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Re: Brahms trio explained

Author: brycon
Date: 2015-07-04 00:23

Very interesting video and beautiful playing. Thanks for posting, Sylvain.

I've only had the chance to watch the first 20 min or so, but in that time, there were a few things the lecturer discussed that were incorrect.

With regard to the opening theme, classical era themes didn't have to cadence on the dominant; they just as often cadence in the tonic. Nor did they have to have "feminine" and "masculine" phrases within the theme. The lecturer is thinking of the classical era period, but there are other types of themes. (William Caplin wrote a very influential book on classical era theme types after a systematic survey of Hadyn's, Mozart's, and Beethoven's music--if anyone's interested.)

Brahms's theme also doesn't end on the subdominant--the piano has a tonic pedal, and the C# hints at A major. But even if the opening theme did end on the subdominant, it wouldn't contribute to the "autumnal" quality of Brahms's music. Moves to the subdominant key area release tension; they don't darken the music. I think the darkness we hear in Brahms's music is much more a result of things like orchestration (for example, giving the melody to the alto and tenor voices), chord doublings (especially doubling the third on tonic chords), and spacings.

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