Brahms' Symphonies: A Closer Look

by David Hurwitz

Overview

Brahms was a musician's musician, in some respects an "academic" composer, and so it's practically impossible for professional scholars and musicians to approach his music without wanting to demonstrate at some point that they are as smart as Brahms, and uniquely able to unravel the technical intricacies of his larger works. For the general reader, this obviously represents a problem; indeed, it's not exactly a joy for the music professional either. Though Brahms' symphonies are often treated somewhat like medicine, as something "good for you," but otherwise lacking in purely sensual pleasure, David Hurwitz takes the reader beyond the jargon and pedantry and unlocks the mystery (and the joy) contained within Brahms' symphonies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826431646
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/01/2009
Series:	Magnum Opus
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

David Hurwitz has been writing about classical music for more than twenty years. As a critic and commentator, his articles and essays have appeared in such well-known publications as High Fidelity, Opus, Classical Pulse!, In Tune, the New York Observer, Musical America, Stereo Review, CD Review, and numerous other magazines and newspapers, both in the U.S. and abroad. Founder and executive editor of www.ClassicsToday.com, the Internet's first classical music-daily review magazine, Hurwitz is also the author of eight books on subjects ranging from Haydn and Mozart to Mahler (The Mahler Symphonies: An Owner's Manual), Dvorak, Sibelius, and Shostakovich. He lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction1. The Romantic Crisis and the German Symphony "Brahms v. Wagner" controversy and the late 19c. notion of the symphony as a dead form2. The Brahms Symphony: General Style and Characteristic Sound3. Symphony No. 14. Symphony No. 25. Symphony No. 36. Symphony No. 4Epilogue: The German Symphony after Brahms