-reconstruction-of-original-version-for-nonet\/","title":{"rendered":"Explore the Score- Brahms, Serenade No. 1 in D major (reconstruction of original version for nonet)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"woocommerce \"><ul class=\"products columns-4\">\n<li class=\"product type-product post-6319 status-publish first instock product_cat-cds product_tag-brahms-2 product_tag-orchestra-of-the-swan-2 product_tag-schoenberg product_tag-verklarte-nacht has-post-thumbnail shipping-taxable purchasable product-type-simple\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/product\/6319\/\" class=\"woocommerce-LoopProduct-link woocommerce-loop-product__link\"><span class=\"et_shop_image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Somm-0139-Cover-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-woocommerce_thumbnail size-woocommerce_thumbnail\" alt=\"Schoenberg- Verkl\u00e4rte Nacht, Brahms Serenade no. 1- Original Chamber Versions\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Somm-0139-Cover-1.jpg 902w, https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Somm-0139-Cover-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Somm-0139-Cover-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Somm-0139-Cover-1-570x570.jpg 570w, https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Somm-0139-Cover-1-380x380.jpg 380w, https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Somm-0139-Cover-1-285x285.jpg 285w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><span class=\"et_overlay\"><\/span><\/span><h2 class=\"woocommerce-loop-product__title\">Schoenberg- Verkl\u00e4rte Nacht, Brahms Serenade no. 1- Original Chamber Versions<\/h2>\n\t<span class=\"price\"><span class=\"woocommerce-Price-amount amount\"><bdi><span class=\"woocommerce-Price-currencySymbol\">&pound;<\/span>12.00<\/bdi><\/span><\/span>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>[<a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2014\/07\/09\/explore-the-score-arnold-schonberg-verklarte-nacht\/\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to Explore the Score<\/a> of the companion work on this CD, Schoenberg&#8217;s Verklarte Nacht]<\/p>\n<p>The Brahms-Wagner rivalry was largely an affair of the press, whipped up by critics like the Brahmsian Eduard Hanslick and his pro-Wagnerian rivals. Brahms actually professed great admiration for Wagner\u2019s music on many occasions. Nonetheless, there was a time when the two men were perceived as embodying irreconcilable aesthetic approaches. In the end, it was Arnold Sch\u00f6nberg who succeeded in Verkl\u00e4rte Nacht and the works which followed it, in marrying the joint influences of Wagner and Brahms as no one had before.<\/p>\n<p>Brahms\u2019s music- its density, richness and rigour- had a profound influence on Arnold\u00a0Sch\u00f6nberg\u2019s\u00a0development, and his engagement with Brahms\u2019s music continued throughout his career. Sch\u00f6nberg\u2019s writings about the music of Brahms, particularly his essay \u201cBrahms the Progressive,\u201d are among the most illuminating analyses of the older composer\u2019s work, and his arrangement of Brahms\u2019s Piano Quartet in G minor for full orchestra has become a staple of the orchestral repertoire. From Brahms, Sch\u00f6nberg learned the creative possibilities of the perpetual manipulation and development of tiny motivic cells, an approach that would eventually form the underpinning of the 12-tone technique. This kind of rigorously detailed approach to composition is already fully developed in\u00a0<em>Verkl\u00e4rte\u00a0Nacht<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Brahms\u2019s favourite technique of \u201cdeveloping variation\u201d (a term coined by Sch\u00f6nberg which refers to the constant development of small musical ideas throughout a piece) is also essential in Sch\u00f6nberg\u2019s music. Brahms\u2019s approach to most\u00a0classical forms differs from that of his forerunners in that Brahms\u2019s music is almost never simply expository nor recapitulatory:\u00a0\u00a0the musical material starts to develop and evolve almost as soon as the piece starts, and the process of constant change carries right through to the end.<\/p>\n<p>Brahms\u2019s <strong>Serenade in D major<\/strong>, opus 11, written when the composer was 25, is a symphony in all but name, and was the composers\u2019 first major orchestral work. \u00a0It embodies the full range of his mature compositional voice.\u00a0 Brahms originally conceived the piece as a four-movement work for nonet (the two Scherzi were added when the piece was re-orchestrated). before expanding on the advice of his friend Joseph Joachim who conducted the successful premiere of the nonet version in 1958. Joachim also encouraged Brahms to consider designating the work as his first symphony, and for much of the work\u2019s evolution the two friends referred to the piece as Brahms\u2019s \u201cSymphony-Sereade.\u201d However, once the two scherzo\u2019s were added, Brahms felt the piece was definitely not \u201csymphonic,\u201d and stuck with the designation of \u201cSerenade,\u201d a decision which has no doubt contributed to the relative neglect of this glorious work. Brahms destroyed his nonet version, but in the 1980\u2019s Alan Boustead reconstructed the lost original version of this work for solo strings, flute, two clarinets, bassoon and horn. One hopes Brahms would approve- he did later sanction publication of variant versions of the Haydn Variations for both orchestra and piano duo, and of the F minor Piano Quintet, which also exists in a version two pianos.<\/p>\n<p>Brahms\u2019s music is full of references to the music of his forbearers, something that is easy to miss because his own stylistic imprint is so strong. Brahms\u2019s D major Serenade begins in folksy style:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/05-I-Allegro-molto-2.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/05-I-Allegro-molto-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/05-I-Allegro-molto-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>This is \u00a0an almost-direct quote from Haydn\u2019s final symphony, no. 104 (also in D major)<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/33-08-Haydn_-Symphony-104-In-D-H-1-2.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/33-08-Haydn_-Symphony-104-In-D-H-1-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/33-08-Haydn_-Symphony-104-In-D-H-1-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>And the opening Allegro molto contains several references to the first movement of Beethoven\u2019s Pastoral Symphony:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/3-05-Beethoven_-Symphony-6-in-F-maj-2.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/3-05-Beethoven_-Symphony-6-in-F-maj-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/3-05-Beethoven_-Symphony-6-in-F-maj-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>The connection to Haydn\u2019s rustic finale and Beethoven\u2019s evocation of rural nature is no accident- D major is Brahms\u2019s \u201coutdoor\u201d key, and his later D major Symphony no. 2 and the Violin Concerto would also be full of the sounds of the countryside, from hunting horns to folk dance.<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-4\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/VZCN-2.mp3?_=4\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/VZCN-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/VZCN-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>(It is also no accident that the sunny D Major morning of the Serenade is immediately preceded on this disc by Sch\u00f6nberg\u2019s radiant depiction of dawn in the same key).<\/p>\n<p>The first scherzo is shadowy and dark:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-5\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/06-II-Scherzo.-Allegro-non-troppo-2.mp3?_=5\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/06-II-Scherzo.-Allegro-non-troppo-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/06-II-Scherzo.-Allegro-non-troppo-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>Relieved briefly by a warm-hearted and rustic trio:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-6\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/06-II-Scherzo.-Allegro-non-troppo-3.mp3?_=6\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/06-II-Scherzo.-Allegro-non-troppo-3.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/06-II-Scherzo.-Allegro-non-troppo-3.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>The heart of the Serenade is the wonderful and deeply spiritual Adagio. It is the longest and most ambitious slow movement in Brahms\u2019s orchestral music- grander than the slow movements of any of the symphonies. The great musicologist Michael Steinberg asked of this movement \u201cwhat is such transcendence doing in a serenade?\u201d\u00a0 before pointing us to Mozart\u2019s own transcendent serenades by way of an answer.<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-7\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/07-III-Adagio-non-troppo-2.mp3?_=7\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/07-III-Adagio-non-troppo-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/07-III-Adagio-non-troppo-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>Could one hear echoes in this movement of the slow movement of Beethoven&#8217;s last symphony?<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-8\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/03-Beethoven-Symphony-No.-9-in-D-min-1-2.mp3?_=8\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/03-Beethoven-Symphony-No.-9-in-D-min-1-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/03-Beethoven-Symphony-No.-9-in-D-min-1-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>The two Menuetti are gentle, inward-facing intermezzi:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-9\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/08-IV-Menuetto-I-II-2.mp3?_=9\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/08-IV-Menuetto-I-II-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/08-IV-Menuetto-I-II-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>The wistful mood will be familiar to anyone who knows the third movements of the first three Brahms symphonies. Here&#8217;s the Allegretto from the Second Symphony<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-10\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/2-03-Brahms_-Symphony-2-In-D-Op.-7-2.mp3?_=10\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/2-03-Brahms_-Symphony-2-In-D-Op.-7-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/2-03-Brahms_-Symphony-2-In-D-Op.-7-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>The tune of the second minuet is described by Steinberg as \u201cone of the most tenderly expressive of Brahms\u2019s whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-11\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/08-IV-Menuetto-I-II-3.mp3?_=11\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/08-IV-Menuetto-I-II-3.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/08-IV-Menuetto-I-II-3.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>The second Scherzo, however, is extrovert and virtuosic:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-12\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/09-V-Scherzo-Allegro-2.mp3?_=12\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/09-V-Scherzo-Allegro-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/09-V-Scherzo-Allegro-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>With a gregarious quote from Handel\u2019s Messiah thrown in for good measure.<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-13\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/1-15-Handel_-Messiah-HWV-56-Glory-2.mp3?_=13\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/1-15-Handel_-Messiah-HWV-56-Glory-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/1-15-Handel_-Messiah-HWV-56-Glory-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>The Serenade\u2019s Finale, like those in so many of Brahms\u2019s D major works, hints at gypsy music and evokes a decidedly rustic atmosphere with its driving dotted rhythms.<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6267-14\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/10-VI-Rondo-Allegro-2.mp3?_=14\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/10-VI-Rondo-Allegro-2.mp3\">http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/10-VI-Rondo-Allegro-2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>The final pages are ecstatically joyful and exuberant. Symphonic? Maybe not, but echt-Brahmsian in every way.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Brahms- Serenade No. 1 in D Major, Orchestra of the Swan, Kenneth Woods\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wW52SxfNOEo?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8212; c. 2014 Kenneth Woods<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2014\/08\/17\/explore-the-score-brahms-serenade-no-1-in-d-major-reconstruction-of-original-version-for-nonet\/\" send=\"false\" layout=\"box_count\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"true\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Click here to Explore the Score of the companion work on this CD, Schoenberg&#8217;s Verklarte Nacht] The Brahms-Wagner rivalry was largely an affair of the press, whipped up by critics like the Brahmsian Eduard Hanslick and his pro-Wagnerian rivals. Brahms actually professed great admiration for Wagner\u2019s music on many occasions. Nonetheless, there was a time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[1023,119,386,959],"class_list":["post-6267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-opion-life-as-a-performing-musician","category-explore-the-score","tag-johannes-brahms","tag-orchestra-of-the-swan","tag-schoenberg","tag-somm-records"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6267"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6366,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6267\/revisions\/6366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}