Two of the Greatest Romantic Composers, Part 1

Today is the birthday of two very important composers of the mid-romantic era of music. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 in Russia. Johannes Brahms was born in 1833 in Hamburg, Germany.

Although not part of "The Five" Russian Composers (see blog on Jan 2), Tchaikovsky had interactions with them, and he wrote music that was quite nationalistic. He is the prototype of a composer who "wears his emotions on his sleeve", so to speak. His music is passionate, intense, and very accessible, bursting with beautiful melodies. His philosophy of music was that it should be immediately comprehensible to the listener. He felt that his fellow composer, Brahms, placed too many demands on the listener, and that Brahms' music lacked beauty.

I remember reading somewhere that Brahms didn't care much for Tchaikovsky's music, either. He attended a concert of his fellow composer's music and promptly fell asleep through it. Brahms' music is worlds apart from Tchaikovsky's. He is much more reserved in his displays of emotion, and can be very austere. A complaint from a critic of his day was that Brahms' music wanders around and never goes anywhere.

I suppose it depends on one's personality which composer's music one would like better. When I was younger, I listened more to Tchaikovsky's music and remember saying that his 5th Symphony was my favorite piece of music. Those days are long gone - aside from a few of his best works, his music holds my interest much less, and a lot of it seems frantic, repetitive, and noisy.

Brahms, on the other hand, composes some of the deepest music that I know. It may be hard to get into at first, but upon repeated listens, it is more rewarding than the music of most other composers.

I'll start first with a sampling of Tchaikovsky's best works:

Piano Concerto No. 1 - one of the most well-known of pieces of all classical music. It is chock-full of wonderful themes and has both beautiful orchestral writing and beautiful and impressive piano passage-work. Here is the first movement (parts 1, 2, and 3).

Violin Concerto - one of the absolutely best violin concertos in the romantic repertoire. It is a priceless gem of a piece, again full of beautiful melodies. The 2nd movement to me is one of the best works of all time - hauntingly sad and beautiful. Here is the first movement (parts 1 and 2), the sublime second movement, and the third movement.

Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra - this very beautiful piece of music was the closest thing to a cello concerto that the composer wrote. It has characteristic beautiful melodies and lots of interesting variations. Here is a performance of this great piece, parts 1, 2, and 3.

Six Symphonies - His 4th, 5th and 6th symphonies are the most well known. The 3rd is quite good, too. The 6th symphony, called "Pathetique" is the most famous, and rightly so. It has a lot of pathos, especially in the 4th and final movement. The 3rd movement is a fast scherzo that ends so triumphantly, most audiences feel impelled to applaud such that the orchestra has to start the last movement before they finish clapping just to get on with the show. The last movement is such a heart-wrenching contrast to the previous movement, it is probably why the symphony is named so. My uncle commented to me years ago "when you listen to that movement, you just want to lay down and die" - not far from the truth, but it sure is a beautiful piece.

Nutcracker Suite - again another very famous suite of pieces (originally part of a ballet), parts of which are probably recognizable by most people. It has immediate appeal, and for good reason. So many catchy melodies, orchestral textures, and rhythms to feast on. Here's the Waltz of the Flowers, the last piece in the suite.

Since this blog entry is already quite long and we haven't touched Brahms' music yet, I'll put that in part 2.