Musical Romanticism, explored by Pieter de Oude.
This hour of Radio Romantica is mainly filled with the impressive fourth symphony by Johannes Brahms. Brahms was a romantic, but he wasn’t a devotee. He was more of a melancholic. He had the skills to let the symphony orchestra shine, but he could also charm you. He composed beautiful intimate solos for woodwind players and calculated melodies for the entire string orchestra. We can all hear it in the fourth symphony. Drama and with shades of overtones. When his colleagues noticed that a certain passage sounded like Wagner, Brahms said he was glad it sounded like a good composer. At that time, it was important to know if you were team Brahms or team Wagner. The composers themselves didn’t mind.
The episode ends with Brahms’ three Intermezzi, Opus 117. The old man called these half improvised beauties ‘the lullabies of my sorrows’. He felt his end coming.
Playlist:
1. Johannes Brahms, Symphony no. 4 in E minor Op. 98
Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink
2. Johannes Brahms, Intemezzi Op.117
Lylia Zilberstein, piano
