Brahms String Sextets WDR Chamber Players 1 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) A testing ground for chamber music Thoughts on the Brahms string sextets String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 18 (1862) 1 I. Allegro ma non troppo 13. 33 “One hears six intelligent people at the same time are granted absolute 2 II. Andante, ma moderato 8. 56 conversing among themselves, derives individuality. 3 III. Scherzo. Allegro molto 3. 04 pleasure from their discourse, and gets to 4 IV. Rondo. Poco allegretto e grazioso 9. 15 know the peculiarities of the instruments.” On this basis, the string quartet — If Goethe’s well-known aperçu concerning probably the most significant chamber- String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36 (1865) the string quartet could be so easily music genre in the history of European 1 I. Allegro non troppo 13. 48 adapted to the string sextet by merely music, thanks to its aesthetic appeal — has 2 II. Scherzo. Allegro non troppo - Presto giocoso - Tempo primo 7. 04 replacing the number four by six, then one developed a tradition that extends from 3 III. Adagio 8. 37 would truly be oversimplifying matters its beginnings with Haydn through Mozart 4 IV. Poco allegro 8. 12 with regard to the string sextet. For and Beethoven until well into the 20th the essence of Goethe’s thinking — the century. The string sextet cannot present Total playing time: 72. 45 conversation in which each participant a comparable development as a genre, has an equally important say — cannot irrespective of the varying combination WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne be transferred without further ado to of instruments: for there was no standard Chamber Players: the extended ensemble. Why is that? The or traditional combination in existence stylistic ideal of four-part harmony, as for the sextet, although it normally Cristian Suvaiala, violin expressed in western music, is perfectly consisted of pairs of violins, violas, and Carola Nasdala, violin achieved in a quartet — as a combination cellos. Furthermore, compositions for Laura Escanilla, viola of melody and accompanying trio, sextet have appeared in numerous other Mircea Mocanita, viola or of trio and bass. Yet here, while combinations, at times emphasizing the Johannes Wohlmacher, cello retaining a maximum of homogeneity higher registers, at others the lower. In Susanne Eychmüller, cello and transparency in sound, the voices addition, as stated by Ludwig Finscher, 4 there is the “difficulty of bringing together When venturing into chamber music In the music literature, the two string techniques in chamber music ramifications, an ensemble of six chamber musicians. The “without a piano” in his mid-twenties, sextets have been assigned to the early yet without having to give up the, so to shortage of performance opportunities Johannes Brahms chose to first compose phase of Brahms’s “first maturity” speak, orchestral effects of a tutti texture. and the comparative lack of interest in the string sextets, rather than string quartets. (Webster). Indeed, his first String Sextet ensemble make-up form a vicious circle”. Of course, this decision was somewhat in B flat, Op. 18, dating from 1859-1860, Op. 18 is a classically structured four- influenced by “Beethoven, the Giant,” whose was an immediate, huge success, and movement composition, beginning with a The deviation of the sextet from the legacy of string quartets was considered also highly popular among audiences. first movement in sonata form, followed four-part ideal as well as the ensuing by the following generation to be well- He composed the work during his stay in by a slow movement with a sequence compositional difficulties in creating a nigh unsurpassable. Therefore, Brahms Hamburg and Bonn; and not long after of variations, a scherzo, and a final six-part string replacement that, while as initially avoided this confrontation in the it was published (1862), he followed it up rondo, which emerges as a “true” rondo, homogeneous as possible, yet remained chamber-music field by means of an evasive with his second Sextet in G, Op. 36. The first containing only the basic rudiments of a individual, resulted in its frequently being manoeuvre, just as he had combated his three movements of his Op. 36 were written sonata rondo. The work is bursting with labelled as a composition form of serenade- “Beethoven complex” in the symphonic in September 1864 in Lichtenthal (Baden- an almost orchestral sonority. Not only like, purely entertaining superficiality — until area: namely, by approaching the symphony Baden), and its completion followed with does the first movement develop the two the arrival of Brahms. For the six Sestetti by through his two orchestral serenades. the Finale in May 1865. contrasting themes in accordance with Luigi Boccherini dating from 1776, which are the sonata form, it also presents several considered to be the first string sextets, had Accordingly, the largely unthorough field In both works, violin, viola and cello appear other configurations, all equally deserving not truly established a new genre: all they of the sextet was devoid of any aesthetic in pairs, allowing one of the two cellos to of the label “theme”: here, a melody had done was bring into the arena a few or compositional “ballast”. Also, the also act as a melody instrument. Therefore, with the hallmarks of the waltz; there, successors. These included the Sextet Op. combination of six string instruments unlike the quartet, the sound produced another displaying the clear influence of 140 by Louis Spohr, which was published in provided Brahms with a texture that here by the various voices is further the “Ländler”. The slow movement in D 1850 and was the first to “raise the sextet appealed to his preference for a full sound, amplified. The expanded string ensemble minor presents five variations in an almost to the level of sophisticated chamber and definitely challenged his growing provides Brahms with a double advantage Baroque-like ambience, and perhaps most music” (Finscher). interest in the orchestral possibilities of — the chance to act on his preference clearly expresses Brahms’s preference for chamber music. for polyphonic subtleties and variation orchestral colours. The theme presented by 5 6 the viola, supported by chords in the bass cantabile timbre, which provides a mental or in octaves. Instead, the focus here is character, to which a cheerful contrast voices, is reminiscent of a stylized dance link to the first movement. on the motivic relationship between the is then provided by the trio. The “stacked from the Baroque, the “folie d’espagne”. movements, with great emphasis on the fourths” (Handscheid) of the Adagio refer Alternating as soloists, the instruments Brahms is said to have pronounced the contrapuntal development of the motifs to the first movement, contrapuntally intensify the emotional liveliness of the following words on his Sextet, Op. 36: and themes. Thus, Brahms also presents contrasted by means of a plaintively sighing first three variations right up to the “Here, I freed myself of my last love.” The the main theme of the first movement melody, until variations with primarily wild demisemiquaver runs in the cellos. composer was probably alluding to the in inversion and as a four-part canon: contrapuntal techniques turn up to attend Variations Nos. 4 and 5 are written in the dissolution of his engagement to Agathe clearly, the music scholar is at work here. to the oppressive scenery. The harmonically major key, and are either cantabile in von Siebold in 1858. In the music, he built Perhaps this helps to explain why it took and thematically contradictory finale is a character or most intricately composed a monument to his former beloved with so long for the G-major Sextet to assert truly dichotomous sonata movement, in in the high register, virtually without bass a sequence of notes in the subsidiary itself in the performance repertoire? Or which the “pope among critics” Eduard accompaniment. Clara Schumann was theme of the first movement: in the did the extremely modern-sounding, Hanslick claimed to discern a “mechanically so impressed by this movement that she highest violin position, a-g-a-d-h-e (h tauntingly iridescent beginning of the pounding and tiresome reflection,” rather begged Brahms for a piano transcription of is the German equivalent of the note b) work also play a role? The viola strikes up than the “warm and lively pulse of it, which he gave her as a birthday gift in rings out exultantly. A musical code by a changing note between an open and the music”. September 1860 (Theme and Variations in D means of which the otherwise reserved a stopped string, while the violin keeps Minor).The brisk Scherzo with its well-nigh composer could reveal his feelings. In the listener harmonically off-balance by Jörg Peter Urbach frisky and exuberant trio does not end as addition to this extra-musical note, the playing a sequence of ascending fifths. (transl.: Fiona J. Stroker-Gale) usual with a repetition of the main section, G-major work mainly distinguishes itself The wonderful lyricism then makes its but rather with a coda in trio tempo — a from its predecessor in one aspect: it is entrance in the cantabile melody of the most effective conclusion, to which the truly a composition written specifically second theme presenting the “Agathe” comparatively slow pace of the finale as chamber music. One seeks in vain the motif. The Scherzo in G minor that follows provides a wonderful contrast. The final typically orchestral sections of the B-major on as the second movement, based on an movement strikes a typically serenade-like sextet, and only very rarely does one come early piano work by the composer, has a tone, with a gently cradling theme and a across several instruments playing in unison harmlessly Baroque-like, slightly melancholy 7 8 Cristian Suvaiala, Violin Carola Nasdala, Violin a member since 1994.