Mozart wrote for a clarinetist from what I remember and that player obviously helped inspire him as well as his own imagination. Then subsequent composers were inspired by Mozart's works and so on.

Ah yes, and let's not forget Glenn Miller of all people

It got great reviews on Classics Today, and I am really coming to enjoy the output of the BIS label.

I meant to listen to it today, but got into some renaissance choral pieces - Ockeghem's Requiem and Tallis' Spem in Alium, then Tilson Thomas' recording of Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique.

This will be the first thing on the playlist tomorrow. I also enjoy his clarinet quintet. I have a recording with Shiffrin and the Emerson String Quartet. I might need to look into other recordings as well.

Took an initial listen to the Clarinet Sonatas - wonderful. I have to admit, with Brahms I am not that taken with his works for large ensembles (with the noted exceptions of his "Ein deutsches Requiem," violin concerto, and double concerto). It his his chamber music that shines for me.

I thought I would ask some advice. I currently have, of his chamber music, the following:
Complete Trios - Beaux Arts Trio (Philips)
Piano Quintet - Pollini, Quartetto Italiano (DG)
Clarinet Quintet - Shifrin, Emerson String Quartet (DG)
Clarinet Sonatas & Trio - Frost, Pontinen, Thedeen (BIS)
Quintets Opp. 111 (String) & 115 (Clarinet) - Causse, Portal, Melos Quartett (Harmonia Mundi)
Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-3 - Perlman, Ashkenazy (EMI)
21 Hungarian Dances - James and Kathryn March (Centaur)
Piano Trios Nos. 1-3 and Cello Sonata No. 2 - Suk, Katchen, Starker (Decca)
Cello Sonatas - Rostropovich, Serkin (DG)
Rhapsodies Op. 79, Piano Pieces Opp. 117-119 - Radu Lupu (Decca)
Complete Piano Quartets - Trampler, Beaux Arts Trio (Philips)
Cello Sonatas Opp. 38, 99, 108 - Ma, Ax (Sony Classical)
Sextets Opp. 18 & 36 - Stern, Lin, Laredo, Tree, Ma, Robinson (Sony Classical)
String Quartets Op. 67, Op. 51 No. 1 - Takacs Quartet (Hyperion)
String Quartet Op. 51 No. 2, Piano Quintet Op. 34 - Hough, Takacs Quartet (Hyperion)

I love his chamber works. What am I missing that I absolutely need in this collection? Either works that I do not yet have, or better recordings of works I already have? The Shiffrin/Emerson Clarinet Quintet is fine, but is there a better recording I should look for, or is the Melos Quartett one I have sufficient?

Bruckner's F major string quintet that Brahms was jealous of and couldn't match.

I have to admit, with Brahms I am not that taken with his works for large ensembles (with the noted exceptions of his "Ein deutsches Requiem," violin concerto, and double concerto). It his his chamber music that shines for me.

My preferences are similar. I probably listen to Bruckner's symphonies more than Brahms'. I quite like the German Requiem... but as a great choral fan there are any number of other choral works I quite prefer... even Requiems... beginning with Mozart's and Faure's. I am greatly enamored of his piano concertos... especially performed by Emil Gilels... but his chamber works are something of another order altogether. I have long been enamored of his works for clarinet, his cello and violin sonatas, and any number of other works.

His Requiem is pretty high up for me among choral works. I really like his concertos for violin and the double concerto. The piano concertos I could take or leave. They have simply never moved me. The same goes for the symphonies, no matter how many times I listen to them. I agree that I much prefer Bruckner's symphonies.

For his chamber music, his Piano Trio No. 1 reigns supreme for me. I also enjoy his Piano Quartet No. 1, and the clarinet works. The violin sonatas are also beautiful.

Thats a cool collection you have there - I think if I had the cash I would get this Box of Brahms complete chamber works:



http://www.amazon.com/Brahms-Complet...8737728&sr=1-6

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Music listening Blogger

Oooh, that does look tempting. I have enjoyed most recordings on the Hyperion label that I have listened to. Initially I preferred DG and Philips and EMI - but lately I have noticed that most of my acquisitions have been from Hyperion, BIS, and Harmonia Mundi. I'll have to check that box set out - I do have a birthday approaching!

Ha! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYbi8...739F9&index=54

Take that Brahms!

One of the worst things Tchaikovsky ever wrote. I can appreciate the andante, but the outer movements are, to me, completely unexciting and plain dull.

Anyway, what has this to with Brahms? Am I missing something? Do they share a history with this piece or something?

No, I just like to challenge Polednice every now and then

As for that movement of Tchaikovsky grand sonata, I am taken aback at how well he associated three starkly different themes with one another. It's almost like listening to an eclectic set of variations. The piece is very sentimental to me.

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"Your mathematics are correct, but your physics are abominable..." Einstein

Oh, yeah, likewise..

I think Brahms and Tchaikovsky expressed mutual antipathy towards one another's music.

As for old Papa Brahms, I adore his three String Quartets--and wish he hadn't destroyed the others. (He is reputed to have written something like 20 SQs.)

Very fond of his Violin Sonatas as well.

And the Clarinet Sonatas?--well, need one say more?

I adore only the first and the second.

That's correct, but he might have had good reasons for destroying them. One work he didn’t publish but forgot to destroy, a piano trio, survived. It is quite boring, indeed.

Brahms was not always old and Papa, he was young and beardless when he wrote such masterpieces as eg the Piano Trio in B Flat, the Piano Quintet, the First Piano Concerto… Do you know (and like) them?

Of his two 'Cello sonatas the first was written in youth and the second when Brahms was some 50 years old or more, but when you listen to them, it seems it was the other way round…