Mozart and Bach; small town peace keepers

Have you ever wondered why they pipe classical music tunes into elevators? Apparently the tone, pitch and arrangement of specific pieces can lull you into a state of calmness and security. In high class hotel lounges waiting customers usually relax with a free drink listening to the sounds of a professional pianist playing a soothing classical piece or two. We are now aware that certain frequencies of sound can change our brain waves, which in turn cause our brains to release certain chemicals into the bodies system; making you relax or they can also make you anxious. In Britain several towns, including parts of London have taken this idea a step further by using classical music to prevent young trouble makers from causing trouble at late night bus stops and train stations.

Classical music aversion therapy

In Britain many commuters coming home from work in the evening will have experienced some sort of intimidation by gangs of rowdy teenagers looking for something to cure their boredom. Incidents of assaults on innocent bystanders at quiet bus stops and train stations have left the police wondering how to catch these hooligans in the act. They tried CCTV cameras and emergency help buttons, but none seemed effective, so in an act of desperation they tried a method already being used in Canada with a lot of success. The main idea is to set up speakers that play a range of classical music songs in the areas that had most reports of assaults and complaints. At first people were skeptical about the affect that Mozart or Bach would have on troublesome teenagers, but after several weeks it appeared to work.

The classical music aversion pilot was tried outside a popular late night supermarket hangout where kids were usually found making noise and harassing passersby. After two weeks of constant evening playing the car park was completely empty; council officials are a little baffled by the success of the test, but other wise excited and enthusiastic about putting this new method to other uses. What is it that puts the teenagers off? Some think that it is considered not cool for a young person to hang out listening to classical music so they leave; others believe that they are turned off by the sound of the music all together. Whatever is causing the rowdy teenagers to disperse it has been a big help to people who feel intimidated by these gangs of youths and are scared to walk the streets at night.

Learning how to enjoy contemporary classical music

Have you heard of Milton Babbitt, Henry Cowell or Elliot Carter? These are the names of a few well known contemporary classical music composers of recent times. Though they are classed as artists of the classical music grouping, the contemporary sub genre that they have been pigeon holed under may sound nothing like the typical traditional music that you or I know of.  

This modern form of traditional Western music was developed by a group of composers that felt tired by the standard format of their time. For centuries classical music had been playing out within fixed boundaries and after the First World War new forms of music were stating to take center stage. Classical musicians and composers took this chance to change the stereotypes that had been given to their much loved genre.

The first time people listen to a live or recorded contemporary classical music recital you may be surprised by what you hear, arrangements are scattered, there is no fixed tonal ranges and composers will mix in prerecorded sound affects of all types, it can seem like a surrealist’s nightmare. When asked many contemporary music writers will tell you that there is a structure and pattern in the song, it’s just that people are not familiar with it yet.

As human beings we tend to look for patterns in everything that we see, whether it is a visual image or audio sound. The simpler the pattern the easier it is to for your brain to make sense of and enjoy. Dance music today make use of a 4/4 bar beat which is very simple and runs through the whole track, vocals and several other instrument parts are added to give a pleasing sound that doesn’t require much thought. On the other hand modern classical music is very challenging for first time listeners and requires a lot of attention in order to make any sense of the music.

It is believed that famous classical composers like Mozart and Bach subconsciously stuck to strict musical guidelines, which are much easier for audiences to listen to. Since a young age we are exposed to various forms of music and their arrangements tend to stick with us, so whenever we listen to a new piece of music we’re already predicting what notes or tones will follow on from the last. If the song presents mixed up, unfamiliar tones our brains get muddled up and cannot enjoy the sound.

If you’re determined to give contemporary classical music a try, then allow yourself to listen to a song or two once a day. Gradually your mind will get used to and start appreciating new sounds that you never thought you were capable of enjoying.

Brahms’ Scherzo op. 4

Johannes Brahms established himself as more than capable composer of piano music at the very beginning of his career. After all, he was an accomplished pianist in his own right. His three piano sonatas (op. 1, 2 and 5) earn Brahms a significant spot in the history of piano music. However, along side the three sonatas is also the op. 4 Scherzo in E flat minor.

The Scherzo was composed in 1851 and is his actually Brahms’ earliest surviving original work, although it was published until three years later. Brahms developed an earliest mastery of the scherzo form. This is possibly likely due to Brahms’ interest in the Classical tradition as the scherzo was developed into its known form at the hands of Beethoven. Evident even in this earliest scherzo is Brahms’ already keen sense for rhythmic development and symphonic thinking in terms of structure. In addition to Brahms’ keen sense of rhythm is the motivic unity of the work. No doubt, the op. 4 Scherzo and the three piano sonatas were the signs of an already remarkably developed musical mind.

The form of the op. 4 Scherzo is that of a rondo, the typical A-B-A form being expanded by the addition of a second trio, thus, A-B-A-C-A, and ultimately closing with a developing coda. The scherzo sections are characterized by an unremitting rhythmic drive that has been described as “demonic.” Despite the Classical influence, the inner character of the op. 4 Scherzo is wholly Romantic. Malcolm McDonald remarked the Scherzo’s “whiffs of Hoffmannesque devilry,” and its “reminiscence of Heinrich Marschner’s ‘troll opera’ Hans Heiling.” In fact, Franz Liszt, one of the leading figures of the New German School of composers, even found the Scherzo appealing. Yet the Classical influence is undeniable. The rhythmic working of the piece wholly suggests the influence of Beethoven than any of Brahms’ contemporaries. In fact, it seems the only contemporary of Brahms that was also influenced by this aspect of Beethoven’s writing at the time was Charles Valentin-Alkan.

Ultimately, the op. 4 Scherzo is a remarkable work to be written a composer of such a young age. Brahms was only 18 years-old when he composed it.

Brahms’ Four Pieces, op. 119

The Four Pieces for Piano, op. 119 was the last set of piano music that Johannes Brahms composed. Written in 1893, while spending the summer in Ischl, Upper Austria, they are the last statement of Brahms’ lifelong devotion to the composition of piano music. Brahms had established himself as a prominent composer for the piano early in his career with his three piano sonatas and the First Piano Concerto. The expansive variation sets of his middle career further established him, not only as prominent composer of piano music, but as a master of Classical tradition. At the end of his career, though, he turned to composition of short piano pieces. Perhaps one of the reasons for this was the great depth and intimacy of expression this medium was capable of.

The four pieces of op. 119 are:

1. Intermezzo in B minor
2. Intermezzo in E minor
3. Intermezzo in C major
   
4. Rhapsodie in E flat major

In comparison with Brahms’ other sets of piano music, it seems that he used the term “rhapsodie” somewhat loosely. “Intermezzo” was also Brahms’ umbrella term for anything that either did not fit into a capriccio or a rhapsody, and thus his intermezzos display a wide range of emotions.

Brahms’ late piano music is the perfect example of how great both his composition and pianistic technique was. His display of harmonic understanding is breathtaking in the op. 119 pieces. Furthermore, his subtle use of counterpoint to create polyphonic texture that can only be brought out by a pianist with an extremely sensitive touch is mind-boggling.

However, as brilliant as Brahms’ technical display is in the op. 119, the emotional depth of the pieces is just as amazing. Brahms wrote the following to Clara Schumann about the opening Intermezzo in B minor:

“I am tempted to copy out a small piano piece for you, because I would like to know how you agree with it. It is teeming with dissonances! These may [well] be correct and [can] be explained—but maybe they won’t please your palate, and now I wished, they would be less correct, but more appetizing and agreeable to your taste. The little piece is exceptionally melancholic and ‘to be played very slowly’ is not an understatement. Every bar and every note must sound like a ritard[ando], as if one wanted to suck melancholy out of each and every one, lustily and with pleasure out of these very dissonances! Good Lord, this description will [surely] awaken your desire!”

Brahms’ Shorter Piano Compositions

While Johannes Brahms is certainly well-known for his three monumental piano sonatas and his equally colossal two piano concertos, his greatest contribution to piano music is perhaps his collections of short, single movement compositions. The three piano sonatas and the first piano concerto were written early in Brahms’ career and the second piano concerto, completed in 1881, is the only instance of a large scale piano composition since those early works. His middle “period” piano music, if Brahms’ music could be divided into periods, was marked by large scale variation sets like the Handel and Paganini variations. It was in the later period, however, that he turned a focused attention to the composition of short, single movement works for piano.

The single movement piano piece was for the most part of Romantic origin, being virtually unheard of in the Classical period. In the early part of the 19th century, the Irish composer John Field began the composition of single movement “nocturnes” for the piano. This form was shortly thereafter popularized by Frederic Chopin. Within a short period of time, composer turned to the composition of these single movement works, nearly to the total demise of the piano sonata and concerto. In fact, it was very possibly Brahms’ piano sonatas and concertos that saved these forms from completely falling into disuse.

With the exception of the opus 10 Ballades and the 16 Waltzes of 1865, Brahms’ first published set of short piano compositions is the 8 Klavierstücke, op. 76. Three other sets followed, as well as the Two Rhapsodies, op. 78. The sets contained various forms of character pieces for piano, although most are titled Intermezzo. An overwhelming majority of the pieces are lyrical in character. Late in life, Brahms’ virtuosic piano technique had begun to diminish and he loathed the “banging” that was creeping into his playing. It’s possible, therefore, that the composition of so many lyrical piano pieces were designed as a remedy for his own playing.

Brahms’ collections of short piano pieces are, essentially, just that. However, knowing the extreme sensitivity Brahms possessed for motivic unity, it is possible to view each as a coherent whole. In fact, Rudolph Reti points out the shared motivic elements between the two rhapsodies of Brahms’ op. 78 in his book The Thematic Process in Music.

Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2

Johannes Brahms, one of the leading composers of piano music during the late Romantic, completed his second and final piano concerto in July of 1881, more than 20 years since the completion of the Piano Concerto No. 1. In his own unique sense of humor, Brahms described the work to his close friend Elisabet von Herzogenberg as “a tiny, tiny piano concerto with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo.” Later he wrote to the violinist Theodore Billroth describing it as “a few small piano pieces.” However, the Second Piano Concerto is anything but tiny.

Brahms had worked intermittently on the concerto for four years. The result was one of the largest concertos for piano ever composed. The work surpasses the First Piano Concerto in terms of length and maturity. Not only this, but Brahms also enlarged the structure to true symphonic proportions by adding a scherzo movement, which is more than just a “wisp.”  Finally, to top it all off, the Second Concerto makes even more demands on the pianists artistic and technical abilities. To stress the importance Brahms attributed to the work, it is his first composition he dedicated to his teacher Eduard Marxsen, as if Brahms felt he had finally composed a piece he felt confident in presenting to his former teacher.

The work is somewhat of enigma though. The mood of the majority of the piece is that of serenity, the scherzo being the closest it gets to any kind of dramatic expression. However, it is this seeming serenity that betrays both the complexity of the work and the demands it makes of the soloist. Brahms was not only a prolific composer of piano music, but was also an accomplished pianist himself. Throughout his career, he held an keen interest in the virtuosic techniques of the piano, although, not for the sake of virtuosity, but as a means of artistic expression. As Malcolm McDonald remarked, the Second Piano Concerto was the next logical step after the technically challenging Handel and Paganini Variations.

The work was given its premiere on November 9, 1881 in Budapest with Brahms himself as soloist. Unlike the First Piano Concerto, the Second was an instant success and Brahms when on to perform it in many cities across Europe.

Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 3

Johannes Brahms composed his Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor intermittently throughout 1853, however, it was not complete when he first met the Schumanns. It is the last and the greatest of his piano sonatas. Brahms wrote his three piano sonatas all with the time of a couple of years, yet it is remarkable to observe the giant leaps he made as a composer in such a short time. The F minor sonata is in five movements, instead of the more usual four, and is his single largest piece of piano music. According to Malcolm McDonald it also “stands with Liszt’s B minor Sonata and the Grande Sonate of Alkan as one of the three greatest piano sonatas of the mid-nineteenth century.”

The F minor sonata is the result of everything Brahms had learned from his previous two sonatas. The F sharp minor was endowed with Romantic passion and a fantasia-like constructor. The C major sonata was it’s exact opposite, a stern testament of Classical form. The F minor sonata was then the synthesis of the two. While still evident is Brahms’ remarkable understanding and handling of Classical forms, the piece is enlivened by the same Romantic passion of the F sharp minor sonata.

The opening of the first movement is heroic and assertive, but proves to be only musical germ from which the rest of the movement grows. What ensues is a rich sonata form that is no doubt inspired by Beethoven in its virtuosic displays and ability to nearly break the medium of its expression.

While Brahms turned to actual “old songs” for the slow movements of his previous two sonatas, he invents one of his own, without words, for the slow movement of the F minor sonata. The movement, however, is headed by a quotation from the poet Sternau: “The twilight falls, the moonlight gleams, two hearts in love unite, embraced in rapture.” Unlike the variation sets of the first two sonatas, this movement is structured as a large ternary form of almost symphonic proportions.

After the fiery scherzo, Brahms interjects a short movement before the finale marked as an Intermezzo, with the subtitle “Rückblick” (a backward glance). In this movement, the theme of the Andante slow movement undergoes a remarkable transformation. Thus, it “looks back” to the slow movement. The F minor sonata then concludes with a restless rondo. Like the C major sonata, the finale begins with a scherzo-like character, yet there are no other similarities to be found between the two movements.

Brahms, in his later years, sometimes thought of revisiting the F minor sonata and possibly revising portions of it. However, and possibly for the best, Brahms never did make whatever revisions he intended. With this Sonata, Brahms left the form and never returned to it. Yet, within the space of two years and in three magnificent compositions, he left his mark in music history and will remain one of the greatest composers of piano music.

Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 2

Johannes Brahms Piano Sonata No. 2, op. 2 in F sharp minor, composed in 1852 when he was only nineteen, was actually first in order of composition, predating the op. 1 C major Sonata by nearly a year. Brahms, however, likely felt that the C major Sonata made a greater impression as a first opus, thus the reversal in the order of publication.

The piano sonata was the first major compositional form Brahms applied himself to with sustained effort. Studies show that he composed at least five piano sonata, but only three of them do we possess today. However, oddly enough, he composed all five at the start of his career and never returned again to this particular form of piano music.

The F sharp minor sonata shows the youthful Brahms as a true Romantic and not quite the great conservative he would be known as later in life. Despite this, there do exists traits in the sonata that would appear in Brahms’ later compositions. The work is a type of “fantasy-sonata” much like the op. 27 sonatas by Beethoven, of which the Moonlight Sonata is the second of the pair. As Malcolm McDonald states, the F sharp minor Sonata is “influenced by the manner rather than the matter of middle-period Beethoven.”

The first and last movements are written with virtuosic display in mind, with many passages in “teeth-gritting” octaves, and is therefore somewhat less satisfactory to listen to than it is to perform. The finale, though, despite its apparent emphasis on technique, displays Brahms’ tendency to move the architectural weight of a multi-movement work to the end as opposed to it resting on the first movement. He would later do this in such works as the First Symphony.

The second and third movements form neatly defined pair and are perhaps the highlights of the entire work. The second movement is a set of variations on an old German song titled Mir ist leide and ascribed to the Minnesinger Kraft von Toggenburg. It is among Brahms’ earliest sets of variations. The following scherzo, which follows without break, is also based on the opening notes of Mir ist leide, showing the Brahms, even at a young age, was aware of and concerned with thematic unity between movements.

The F sharp minor Sonata, along with the C major Sonata, were two of the works of piano music that Brahms played when he met Robert and Clara Schumann in 1853. Both were published in the following year with a letter of recommendation from Robert Schumann.

Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 1

Unlike his great predecessor, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms only wrote three piano sonatas, and those all in the early part of his career. While Brahms’ sonatas made not be as universally known as those by Beethoven, they are, nonetheless, remarkable examples of Romantic piano music.

The Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, although published as his op. 1, was actually composed after Piano Sonata No. 2 in F sharp minor published as op. 2. Brahms was a stern critic of his own work, it is likely he felt the C major Sonata far more adequate than the F sharp minor Sonata to hold the position of a first opus. The C major Sonata was composed in 1853 while Brahms was in Hamburg. Compared to F sharp minor Sonata composed during the previous year, the C major Sonata shows significant advances in Brahms’ compositional abilities. Where the F sharp minor Sonata is rhapsodic, the C major sonata shows a greater concentration on the development of musical ideas. Furthermore, the improvisational character of the F sharp minor Sonata is completely replaced by an increased understanding of Classical forms in the C major Sonata. According to Malcolm McDonald, “not since Beethoven had there been such a first movement.”

The first movement shows just such an influence of Beethoven, particularly of the Hammerklavier Piano Sonata, in the outlines of his themes. An also apparent influence is that of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy. However, the handling of the vast sonata form is wholly original to Brahms, embracing a more complex key-sequence than what is found in Beethoven.

The second movement is a short set of variations based on an old German folk-like song titled Verstohlen geht der Mond auf (“The furtive moon is rising”). Brahms would later rewrite the song for female chorus in 1859. The Scherzo third movement is totally Brahmsian. Brahms showed an early mastery of the scherzo form. This movement is in Brahms’ favorite scherzo meter of 6/8 and displays his unique rhythmic vitality. The finale is a lively Rondo that keeps of the character of the preceding scherzo. The main theme of this movement is an ingenious derivation of the first movement’s opening theme.

The Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major was one of the pieces Brahms chose to play when he met Robert Schumann in September of 1853. Upon attacking the opening chords of the first movement, Schumann stopped Brahms’ playing and ran out of the room saying, “Please wait a moment, I must call my wife.” Schumann returned with Clara exclaiming to her, “Now you will hear music such as you have never heard before,” and motioned for Brahms to continue playing. So impressed was Schumann by Brahms’ piano music that he wrote an article in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik expounding on Brahms’ possibilities as a composer.

Brahms’ Ballades, op. 10

The opus 10 Ballades constitute some of Johannes Brahms’ most lyrical piano music and date from fairly early in his career. In fact, like so many of Brahms early pieces, the Ballades are hint at the lyrical pieces that would virtually dominate his piano music late in life.

As stated my Jim Samson in his book The Music of Chopin, the term Ballade “carries not formal expectations whatever…the innocent ear will have no a priori reference point.” Essentially, there is no designated composition form for the Ballade and the composer guided only by his own imagination. Samson further notes the “narrative” quality of Frederic Chopin’s four Ballades and the influence of sonata principles. It is possible the Brahms was somewhat influenced by Chopin’s Ballades when composing his own set. However, Brahms’ Ballades are simpler in regards to their formal structure. Each Ballade is more or less a ternary form with clear divisions. Furthermore, while Chopin’s were published separately, Brahms intended his Ballades as a coherent group and were published under the same opus number. It seems that Brahms took the term “Ballade” as suggestive of the form and mood of ballad poetry. Indeed, the first of the set was inspired by the Scottish ballad Edward, and the music fits the words of the poem, whether they be in the original Scottish or Herder’s German translation that Brahms was familiar with.

The Ballades are organized into two pairs in parallel keys:

• No. 1 in D minor. Andante
• No. 2 in D major. Andante
• No. 3 in B minor. Intermezzo: Allegro
• No. 4 in B major. Andante con moto

Unlike other composers whose music can be neatly divided into different “periods,” Brahms’ music remained rather consistent throughout his career, with many traits of his early career remaining evident even in his last works. The first Ballade begins with plaintive chords with thirds at the top and open fifths at the bottom. The result is a haunting sound that Brahms used in many of pieces. The second Ballade presents a lyrical almost lullaby-like melody over a syncopated accompaniment before heading into a middle section at the double the tempo of the opening. The third Ballade, while titled Intermezzo, is in fact a scherzo, a form for which Brahms showed an early mastery. The final Ballade sounds more like Schumann than Brahms at the beginning, but the mysterious middle section presents a tenor theme in the middle of the piano texture, a technique very common in Brahms’ piano music.