Brahms Symphony No. 1

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

Joshua Weilerstein

Clarinet, Timpani, Performing, Trombone, Cello, Trumpet, Bassoon, Classicalmusic, Performing Arts, Arts, Violin, Flute, Piano, Conductor, Music, Weilerstein

4.9 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brahms was only 20 years old when Robert Schumann wrote his famous Neue Bahnen(New Paths) article that proclaimed Brahms as the future of music and the heir of Beethoven. Beethoven had only been dead for 26 years at this point, and his shadow still loomed large over every single composer living in Germany, and beyond. Brahms knew that the most concrete way he would be compared with Beethoven would be through a symphony, and so…he studiously avoided writing one. It’s not like he didn’t try. Brahms began sketching symphonies only one year after the Neue Bahnen article, but he kept revising the sketches, or more often, burning them as inferior products. This would go on for 23 more years, until 1876. Brahms was 43 when he finally completed his first symphony, and it was worth the wait. What Brahms came up with would inspire symphonists to this day, and would carry on the tradition that Beethoven laid out with both a respectful and loving look back into the past, with a clear eye forwards into the future. Today we'll dissect this piece in detail, taking it down to its foundational elements in order to see how Brahms created this masterpiece of a first symphony. Join us!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes, the Classical Music Podcast.
0:06.1	My name is Joshua Weylerstein, I'm a conductor, and I'm the Music Director of the Phoenix
0:09.6	Orchestra of Boston, and the Chief Conductor Designate of the All-Borg Symphony.
0:13.9	This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music, works in the field, or is just getting
0:18.0	made to dive in to this amazing world of incredible music.
0:21.7	Before we get started, I want to thank my new Patreon sponsors, Matthew, Jane, Tara,
0:26.4	Chen, Alcus, and all of my other Patreon sponsors for making Season 9 possible.
0:32.0	If you'd like to support the show, please head over to patreon.com slash Sticky Notes Podcast.
0:37.2	And if you are a fan of the show, please just take a moment to give us a rating or review on Apple
0:41.1	Podcasts. It is greatly appreciated. So I've just returned from a really meaningful week with
0:46.8	the Indianapolis Symphony. We did a performance of Mahler's first Symphony, and we did the North
0:51.6	American premiere of the Pauvel Haas Symphony, the piece that I haven't been able to stop talking
0:56.6	about for the last six months. It was a really special experience to do this piece. It works so well
1:02.5	with the orchestra, works so well with the audience. We also got to work a little bit with Alex
1:07.7	Kor, who's the son of Holocaust survivor Ava Kor, and we did a pre-concert talk together,
1:12.8	talked a lot about Mahler, about Haas, about antisemitism, and it was really illuminating and
1:18.0	special experience to meet him. So thank you to Alex. Thank you to the Indianapolis Symphony
1:22.5	for a really, really special week. For today, I'm doing what is an audio-only version of a video
1:30.2	podcast that I did for my Patreon subscribers. I asked my Patreon subscribers if they were okay
1:35.5	with me releasing this as an audio-only version, and they voted 98% to 2% that it should be allowed.
1:41.6	So thank you to them for being so generous, spreading the word of Brahms's first Symphony to
1:46.8	everybody. So thank you to them again for that vote, and I really hope you enjoyed this episode
	...

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