AMD 3 - Isaac - You duh "Brahms", man!

For my third kultur assignment I went to a concert featuring the music of Johannes Brahms. Brahms was born in Hamburg Germany in 1833, but he lived most of his life in Vienna, the "hot" musical scene of the day. The concert featured to medium sized works. The first half of the concert was a piece called the Liebeslieder Walzer, in honor of Valentines day. They are written to be performed by 4 voices SATB and piano fourhands (two pianists on one piano). They are all in the form of "waltzes" but they have been spiced up considerably. The text regards different aspects, moods, times, passions, longings of love. There is great variety in the music, but, still, that's a lot of waltzing. The second piece was a clarinet quintet, meaning a string quartet (cello, violin, viola, second violin) and a clarinet. This piece was charming and very pastoral, I had not heard it in so long that I forgot how it went. It is at time however, so soporific I feel myself lolling off out of beauty.

When you study enough classical music you can recognize certain aspects of music that are somewhat national or cultural in nature. Brahms, for example, sounds very German in the same way Beethoven or Wagner does. It is the contour of the melodies and the motion of the harmonies, which, while very intricate and advanced, still has such a sense of order and artifice.