APO Livestream - The New Zealand Herald Premier Series: The Greats - Listening Notes: Experienced Listener

PREMIER
SERIES
LISTENING NOTES
FOR EXPERIENCED LISTENERS
VIOLIN Benjamin Morrison
BRAHMS Violin Concerto
SCHUBERT Symphony No.9 ‘The Great’

JOHANNES
BRAHMS
(1833 – 1897)
COMPOSER PROFILE
• Considered to be the leading composer of the
Romantic period of music
• Composed a piano sonata at age 11
• Made his public debut as a conductor at age 14
• Introduced to Gypsy music by Hungarian violinist
Eduard Remenyi
• At the age of 30, he accepted the directorship of the
Vienna Singakademie
• Brahms died of cancer at age 64. On the day of his
funeral, all the ships in Hamburg lowered their flags to
half-mast
VIOLIN CONCERTO
Brahms’ Violin Concerto was composed in 1878 and first
performed in Leipzig, Germany. Piano and violin were the
most popular solo instruments for concertos throughout
the Romantic period.
This piece was composed for Brahms’ friend and virtuoso
violinist, Joseph Joachim. It was considered too difficult to
play as it included rapid broken chords, scales and doublestopping.
However, Brahms believed in Joachim’s abilities,
and the Concerto was intended for Joachim to show off
his virtuosity.
The concerto features a cadenza at the end of the first
movement, and Brahms was one of the last composers to
allow the soloist to improvise it. This is because soloists
began to create very long cadenzas, and eventually,
composers would notate their cadenzas so that they had
more control over the material that was performed.
The concerto has three movements:
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Adagio
III. Allegro gigocoso ma non troppo vivace
The first movement is in Sonata form. It starts with a long
introduction and the first theme presented by the orchestra.
Next, the theme develops and moves into a quiet section
which leads to the second theme. After this second
theme, the solo violin finally enters, taking us through the
development and exposition before the solo violin plays the
cadenza, leading us to the final coda section.
The second movement has three sections. The first section
begins with the melody in the solo oboe, accompanied by
the orchestra. The solo violin then takes over the melody,
and this moves us into the passionate second section.
Finally, the orchestra returns with the first section melody
and solo violin to round off this movement.
The last movement is in rondo form, where the ‘A’ section
of music keeps returning. The A section begins with a
foot-stomping Hungarian-style theme, with the solo violin
underneath. The B section starts with light solo violin and
accompaniment. This turns into a series of legato scales,
in which the solo violin brings in another rhythmic melody
before returning to the A section.
Section C begins with graceful arpeggios followed by the
solo violin playing fragments from the B section before
playing the main melody from section A. The coda starts
with a faster tempo in a lively Turkish style in 6/8, ending
with strong subito forte, staccato chords.
DID YOU KNOW?
Brahms began composing when he was only 11 –
however, he was embarrassed by these early compositions
and he destroyed all of those works as he grew older.
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FRANZ
SCHUBERT
(1797 – 1828)
COMPOSER PROFILE
• An Austrian composer from the Romantic period
• Won a place in the Vienna Imperial Court chapel choir
at age 10
• After leaving school in 1815, Schubert followed his
father into teaching. He did not enjoy this job, and he
spent all of his free time composing.
• The same year he started teaching, he wrote his
famous ‘Gretchen am Spinnrade’ (‘Gretchen at her
spinning wheel’)
• He composed 145 lieder (songs), his Second and Third
Symphonies, two sonatas and a series of miniatures for
solo piano, two mass settings and other shorter choral
works, four stage works, and a string quartet
• The only public concert Schubert gave was on
26 March, 1828. It was such an artistic and financial
success that Schubert at last purchased a piano
• He died in 1828 at age 31, of typhoid from drinking
tainted water
SYMPHONY NO.9 ‘THE GREAT’
The title ‘The Great’ was applied by a 19th-century
publisher to distinguish between this symphony and
Schubert’s earlier work of 1818. Today, ‘The Great’ has
become an accepted part of the work’s title. Schubert’s
Ninth Symphony has four movements:
I. Andante
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo (Allegro vivace)
IV. Allegro vivace
The first movement, Andante (C major) starts with an
unaccompanied theme from unison horns for eight bars.
This is followed by the strings playing a rhythmic triple
figure. The theme is then passed around the orchestra.
The section continues to explore themes and assembled
rhythmic material.
Finally, as the Andante moves towards its close, you can
hear a fragment of what is to become the Allegro first
subject or theme. As the Andante is brought to a full
orchestral close, the Allegro section follows immediately.
Strings, trumpets, and timpani introduce the Allegro’s
first theme. Then, as the theme continued, it is linked by
triplets in the woodwind.
After seventeen bars, Schubert introduces a second
theme – dotted crotchet-quaver – rising and falling, with
the woodwind and horns playing a triplet rhythm. Finally,
the movement’s third theme is introduced by oboes and
bassoons, accompanied by violin arpeggios, and it then
develops.
The final Coda of this section is marked ‘Piu Moto’ (more
movement). It starts with the second theme in the strings,
with an accompanying triplet figure. The movement ends
with the introductory horn theme played by the full orchestra.
The second movement, Andante con moto is slow, however
the ‘con moto’ direction creates a march-like character. It
is possible that Schubert was influenced by the Allegretto
movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
This movement has four sections – A minor, F major, A
minor and A major – and four main themes. Beethoven’s
movement also opens in A minor. The oboes play the
theme first, followed by the clarinets, violins and violas,
moving to an orchestral climax. Next, the oboes and
clarinets enter with the second theme. This theme is
slightly slower, but within six bars, the strings break in with
a third theme, with a military feel.
The second and third themes are developed and enriched
until four minims and a descending third in the lower
strings introduce the fourth theme. Lyrical and more
sonorous, this theme is played by the bassoons, second
violins and basses, with a syncopated counterpoint in the
cellos. The movement ends quietly, with harmony from the
three trombones.
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The third movement, Scherzo opens in C major, with the
first theme played by staccato strings. A second feature of
the movement is the waltz themes that keep appearing –
the first of these constitutes the second theme.
The second section opens in A-flat major and starts with
dotted minim chords in the woodwinds and brass, with a
staccato string accompaniment. The section ends with
two sforzando chords back in C major.
The Trio section starts in A major. Horns, clarinets,
bassoons and trumpets playing in octaves for eight
bars and the movement’s fourth theme is played by a
woodwind choir. The theme is doubled in thirds and
sixths, a harmony Schubert liked to use throughout the
symphony. Next, the flutes and bassoons reprise the Trio’s
opening theme. The Trio repeats back to the Scherzo to
finish that movement.
The final movement, Allegro vivace, has two main themes.
This movement opens in the symphony’s tonic key of C
major. This movement is in Sonata form and has two main
themes. The first theme begins with a call to attention,
with fortissimo C’s in octaves. The second theme also has
a running rhythm in the strings while the woodwinds play
the melody.
There are extensions of this theme until both main
themes are heard again in their entirety – the
development section deals with fragments of
the themes instead of the entire theme itself.
The recapitulation repeats all the elements of
the two themes. A coda section expands some of the
melodic material with a short episode where strings,
horns and bassoons play an accented C for four bars
with the full orchestra answering in different keys. The
coda is unusually long, being 180 bars. The movement’s
introductory rhythm returns before a sforzando C major
chord that fades away to the end.
DID YOU KNOW?
In March 1827, Schubert was a torchbearer at
Beethoven’s funeral.
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