Most Apocalyptic Plagal Cadence: Brahms Symphony No. 4, Mvt. 1 

It’s incredible how this man single handedly brought top quality musical analysis to the mass audience. Really an achievement in its own right

I love it how you are discussing Brahms, then take a detour to mention some favorite Dies Irae motives in other works, after which you take a detour to mention a Haydn symphony which has a melody related to Dies Irae, and then you again take a detour to remind us of Haydn's great sense of humour. That's just amazing!

Some of the best analytic content I’ve ever seen. This has taught me so much about a work I’ve loved for decades. Thank you dearly.

This work is one of the greatest creations of the human mind. I've listened to this work for 60 years and it always deeply moves me. I love all of his symphonies but the Fourth holds a special place in my heart. As a 15 year old, it took me awhile to "get it" but, once I did, it became a part of my DNA. My favorite renditions are by Bruno Walter and Karl Bohm. Astonishing analysis. I will listen to it again and again.

I a SO late to the Brahms game. in my 20's I thought he was boring old-fashioned and lame...I liked Shostakovich, Bartok, Debussy, Stravinsky, Strauss then.... I mean I still those guys.. but comparatively I am RADICALLY more obsessed with Brahms symphony 4. For about the last year or 2. I listen to it quite frequently now. whereas I'm just not that into Shostakovich right now. I first had my breakthrough with Brahms just as my Dad was dying of cancer in 2015. He struggled with it for a while and I was 2500 miles away for most of his last year. I do have regrets about that. But that Violin Concerto by Brahms!!! Wow!! I just happened to give it a chance and it blew my mind. It took several more years for me to get into the symphonies.. and the 4th is just MINDBLOWINGLY phenomenal!!! Thank you for covering this.

"Sometimes these world-class musicians don't practice enough." I heard Sergiu Celibidache scream *_"VIOLAAAAAA!"_* when you said that.

This is..... I have chills. Didn't think my estimation of Brahms could be any higher, but thank you.

This coda is one of the few musical moments I know that literally make me cry and give me goosebumps EVERY SINGLE TIME I listen to it.

10:00 - classic Atkinson: a tangent in a tangent in yet another tangent! :)

Brahms was for me one of the greatest challenges; I've been listening to his music since I was a child and it was only after entering my mid-40s that I began to truly synthesize each of his symphonies as the immense, brilliantly organic masterpieces that they are. It was Hugo Wolf who, in what I believe was a written newspaper critique of Brahms, one day chastised Brahms for his ability to "create something out of nothing." For me, THAT is the mystery and the appeal of Brahms and perhaps the singular key to understanding his prodigious genius: how a simple turn of one melodic phrase leads, ineluctably, to another, and then another, each more seamless, powerful, unique and seemingly irreplaceable than the next. Needless to say, his music, like that of JS Bach, will live on forever. Thanks for this terrific video, by the way, real value added and greatly appreciated. regards

That apocalyptic cadence clearly imitates the organ the way that the chord is held by the woodwinds, and the fact that it is a baroque like plagal cadence itself. In the exposition, the first repeat of the theme with decoration also really reminds me of Bach’s famous passacaglia where he uses similar winding scaling ornamentation.

The first time I heard of this piece was once I performed in an orchestra (I played the second violin part). This is an enjoyable piece, not only for the audience, but also very enjoyable for the player. And now I’m addicted to this piece and I need to hear it once a day.

How you have been on RU-vid for 10 years and escaped my searchlight is beyond me but you have won a new subscriber. While watching your presentation and believing you to be some kind of musicologist I was a bit disheartened and critical of your approach to this miracle of human creation but looking further for more information about you and how you came to make such videos I was a bit impressed. You realize of course how the perspective of your profession infuses your approach to understanding musical expression but I wonder if you also realize how no matter how much you dissect, examine and analyze the subject of your attention you will never understand or know what it is that makes you love. Life and "soul" are beyond the human mind and to know them well one must surrender to what they give you without mental interference. Compliments on your graphic technique of presentation which only a mind like your own could have devised.

this movement is everything Brahms was building up to in his entire life, my mind can't comprehend what the 5th Symphony would be like. also would love videos about the 4th movements of his 3rd Symphony and F minor Quintet, or anything by him... I just want more Brahms :D

Well done! I'm always amazed by how naturally you weave in intricate details into your analysis, while always making sure that everything is coherent and understandable. As an analyst myself, I know how hard it is to achieve this balance, and you've clearly perfected it. Thank you for your work!

i don't make many comments, but wow. this technical analysis was such an eye opener to me - ive loved this symphony for years but ive never seen such a well done and in depth analysis of this symphony, and this video is just so marvellous. edit: may i also kindly and sincerely request for an analysis of brahms's piano quintet in f minor? it's also been one of my favourite works and i wld love to see your take and meticulous analysis on that work.

From my first hearing of it, this symphony became The Greatest Symphony. One of my Desert Island pieces of music. I've listened to it more times than I can possibly count (I'm very much looking forward to watching your 4th movement analysis, which is IMO one of the most profound bits of music ever composed). An excellent analysis (you warm my Music Theory heart; my MM is in Music Theory from Florida State University) and a terrific use of modern video/audio capabilities. Thank you for the work you put into this video and for sharing it with us.

I had such a giddy reaction when I saw this in my notifications, I can't wait to re-watch this 50 times

The legend has returned... And what a video it is!

Honey wake up a new Richard Atkinson analysis dropped

I'm simultaneously so familiar with this piece that none of the deceptive cadences are at all "deceptive" (at this point it'd sound a lot more strange if it wasn't a deceptive cadence!), yet so unfamiliar that I didn't know about the woodwinds echoing the main theme right at the beginning! The most mindblowing for me was all the times I never noticed the green theme show up.

You made us wait 9 months(!!) for this next Brahms symphony installment, but I daresay it was well worth the wait! Thank you for sharing your thorough & informative analysis of this magnificent movement. The Brahms symphonies have always occupied a special place in my heart ever since I borrowed a score containing all 4 beautiful works from the library decades ago & enjoyed hours of exploring / discovering the musical magic & mysteries Brahms so brilliantly buried within them. Your insightful & well thought out commentary & clarification on how the entire movement is thematically constructed & connected adds layers of appreciation & even more meaning to the untold hours of enjoyment the symphony has brought to all of us music lovers throughout the 130+ years since its premiere. Lastly, I really love how your cogent analysis fits in to the whole Wagner program music vs. Brahms absolute music debate. All the thematic richness, inversions, development, inventiveness & innovation on display in this movement, which are so clearly communicated in your wonderful analysis, provide powerful proof & confirmation that no program is needed to bring the dramatic effect! In Brahms' masterful hands, this movement uses the thematic musical information so deftly woven into the textures of the various sections to build the richness & tension until the climactic moments in the coda that bring the movement to a resounding close with those impactful timpani plagal cadence beats in the final measures. It is no wonder we all respond so fervently & lovingly to this beautifully & brilliantly constructed masterpiece! Bravissimos to Brahms & kudos to you on yet another great addition to your channel! I look forward to your commentary on the other Brahms movements yet to come- especially on the 2nd symphony, which is my personal favorite.

Yet another important discovery: at what you mean by "the final culmination by the now ascending faster entries of the blue sceme" 49:25, the downbeats (C-B-D-C#) actually marks a BACH motif. To make it not just a coincidence, at the repeat at 49:31 the BACH is directly presented in the flute and oboe parts (which you just normally outline in the ubiquitous blue color).

I learn so much from these videos! Every sentence is packed with knowledge

Every time you played part of the piece I had an immense urge to close the video and just listen to the whole symphony…

The first Brahms I listened to is this Symphony and until now it amazes me especially the opening.

There are multiple parts where 8ths are played as 16ths. I can only think that this is intentional direction by ol' Lenny

IT’S HERE!! …some of my days are framed by this work…one takes in these notes like they were always there…. by design ..innately. Love your work!

I have absolutely zero formal training in music and yet I am enjoying this thoroughly. Incredibly well done !

Omfg that coda. I have no idea how to describe the feelings it brought to me exactly.

Quite phenomenal. Thank you for all the work you put into this. Every time I come back to Brahms, I’m reminded of how moving his music is.

11:46 Liszt Totentanz is a great example too

It is so hot when u call Bernstein’s conducting “sloppy”😩😩😩

...I wasn't going to watch this whole thing... I did. I was mesmerized. Thank you.

I clearly remembered when I was in high school I got a free ticket to the concert of our city (3rd tier) symphony orchestra playing Brahms Symphony No.4. They didn't play it well but still I fall in love with this symphony and Brahms' work deeply, after I heard this coda section, especially the ending chords. Now for the first time I know it is Brahms' iconic *Plagal Cadence*

Thank you for the astonishing analysis. This is the kind of insight students want to hear from a good teacher after working hard and for longtime on complex classical repertoire like this symphonic gem. Not only you reveal ideas, process, structures and relationships but also we see intertextuality working with clarity : inner, withing Brahms' own thematic world as well as external, with works of other composers. The evolution of musical language seems to be such that the thematic material and stylistic signatures of a passed era becomes so generic comparing to the following one that a deceptive simplicity takes place and veils deep structure of music. Analyzing Brahms by a musician from the XXI century seems as challenging as Brahms himself analyzing XVIth century polyphony. I could not resist noticing, at the end of your second chapter, that the imitative figures (green highlighted) accompanying the theme do morph, from measure 98, into a “cryptomnesic” quotation of the Beethoven's’ 7th symphony's scherzo. As for the 16th notes (@31’43’’), It might be simply the march like character and the tempo choice that makes this interpretation inevitable. Hope my comment is not pedantic, this is just a way to express gratitude for so generously sharing knowledge that takes a lot of time and patience to work.

You discuss composers who used the Dies Irae theme... and you leave out Rachmaninov? Seriously, those four notes are EVERYWHERE in his oeuvre!

Brilliant. I know that Bernstein recording very well, and there is no other that captures the frightening intensity of that final page as perfectly. Thanks for this great analysis!

Wow. Your best video yet. Superbly done, and has given me further insights into, I agree with you, Brahms' most perfect creation. I'm presenting the 4th in my Sunday spinning class with a program associated with it. Really jumping off the deep end with this. You've helped me get this in my ears at an even more granular level. Will be exhausted at the end. Thanks.

The Hammerklavier also plays with thirds/tenths in a very similar way, throughout all the movements (especially in key relations)

Already loved Brahms. Love his work even more now. Thanks.

Wow!! After listening to this glorious piece for 50 years, you have opened an entirely new world for hopefully many more years of added appreciation. Thank you!

This video is fantastic! Brahms wrote this in 1893. Everyone told him he was finished, that he would never write a decent piece of music again, so he worked hard and went off in a park -- and sat under a tree. And he saw a deer running under the trees, and it gave him the idea. I read an article about it.

those last four timpani blows before the final note are absolutely brutal. thank you for dissecting amazing works like this to make insight a little easier for people like us

It's incredible, flawless, marvelous how you explain all the secrets so that the big picture can be seen and heard! Admirable! I love your channel and appreciate your dedicated work. Thank you so much for sharing your skills with us! So great!

One of my favorite symphonies! Leonard Bernstein has a great video on RU-vid where he explains this symphony. It’s a good prequel to this detailed video. Thanks for making the complicated understandable.

Started rehearsing this a few weeks ago in Vienna, very useful analysis - and some unpacking is really needed. So many things happening at once, so many layers, Brahms requiring us to look deep into the well... Looking forward to seeing your work on the other movements!

What a well researched analysis. Thank you for showing your love of this piece to me. I was in tears at the end, as I could feel your connection to this music.

I'm only 1/4 into this and already it's one of the best things of this type I've ever heard/seen/read, and that's 50 years' worth. I can't wait to see the rest!

Wow! I played this piece in college as a violinist. One of my favorites. Never really analyzed a Brahms symphony. Didn't know how they were constructed. Thankyou so much for for your insight.

More, more. This is a great tool for teaching analysis. Good, clear presentation.

What a lovely gift for the (lunar) new year! :D I love how your admiration for this piece is so palpable that your enthusiasm is barely contained as you analyze it. This is peak content.

This work simply shows what made the Atkinson great.

Watched the first few minutes, good stuff! I’m not ready for this yet, but will like and save to watch later when the time is right! 👍

Great way to make music theory fascinate the mind of one who's not normally interested, it hasn't yet realised it can be.

How did I only just find this channel now? These are absolutely incredible videos. Very good job. I look forward to watching them all in the coming weeks.

Check the chords at letter K, bottom notes of the root position: (D#-Db-D#-C) (F-Eb-F-D). The chords are in a way playing the Dies Irae melody.

This might be your best video. I loved it and I'm sure it will help a lot of young and not so young musicians to appreciate music even more.

Weirdly I was almost expecting a plagal cadence the first time I listened to this symphony. Great educational content as always, and I’m looking forward to the fourth movement.

Superb analysis of an immortal masterpiece. I ilke how you reference other works as you explain, it is refreshing without being the least bit disrupting. Many thanks!

I love this analysis - instantly subscribed. I like especially that you found a way to "re-comparmentalize" a few of the thematic variations ("mysterious orange arch of arches" etc.) which is clarifying.

Fantastic, as always! I loved the extra graphics you added in time to the music, they were really helpful for hearing things that are happening in the background!

This has been one of my favourite symphonic movements since I first heard it almost forty years ago ... but I had no idea it was so complex. Thank you for such an instructive and entertaining lecture.

Can't believe I'm late to the party; must've been youtube being stupid again. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for you to do a video on Brahms 4!

you deserve millions of subscribers i am NOT lying... the amount of effort you put in ALL of your videos... wow.. i really love your channel

Much appreciation & admiration, Richard. You've done it again. A splendid dissection of Brahms crowning achievement. It's fitting & illuminating that you refer to figures so influential on Brahms (Bach, Haydn, Beethoven). There's so much to say about this wonder-work. But your study unifies its most important elements. A sublime example of musical analysis at its finest. Thank you.

At last! Thanks Richard, been really really looking forward to your analysis. I will start listening now....

I played the timp part for this symphony a few months ago. Kind of wish I'd seen this video before now. I had no idea I was the star of the movement! Sometimes when you're behind the battle lines you can't see the big picture, especially when you spend minutes at a time counting rests.

I audibly gasped when The Mysterious Pink Arch entered the chat. This is the most riveting analysis ever.

Thank you so much for this, I really appreciate all the hard work that went into this analysis!

This was like watching a Marvel movie. Made me gasp out loud several times.Thank you for this beautiful, insightful and clear analysis.

Hey there I am an amateur composer self studying and I really appreciate your videos. I have an intense interest in counterpoint and the shapes and patterns of music so these series of videos is really helpful to someone trying to figure this stuff out on their own. Thanks!

Fantastic analysis, really changes how you hear the music. Keep up the good work👍

What a fantastic analysis! Thank you for your tremendous work!

thank you for this brilliant and insightful piece of analysis!! i thought it rather apt that the number of references to other works diminishes as the video progresses, both relative to your other (also consistently thoughtful) videos and the first half of the video, almost as if brahms' work is both so sufficiently rich that it demands such deep analysis by itself, and completely original that there is simply no precedent for this spectacular symphonic movement. looking forward to the rest of this series!

I just now discovered your channel, so glad I did! Great stuff!😊

You have echoed my sentiments a lot better than I could have. Thank you!!!

Incredible movement, incredible analysis! Bravo!

So revealing and amazing work. Thank you!

Amazing analysis, thank you so much! That Coda is my fav musical moment of all time

Utterly brilliant analysis. Always loved this piece.

Please keep this up! Love your content!

@L rehearsal mark, the recapitulation, it has always been noteworthy to me that this is a fine example of Brahms' intentional 'paving-over' of previous generations' seams in sonata format by offsetting the return of the primary theme (undeveloped) a few measures after the return of the home/tonic key. The effect is exceptionally smooth and particularly in keeping with the overall nearly-lullaby, ethereal and devastatingly (yet marginally understated) tragic tone of this movement.

Incredible incredible analysis, as always!

Ive loved this for years but hadn't consciously realised it was a series of descending / ascending 3rds

Brilliant work Mr Atkinson

@RichardAtkinson Great work here, as always. Trumpets have such a great time here in the absence of competition. I've always thought the lack of contrabassoon and roaring bass was to sharpen it, with Johannes deciding not to go with the beauty of, say, first movement of Symphony 1. And as far as timpani go, my favorite is still the Symphonie Fantastique finale, given that there are two of them and they get to ham it up as much as they wish to.

Thanks sooo much for another wonderful presentation!!

The amount of effort you put into each of your videos is really inspiring! Can't imagine how much time it takes to film, edit, and everything else :)

My favorite composition of all time!!! Thank you for showing me why!!!

Thankyou so much for these videos! I really love the long tangents you go on, they open my eyes to the rich history of and linkage between so much of western music! I would really love a video on Mahler 9's Adagio

Always loved watching your analysis! Your videos have helped me so many times during my undergrad years studying in music school! Would love to see your analysis on Mendelssohn's string octet!

Extraordinary. Thanks so much!

Incredible content... Well done Richard, mind blowing stuff here!!

Excellent analysis and demonstration!

An amazing video! Simply astounding!

What an amazing analysis, thank you so much! I was wondering if you were planning one day to do something similar for his concerti? I've always considered them to be as mind-blowing as the symphonies, and as they introduced me to Brahms they'll always have a special place in my heart.

This is just mind boggling stuff... Also, thanks for dividing the video into chapters, it's really helpfull!

can i just say you're literally one of my favourite content creators....

Helps a lot to understand Brahms. Thanks!