Certainly sounds like a young Brahms, but ... he wrote this at the same time as the first piano concerto, which sounds like a very magisterial Brahms, not a young Brahms. It has always been borderline incredible to me that he was working on both pieces at the same time (1858, basically), because the concerto is so much more mature, as beautiful as this one is. My theory? Joseph Joachim helped him immensely with the concerto.

Bold statement.

good piece even by brahms standards. i had complete chamber works on cd back in the day. what a jackpot. sym 2 is my fav piece, maybe of all time. relaxing, pure in essence. you also see that style here. (symphony 2 was first my least fav sym. it takes time. these are very mature works.)

This is indeed a piece you feel like coming back to no matter how much time has gone by since the last time you heard it.

I wholeheartedly agree!

Bhe, ma chi ha detto che la serenata è inferiore alla sinfonia? Secondo me l'elemento che contraddistingue la serenata è l'umore allegro. Le sinfonie spesso sono più drammatiche.

@@ClassicalMusicAndSoundtracks non è una questione di superiorità; ogni forma ha delle specifiche dimensioni; questa serenata è vicina ad essere una sinfonia.

Exactly! Well-put.....Greetings from San Agustinillo!

This came before his 1st symphony, so technically this would be is his "0th" :)

@@marco119w7 What would his second Serenade be then? Or is this the -1st?

@@marco119w7 It would be Symphony n°1 then.

@@marco119w7 After the first symphony.

I don’t believe that for a minute. He destroyed youthful works that were not up to his standard. I believe he reworked youthful melodies into his mature works.

In the fifth movement Scherzo, i tend to hear the "Glory to God" (no.18) from the Handel "Messiah". In particular, the presence of the same motif to which GFH sets the text "Good will" seems transparently obvious (IMHO)...

Serenades and symphonies are all masterpieces. In fact he never published anything that wasn’t a masterpiece.

@@raymondgood6555 I must politely and respectfully disagree with you about Brahms four symphonies. I first listened to Brahms four symphonies when I was a teenager (fifteen or sixteen) because I could already tell at such a young age that there was something "off" or "missing" in his symphonies. I had a copy of the score for all four symphonies in front of me when I listened to them. Yes I had no trouble reading the symphonic scores and following along with the recordings I was listening to. However, I did not have the tools or the knowledge to analyze Brahms symphonies and break them down and take them apart until after I took music theory courses in college. Yes I did respectfully and politely tell the instructors and the professors at this school how I felt about Brahms symphonies. They did not have a problem with a student who was obviously trying to use his brain and think for himself although they disagreed with me. Besides Brahms works for orchestra, I also like his piano music and have spent many happy and enjoyable hours playing his music on my piano.

@@laurencegray4720 what did u felt was missing in Brahms ‘s simphonyes?

Unfortunately the only recording I have is a Hyperion recording and I can't upload that label as it will be blocked. If you have a MP3 without too many copyright issues, please let me know.

@@bartjebartmans such a pity that KZfaq doesn't have that library list anymore :(

@klop422 I don't have a KZfaq downloader. I had too many issues with it in the past. Not worth the trouble and risk.

I got to perform no. 2 while in grad school. It's a beautiful piece as well, lots of great woodwind passages (I'm a clarinetist). It was so odd to see the principal violist come out to give the A instead of the violinist. Haha

There is a channel called "symphony 7526" and it has uploaded the second serenade with a score recently.

Why can't you do this today?

No, it has always been the title Serenade. It already appeared in the first edition. Brahms was conservative for music terms in his early age, he used the tranditional Italian music terms in that period of time often.

Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia conducted by Anshel Brusilow

Yes, very similar!

Kevin Punnackal Brahms was consciously after Haydn, Mozart, and early Beethoven all at once. Mozart is in the structure of the work, a Serenade with multiple dance movements. The references to the D-major symphonies of Haydn and Beethoven are made explicitly, and the reference to Haydn 104 is actually used in multiple movements.

He was a Romantic period composer trapped in a classical period body. Or the other way around .

The opening musical sequence right off the bat in this Serenade is: (A-F)-A-G-E. Compare that to the opening of the last movement of Haydn's "London Symphony" No.104, which also begins in the key of D Major and has the similar droning bass-accompanied sequence: A-G-E-(G-F-D). Good observation, Kevin. There's no question that the bucolic moods of both movements of these two masterpieces also match up very well. Brahms and Haydn -- two musical giants, both high on my list of all-time favorite composers.

I suppose you have enough imagination to make greater music yourself, so what are you doing here listening to this while you could be delighting the world with your masterpieces? Go, then and exploit the power of your creativity, though I must warn you, our little minds might not be good enough to appreciate that much greatness and we might end up considering it pure crap

@@ezequielstepanenko3229 He doesn't have to be as good as Brahms to express an opinion. He has every right to not like it, and you have every right to like it. None of us--whether we love the work or dislike the work--would be able to compose a better piece. What we are able to do is irrelevant to whether we are allowed to have our own view. That would be identical to saying that you are only allowed to dislike a movie if you are as gifted a director as the person who directed the movie.

​@@ezequielstepanenko3229 too harsh comment. The "if you know better, do it" argument is such a shallow cliché. Do we all have to be chefs to like or dislike apples? If he doesn't find this work creative and finds someone else, that's his business, not yours.