Is Johannes Brahms’ second symphony his most cheerful orchestral work? Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra performs it with the Munich Symphony Orchestra at the 2022 Tutzing Brahmstage festival. During rehearsals, she discusses the famous work with musicians and experts.
DW Classical Music presents the eight-part series: Alondra de la Parra at the Brahmstage in Tutzing. The music documentaries will feature the 4 symphonies by Johannes Brahms and 4 symphonies by Antonín Dvořák.
Episode 1 / Brahms, Symphony No. 1: • Brahms: Symphony No. 1...
Episode 2 / Dvořák, Symphony No. 8: • Dvořák: Symphony No. 8...
Episode 4 / Dvořák, Symphony No. 9: • Dvořák: Symphony No. 9...
Episode 5 / Brahms, Symphony No. 3: • Brahms: Symphony No. 3...
Episode 6 / Dvořák: Symphony No. 7: • Dvořák: Symphony No. 7...
Episode 7 / Brahms, Symphony No. 4: • Brahms: Symphony No. 4...
Episode 8 / Dvořák: Symphony No. 6: • Dvořák: Symphony No. 6...
Episode 3 at a glance:
00:00 Opening: Brahms’ 2nd Symphony in a nutshell
00:46 Introduction by Musica Maestra Alondra de la Parra
02:05 About the importance of the horn in Brahms 2nd symphony
03:39 Analysis of the 1st theme in the 1st movement
05:06 Analysis of the 2nd theme in the 1st movement
06:08 Analysis of the 2nd movement
08:03 Analysis of the 3rd movement
09:42 About Brahms and nature
10:12 Analysis of the 4th movement
“We cannot express loudly enough our joy that Brahms, after having given powerful expression to the pathos of Faustian struggles of the soul in his first symphony, has now in his second symphony turned again to the earth in all its springtime blossoming.” These were the enthusiastic words of Viennese music critic and Brahms friend Eduard Hanslick which set the direction of interpretation for the second symphony a few days after its premiere in Vienna on December 30, 1877.
It is often referred to as Brahms’ “Pastorale” and as his most cheerful orchestral work because of the predominance of sweet moods recalling aspects of nature. Brahms himself dampened these expectations of his symphony with the following humorous remark to his publisher Simrock: “The new symphony is so melancholy that you can’t stand it. I have never written anything so sad, so plump. The score should be framed with a mourning margin.” This is, of course, a deliberate misdirection, but also a reminder not to overlook the darker side of the work.
At the same time, the work is another example of Brahms’s great ability to develop variation, as Arnold Schoenberg later called it, singling it out as a particularly forward-looking trait of Brahms’s compositional technique. From seemingly insignificant motifs, great musical structures with strong inner coherence are created through constant change and development.
The Tutzing Brahmstage is a small but elegant classical music festival. In 2022, it celebrated a double anniversary. The concert series was held for the 25th time and at the same time, it was the 125th anniversary of the death of the famous German composer. The Brahmstage festival takes place every year in Tutzing on Lake Starnberg in Upper Bavaria - the place where Brahms spent a summer composing important works in 1873. On four Sundays in October 2022, Brahms’ four great symphonies were performed together with one symphony each by Antonin Dvořák - the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth - in the Church of St. Joseph.
As one of Munich’s great symphony orchestras, the Munich Symphony Orchestra has been an integral part of the German musical landscape for over 75 years. They perform around 100 concerts a year in concert series in Munich (Prinzregententheater, Philharmonie, Technikum im Werksviertel), Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Kempten, with guest appearances and tours in Germany and abroad. The renowned and experimental orchestra with musicians from 17 different nations presents varied programs on large concert and open-air stages, in clubs, at unusual locations as well as in its own venerable rehearsal hall at the well-known Bavaria Musikstudios. The repertoire ranges from baroque music to classical and romantic works to film music, from modern classics to 21st century hip-hop and crossover.
Alondra de la Parra’s interview partners are French horn player Stefano Brusini and musicologist Stephan Beck.
Report & Direction:
Dorothee Binding
Camera:
Matthias Boch
Amadeus Hiller
Simon Hermann
Christian Berges
Daniel Stupat
Jan Klein
Sound:
Sara Misztela
Make-up:
Nilgün Konya
Editing:
Jan von Stebut
Production:
Benedict Mirow - Nightfrog GmbH
Commissioning Editor:
Reiner Schild
© Deutsche Welle 2023
Watch more videos with Musica Maestra Alondra de la Parra:
• MUSICA MAESTRA - with ...
More fascinating music documentaries:
• MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES
Subscribe to DW Classical Music:
/ @dwclassicalmusic
#Brahms #MusicaMaestra #AlondraDeLaParra