Johannes Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 

Wonder why Wang tiptoes like that when he plays

This has better camera angles/focus. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EBsAtqFVjag.html

My thoughts exactly!

I heard a student concert there. It was beyond fantastic! The acoustics were wonderful. Each student played like a pro. In addition, there was a Hamburg Steinway D that may have been the most beautiful piano I’ve ever heard.

tal barak Thanks

tal barak Obrigado

Have a look at the live recording with the Alban Berg Quartett.

Don't hear nothing mild in this, very electric

Don't forget that he was around 57 when he composed this work!! And my first hearing I was blown away totally for days!!!!!!

Bennett Markel Rock Church in Helsinki, Finland.

+violinhunter2 It seems magnificent there

Nothing shatters minds like adding more violas

@@violinhunter2 I’ve been there. The acoustics are fantastic.

Great group!!!

Exactly; a very common problem. The camera folks seem to think "half an hour dull music, what can we to about that". I wonder what they would do with a sports event - taking no notice of the ball.

Yeah! Imagine a soccer game when they point cameras at the sideline!

It was originally conceived as the first movement of a symphony, alas, abandoned by Brahms. There is reconstruction of the symphony by Peter Klatzow available on RU-vid. The reconstructed first movement of this "Symphony # 5" does sound like echt Brahms..

+alfred kornfeld Thank you!

Fascinating. Is there a recording? I love the Schoenberg Version of the Piano quartet

NIce to hear, Greg!

+Lyndon Hills Well it was written for Joseph Joachim, one of the great violinists of the 19th century. Originally performed by the Joachim quartet, so probably it was a pretty good performance.

Biographer Jan Swafford said Brahms supervised the first rehearsals and performance and was pleased with it, although he refused to answer any questions about all instruments being marked forte at the beginning. The quartet complained the cello "has to scrape away mercilessly to be heard," but Brahms let it stand, suggesting this was the sonority he intended. He wanted the cello to sound like it was scraping away mercilessly. A friend attending the rehearsal said enthusiastically while listening at the beginning that it sounded like "Brahms in the Prater!!" (Vienna's city park.) Brahms replied with a mischievous grin, "You've got it! And all the pretty girls there, too, no?"

Thank you M. White. This passage is famous among cellists for its difficulty and its beauty. I don't think Brahms was aiming for anything remotely "scraping" -- I think what he may have wanted was something like a growl of a very big dog. It has to be played near the bridge with tremendous pressure, and ideally on an instrument that has a relatively bright structured lower register. On a dark-toned cello it will be completely lost and that is a pity because it is a wonderful line. Regarding the fortes, with Brahms string quintets and sextets the performers simply cannot take Brahms' dynamics literally but consider the musical context as well as the acoustics of where they're playing. Yo Yo Ma has explained this - most of the time the parts need to played at least a half-dynamic less and sometimes a full mark less. The viola parts are incredibly wonderful for the quintets and the sextets -- every bit as fun as the violin parts. But the two violas have to play with sensitivity and restraint because they, especially with cello or cellos, completely overpower the violins. The first violin can cut through it when it's high on the E string but the second can be completely lost -- and that's a shame because every voice is important.

Well that clears up the cello question I think. Brahms simply couldn't give up what he heard in his head, and left room for players to puzzle it out. I am reminded that the love song waltzes score says "vocalists ad lib," suggesting there's more than one way to do it, and he gives a slight edge to passion over perfection. Craft in construction, spirit in performance. Totally subjective, but don't you think the second theme in the 1st movement is almost deliberately over-sentimental? Like he's winking at you, or something. "Remember the sweet times," is what he seems to be saying to my ears.

Yes, there is no objective measure of what piano or forte is supposed to sound like. So musicians have to decide for themselves, and everybody makes different decisions. There is no right or wrong but there are some things that are more defensible than others based on what we know about the composer and the period. I don't think Brahms would argue at all with adjustments necessary to balance the sound and bring out the voices with clarity. Same with tempo markings. "Allegro" can mean a lot of different things to different people. Even in the unusual case where composers actually specified tempo markings in beats per minute, they are often disregarded by convention. For example, almost no one in the last century has performed Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata at the fast tempos Beethoven specified because it is so incredibly difficult. A brilliant young pianist, Yuja Wang, has started performing it at Beethoven's tempos recently and the critics say it almost makes the Hammerklavier into a new piece.

Strongly seconded! (after Corina Belcea of course)

I agree, a beautiful performance. But can you deny that a moving camera-view is a distraction from the music? "Imaginative" proves it.

Hillary C a. pacino and N.anahu at 2 violin and violas... wouldn"t be cool.. trum would play a 10 meter bass drum

with tooth picks

kss MD PhD well she is. she's an up and coming soloist in Europe.

God sounds pretty weird...

I prefer 10:25 - 11:22

No, not there; but perhaps throughout the 2d movement.

I concur. I'd like to play it at a quarter of the tempo so I can live in it for a little while

An intensely beautiful moment....bless you for pointing it out! I'm glad I've lived long enough to enjoy this.

Kory Bant - and, interestingly enough they despised each other

No, they didn't. Before he met Brahms, Tchaikovsky wrote scathing things about him -- insisting that Brahms was "giftless" and assuming that he was a snob. They met at a dinner in 1887 and Tchaikovsky found he quite liked Brahms the man. He never warmed up to Brahms's music; nor, for that matter, did Brahms like anything Tchaikovsky wrote.

better to say they despised each other's music.

There is "First" String Quintet Opus 88 in F major he composed in 1882. But this work is FAR superior!!

I know right, a burst of joy! I always feel like I would like to stand up and dance to the part at 6:40.

The empty seats are because we prefer to enjoy our music through RU-vid nowadays:-)

PaulVinonaama Sadly, that's very true.

+Lyndon Hills On the other hand, it would have been difficult to cramp 86 460 people in that church.

good playing..

Vilde Frang

She is very beautiful (as is the second violinist), but her playing is even more stunning. Listen to the attack she brings to the music, for example at 7:41, after the little tranquillo episode. The clarity and balance of all the players throughout the performance is simply amazing (despite the fact that the camera is usually focused on the wrong player!).

Her playing on other recordings sounds very fresh and passionate without trying to be too "romantic." Her Mozart concertos album makes Mozart sound like a modernist. Her playing is just downright interesting. I'd love to hear her play some 20th century concertos.

She is Vilde Frang - see "Janine Jansen & Friends: Tsjaikovski - Souvenir de Florence" :)