SFist: Brahms' ein deutsches Requiem

tvargs

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:26:35 -0800

I'm on board with Cement Brunette as Brahms being some of the finest music ever written... and I'm only kinda drunk.

cedichou

Sat, 24 May 2008 21:38:38 -0800

Cement Brunette: Brahms is fine, of course, but wall-to-wall Brahms all the time is a bit too much. There are other fine composers. Travin: I did not attend the quartet earlier. I have seen the performance by the Emerson string quartet of all three Brahsm quartets. Actually, you can look up my interview of Phil Setzer, one of the violinists, here: http://sfist.com/2007/10/25/emerson_string.php

travin

Sat, 24 May 2008 10:43:26 -0800

The pre-show quartet: Quartet No.3 in B-flat major for Strings, Opus 67. "...Can it truly be a coincidence that the Third Quartet, so saturated with a bucolic, lighthearted tone throughout, with its impish rhythms and folkloric themes, was written at the very time Brahms must have realized he was about to--finally, after more than a decade's gestation--finish his First Symphony?..."

Cement Brunette

Sat, 24 May 2008 10:35:10 -0800

Are you absolutely nuts? Brahms is the epitome of perfect music. Whether one is moved or not by the music of Brahms is the litmus test of whether or not a person is truly cultured. Seriously. I am going to see the Requiem tonight. The second and third movements absolutely destroy me and I cannot wait. A couple of weeks ago I saw the second piano concerto and the 4th Symphony and it was absolutely amazing. Never had I heard the San Francisco symphony sound so near perfect.

travin

Fri, 23 May 2008 22:40:37 -0800

Very nice review, I concur. I also saw Wednesday show and it was quite moving. But things I'd noticed you didn't include were the quartets played pre-show at 7 p.m. I don't recall the pieces just now but I recall the description of them were on page 31c of the program. The passage describes why these quartets are so lively, even silly, considering the serious nature of Brahms' works as all are intended as exacting masterpieces to be revered. Yet these quartets were light and breezy and playful. As the program states [paraphrased] "...it can only be guessed that this foray into quartets was so playful in celebration of the completion of his first symphony." Or something like that.