Symphony 4

Although the majority of performers and listeners nowadays are enthusiastic about the music of Brahms, it has to be admitted that is has not always been everyone's cup of tea. George Bernard Shaw, whose provocative yet thoroughly readable critical writings on music fill three large volumes, was one of the unconverted. According to his review in 1890 of a concert conducted by Hans Richter, Shaw's humour was first put out by a performance of Wagner's "Rienzi" Overture. "I am fastidious as to the quality of tone, however voluminous it may be; and, frankly, the Valkyrie Ride might as well be conducted by Buffalo Bill as Richter, if some regard is not paid to the artistic spirit, if not to the snobbish expression of Sterndale Bennett's remark about treating trombone players as gentlemen". Matters did not improve with Brahms' Fourth Symphony. "Euphemism, which is the beginning and end of Brahms' big works, is no more to my taste in music than in literature. Brahms takes an essentially commonplace theme; gives it a strange air by dressing it in the most elaborate and far-fetched harmonies; keeps his countenance severely (which at once convinces an English audience that he must have a great deal in him); and finds that a good many wiseacres are ready to guarantee him as deep as Wagner and the true heir of Beethoven. Strip off the euphemism from these symphonies and you will find a string of incomplete dance and ballad tunes, following one another with no more organic coherence than the succession of passing images reflected in a shop window in Piccadilly during any twenty minutes in the day".

After such an onslaught something must be done to restore Brahms' battered image. It may well be true that, in the past, performances of Brahms' symphonies were concocted with too much Yorkshire pudding and not enough soufflé, thus over-emphasising the serious. Or, as Shaw puts it, "His symphonies are endured at the Richter concerts as sermons are endured and his Requiem is patiently borne only by the corpse". It is likely that once Brahms' symphonies were endowed with the historical mantle of depth and solemnity, the minds of performers and listeners were tuned only to accept a serious interpretation. The perspective of time, the more recent thrilling advocacy of so many leading conductors and the lasting popularity of Brahms' four splendid symphonies has changed our view. Of course, in his symphonies, Brahms builds mighty structures, but it is now clear that the music, imbued with rich emotional and intellectual depths, has the necessary lightness and shade to give the balance that Shaw found so wanting. A further vindication of our current view of Brahms' symphonies is that the conventional criticism of his orchestration as thick and muddy has been answered by more sensitive playing and better balance of orchestral tone. In the end, the music makes its own case, unperturbed by special pleading however ardently propounded.

Scored for the conventional orchestra of the time, Brahms' Fourth Symphony is laid out in four contrasted movements. The wide-ranging opening theme given to the first and second violins is supported by a rippling accompaniment from the lower strings and light chords from the woodwind. Immediately repeated with subtle decoration, this theme gives way to the second main idea, a short declamatory statement leading to a typically Brahmsian cantabile melody. The whole architectural and thematic structure of the movement is derived from this material. It is always fascinating to see how a great master constructs his music, often, as here, from simple resources - the four note opening of Beethoven's Fifth springs to mind. The second movement of Brahms' Fourth Symphony starts with just such a simple phrase, firstly on the horns then taken up by the woodwind. The listener is led to believe that the music will continue in the minor key of the first movement but, in a highly imaginative moment, the music is uplifted into the major key for the statement of a languid melody on the clarinet upheld by gentle pizzicato strings. That this simple idea can be imbued with the intensity that follows is the mark of sheer genius. The movement ends serenely but not before the strings, at full power, sing out one of the most passionate passages in the whole of Brahms' music, so full of feeling that a short break in the flow is then necessary to relax heightened emotions.

The third movement is a joyous affair with the compelling rhythmic urgency only briefly disturbed by a lyrical central section. The final movement is a tour de force with the whole of the musical argument based on the opening eight-bar theme which is clearly heard repeated over and over again. Emboldened and transformed by the composer's skilful touch, this motif becomes the bedrock of a structure which grows in stature, breaking out in sheer exuberance to a triumphant conclusion. It is noteworthy that Brahms holds back the introduction of the mighty trombones to his score until this inspirational fourth movement.