Otto Klemperer

I. Un poco sostenuto — Allegro: C Minor
II. Andante sostenuto: E major
III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso: Ab Major
IV. Adagio — Più andante — Allegro non troppo, ma con brio: C Major

Instrumentation…

It is interesting to note how conservative Brahms was. He wrote this many decades after the death of Mozart, but his instrumentation is really not much different, with only timpani. Beethoven already used trombones, so nothing new there. No tuba, no English horn.

• 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon
• 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones (4th movement only)
• timpani
• strings

I. Un poco sostenuto — Allegro:

The first movement is in sonata form with an extended introduction. It starts in C minor but ends in C major, and doing this is called “ending on the Picardy 3rd.” It prepares him to morph to the 2nd movement, from C major to E major. E does not move, G goes to G# and C goes down to B. One thing to notice in Brahms: his orchestration often has an organ-like sound, which comes from his string writing. This is obvious from the very beginning.

II. Andante sostenuto:

Here is the C major to E major morph. Is this important? Yes, and very important, but you don’t have to know what this means to sense that you move. You end in one key, then move to another, and you stay there for the whole movement. The form, much less important to me, is basically A B A.

III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso:

This is a break from the pattern of Beethoven. Instead of minuet or scherzo, this is like a waltz. It isn’t, because it’s not in three, not at all, and in addition Brahms loved to play around with rhythm so that something written in very even time will sound as if some measures move from 4 to 5 to 3, or just about anything. This movement is in Ab major. So he started in C minor and ended in C major. Then he morphed to E major. In this movement he moved to Ab major. These three keys, C major, E major and Ab major are all linked together with double morphs. It’s incredibly sneaky and effective. There are different ideas, and they sort of alternate and create interest and tension, and in the middle the meter changes to 3/4.

IV. Adagio — Più andante — Allegro non troppo, ma con brio:

In the last movement he ended in Ab major. How do you get from there to C minor? Make the Ab in the Ab chord come down to G. It’s a simple morph, smooth as butter. Then go to C major. The whole process is complete: C minor to C major, E major, Ab major, C minor, C major. He went nowhere, really, but the journey was very interesting. There is a whole bunch you can say about form, and instrumentation, and everything else, but the best is just to listen to one of the finest final movements every written.

Brahms…

It took him forever to write this…

We don’t even have a really accurate date of composition because no one agrees upon an exact completion date.

When you read about Beethoven, you find out he often had several things going at the same time. He was juggling compositions like plates, and some of his premieres were rather mangled with insufficient preparation. But Brahms? He sweated, worried, procrastinated, postponed, dallied and stalled, and he destroyed things if they did not meet his high standard. He was afraid of being compared to Beethoven, so he spent more than 20 years trying to finish his first symphony in a form he could present. There is a lot more to this story, but that’s the gist of it.

Reception…

The conductor Hans von Bülow was moved in 1877 to call the symphony “Beethoven’s Tenth”, due to perceived similarities between the work and various compositions of Beethoven. Again, there is a lot more to this story, but the upshot is that his first symphony was a huge success and has been popular every since.

In fact, Brahms was rather conservative creatively, and one of the knocks against him was that he lived in the past, idealizing a kind of music that was disappearing. I think it is not at all far-fetched to compare him to Rachmaninov, another man who looked backward and who was hammered for not being progressive enough. Today, however, both Brahms and Rachmaninov are beloved for similar reasons. They have both stood the test of time, and the masses have declared both of them to be traditional superstars. The masses get just about everything current wrong, but they are incredibly right most of the time about what is best from the past. You just have to be patient and wait for them to sort it all out.