Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
Joshua Weilerstein
4.9 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 April 2024
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1857, Brahms wrote to his friend Joseph Joachim about his first Piano Concerto, saying, “ “I have no judgment about this piece anymore, nor any control over it.” Brahms first began sketching his first piano concerto in 1853, but it would be five full years before Brahms finished the piece, and another year until its first performance. During that time, the piece became a Sonata, then a symphony, then a sonata for two pianos, and then finally a concerto for Piano and orchestra, or as the joke goes, a concerto for piano VERSUS orchestra. The piece, and Brahms’ struggles with it, are completely understandable considering Brahms’ youth, and the extraordinarily tumultuous circumstances of his private life during the years of 1853-1858. During this time period, he was anointed by no less than the kingmaker of classical music at the time, Robert Schumann, as the Chosen One that represented the future of music. He became friendly with both Robert and Clara Schumann, began achieving huge successes, then witnessed the slow mental breakdown of Robert, culminating in a suicide attempt and institutionalization, all while falling deeper and deeper in love with Clara Schumann, and she with him. The turbulence and emotional weight of all of this is reflected in one of Brahms’ most impassioned works, the first piano concerto. We’ll talk about the historical background for the piece, Brahms’ working out process, and of course, the structure and insides of this massive, daunting piece.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and I'm |
| 0:05.0 | welcome to Sticky Notes the Classical Music Podcast. |
| 0:10.0 | My name is Joshua Wilerstein. |
| 0:11.0 | I'm a conductor and I'm the chief conductor of the Allborg Symphony and the music director of the Phoenix Orchestra of Boston. |
| 0:17.0 | This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music, works in the field, or is just getting ready to dive in to this amazing world of incredible music. |
| 0:25.5 | Before we get started I want to thank my new Patreon sponsors, |
| 0:28.7 | MJ, Jerry, and John, and all of my other Patreon sponsors for making season 10 possible. |
| 0:35.3 | If you'd like to support the show, please head over to patreon.com |
| 0:38.6 | slash sticky notes podcast. And if you are a fan of the show, |
| 0:41.8 | please take a moment to give us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. It is greatly appreciated. |
| 0:47.0 | So I have the next couple of weeks off, but I'm preparing for concerts with the Balayare Symphony in Myorca with |
| 0:54.5 | Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances and Mozart's Linz Symphony and then the |
| 0:58.6 | following week with the CBSo the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra |
| 1:02.3 | where we're doing a really fantastic program with |
| 1:05.1 | Devoir Jacques's New World Symphony, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Caroline Shaw's, |
| 1:10.7 | Music and Common Time, and Pablohoss's study for strings. |
| 1:14.4 | It's a program I'll talk a little bit more about as we get closer to it. |
| 1:17.8 | A program of pairs of pieces, two check pieces, two Jewish composers, |
| 1:22.1 | two American composers, two American composers, etc. |
| 1:24.1 | It's going to be a really fun program. |
| 1:26.3 | Really looking forward also to sharing with you this older episode of Brahms' first |
| 1:31.8 | piano concerto. hope you enjoy it. |
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