The Test of Time--Brahms

Johannes Brahms was one of many great composers of the Romantic Period. It has been argued that he could be considered the greatest of that genre although it is certainly a difficult announcement to prove. But there is little doubt that Brahms excelled in many different musical genres and mastered the art of chamber, vocal, and instrumental music on a small scale and in large forms. His music is powerful, beautiful, touching, complex, unpredictable, rich, and provides that unusual marriage of sophistication and elitism with folk tunes of the people.

Through tonal melodies, modalism, and folk song, Brahms provides ultra-sophistication without sacrificing accessible, often enjoyable music. Drawing from musical forms of the past and using techniques that hearken back over 100 years, Brahms' music often incorporates stretto, canon, chaconne, augmentation, sequence, development, and variation technique. His application of creative contrapuntal complexity is not an academic exercise but instead provides a unified framework and a focus for his brilliant musical language.

Melodically, Brahms is richly German with long melodic, singable lines that seem to flow smoothly from one instrument or voice to another. Many composers tend to run dry over a period of years, reusing the same material, or altering it slightly and presenting it as a new composition. With Brahms, however, each composition, is fresh, rich, and memorable and perfectly blended with his uncanny ability for vital harmony that moves aggressively but always tonally through many subtle key changes and tonicizations.

But it is in the area of rhythm that Brahms excels. Rarely does his music change meters but also rarely does it stay in the same grouping of accents and unaccented beats. His constant rhythmic shifting of the accent mixed with the anticipations and rhythmic enhancements give the music a constant energy by propelling it forward. Although a little unsettling at times, the poly-rhythms, the syncopated rhythms, the fast-changing harmonies leading to a bold cadence, gives his music a mesmerizing energy that reaches into the heart of soul of the listener.

Although generally serious and at times rather dark, Brahms' music does have moments of great positive expression and uplifting emotions. From his piano music, song literature, choral literature, and orchestral works, Brahms excelled in all genres and continues to be respected as one of the musical giants of the Romantic era. His music withstands the ultimate test of great art—the test of time. If you can only pick one piece to hear, I would encourage listening to his 2nd Symphony. It is a marvelous work in all respects and greatly representative of his style, his harmony, his rhythms, his skill, and his emotion.