All five trios, reprinted from the Breitkopf & Härtel edition: B Major, C Major and C Minor Trios (Opp. 8, 87 and 101) for violin, cello and piano; the E-flat Major Trio (Op. 40) for violin, horn (or cello or viola) and piano; and the A Minor Trio (Op. 114) for clarinet (or viola), cello and piano.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
High Brahms for the Chamber oeuvre,
By
This review is from: Complete Piano Trios (Dover Chamber Music Scores) (Paperback)
The First Trio, Opus 8 in B Major as all initial Brahms (the Piano Sonatas, the First Symphony)all get off to great heights,like claiming territory, and the young Brahms still had that Schumann aesthetic searching for private moments, a working away from the Beethoven conception of symphonic largesse.So Brahms' chamber setting have initially some challenge and interest, but he seemed to repeat himself too often,lumbering at materials that in retrospect had little to offer his own magical aesthetic. There are dollips of illuminations(as Tovey might say).
I recall a Vintage recording,on RCA Artur Rubenstein, Yasha Heifitz and Fournier??,I forgot the cellist, wonderful telescoping, everyone listened to each other,and made the work compelling, in fact I've yet to hear it played even approaching it. The lyricism in the opening 'Allegro con brio' here is unforgettable,perhaps the key of B major suggests this or brings things out of composers that other Keys cannot or refuse to; the main melodic materials,really a broken resonant chord, the major sixth interval; gorgeous stuff filled with anxiety, the opaque,and the question of art; as well in the more violent turbulent rhytmic passages,like Brahms is saying "things are not that nice in Hamburg living as a bachelor" Although he thought Bismarck was quite progressive. Glad that Johannes remained a composer his life. There is an orchestration or timbral problem(s) with the other chamber settings most notably the 'string quartets' less so the 'Piano Quintets',(the unforgettable F Minor) in that Johannes thought he was writing for the orchestra, such an enormous sound he thought he believed he was getting from four strings who cannnot project a sound ad infinitum no matter how many double stops are put on the playing field, and as his soaring melodies take up imaginative space that suggest or imply something grander.So Barhms,lis musical language I think struggle between these two lifeworlds. That's why I like the 'Trios', for they seem to coax more refinement, challenge and innovation as well (the Clarinet and the Horn??,avant-garde!!) of timbre from Brahms. The final A minor with the Clarinet also has problems but it looks further unpretenciously than the other works. The Clarinet timbre is quite distinctive and its solo role never seems to go away or recede into the hinterlands,enveloping as you might find in Mozart's Clarinet Quintets)Mozart knew how to shape and "melt" timbres together, never out of place, and Johannes should have listened or looked at Wolfgang more) but Johannes simply "drops" it(The Bb Clarinet) in the discourse of the A minor trio,and so the piece might come to be a Sonata for Clarinet with cello and piano accompaniment. He learned the clarinet language from Richard Muelfield(so the ending Clarinet Sonatas are progressive more than Bismarck) to function more than as accompaniment,the piano is a real part not a recepticle to keep time and add nice chords; what kind of accompaniment can a Clarinet provide however when not scouring the heavens for profound materials in romantic music is open to question?, the Romantics did not think of wind instruments as a "Solo",not really as the 20th Century was come to do, only if it was within the purview of a concerto, and then Brahms would have made music history if he had written a Clarinet Concerto, Think of It ?!!, so in the A Minor the Clarinet again takes up much space, the timbre is not blended well or thought through deeply; it is far from interesting at each moment but it is there nonetheless, have it rest,,and without the unforgettable violoncello moments, the piece would disintegrate into oblivion; the concluding Scherzo(Allegro) however redeems him the writing is threadbare with a nice minor motif to keep things in the air and directly functional as opposed to the cumbersome 'Adagio' where the piano tones fade quickly away,so the pianist simply sits there doing nothing. The continuous pulsing effect in the piano of chords placed on every beat is simply filler, this is high romanticism I guess so extremities and indulgences and false relationships to other timbres is fine for posterity. The Horn Trio at first as well is pure innovation but again Brahms tried his best but he himself many times in these situations is his own worst enemy, for the Horn is utilized simply as another voice, and it could have bee (as the A Minor where a Viola can be substituted for the Clarinet part) in retrospect the Horn simply "doesn't fit" and I mean listen to the piece again.It sticks out against the melancholia of the Violin melos, as too much vibrato (Yuckeee!). Ligeti thought he would improve upon this creative paradigm and furnish the trio venue with his newly found post-modern folky surface style-for-the-least-common-denominator(not as interesting than the earlier Ligeti of the 'Cello Concerto', or the 'Second String Quartet'), but Gyorgy tried his hand anyway as Brahms heroically did. ((Again please return to Mozart for some guidance on how to nor "drop" timbre into the field of play, for they could be, or become "unwelcome" guests. And the other instruments feel than encumbered without cause.))
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A clear profile of Brahms,
By Guna "Sattva" (DELHI, India) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Complete Piano Trios (Dover Chamber Music Scores) (Paperback)
Dover edition is a superb choice for any music - reprinting authoritative scores (mostly Breitkopf & Hartel) at a very low price.
These trios are all exciting to listen to, to play, and to study. As a collection they cover the whole compositional timeline of Brahms, and give a clear picture of his style and how it changed through his life. Three cheers for the inclusion of both versions of the Op. 8 trio (it was written by the young Brahms in 1854, then revised in '91, the second form being the one most often heard). A comparison of the two versions is a fabulous way to study Brahms' compositional process! My only reservation is that this book leaves out the A major trio (though this is admittedly a spurious one, but nevertheless, a very beautiful work and absolutely worthy of Brahms.)
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