Innocence and Experience: The romance of Brahms meets Britain's Britten

By Southern Sinfonia 

In our unique and very special concert, we are celebrating a number of themes: youth and age, anniversary and remembrance, and competition and rivalry. The edgy, complex Britten, whose centenary we celebrate this year, hated Brahms’ music and, indeed, wrote “It’s not bad Brahms I mind; it’s good Brahms I can’t stand”. Our soloists, two up-and-coming 20 year old winners of the Newbury Young Musician of the Year competition, are introducing this note of controversy, with a movement from his Piano and Violin Concertos respectively.

Alexander Hohenthal, Southern Sinfonia’s Leader, discusses the importance of young people, including our winners, in classical music in our latest video. Young people, he said, have “freshness, and that genuine heartfelt first time experience, [which is] unique and something that one should always help, and foster”. Here, he is touching upon something not thought about or discussed as much as it should be. Usually when discussing the importance of introducing classical music to the younger generation, it is presented as a way to keep the art form alive, to sell tickets and explore new talent. What is rarely talked about is why this talent is so powerful and engaging. The fresh, bordering-on-nervous energy of a younger performer, not jaded by experience, can manifest itself into a compelling performance.

This freshness and edginess suits the programming of Benjamin Britten perfectly. A strange mixture of savage rawness and habitual predictability, Britten ran his life “as he would have run a farm or small business” (Paul Kildea, one of Britten’s biographers). His sister comments that he was “at his studio desk by 9am at the latest, remaining until 1pm; a walk after lunch, during which more of the music was mapped in his head and sometimes sung, to the amusement of passing villagers; three more hours at his desk.” However, with a controversial and questionable personal life, he was no mere creature of habit. While capable of forming deep and lasting friendships, he created what he termed ‘Ben’s corpses’ – people in whom he had lost interest.

None other than Bernstein hinted at something more sinister; “when you hear Britten’s music…you become aware of something dark”. While musically and personally vastly different to Brahms, both composers are familiar with these dark and morbid overtones. Indeed, Brahms’ final symphony, the Fourth, composed in 1885, sees his symphonic writing reach its tragic climax. This symphony epitomises perfectly the nature of Brahms’ compositional method; distinct from the progressive German movement of Liszt and Wagner, intrinsically connected to classicism in terms of form, in the likes of Beethoven and his contemporaries, yet in itself distinct from any other composer. It is by no means a coincidence that Brahms was one of the first great composers that was also a musicologist; also a voracious listener of Bach, the final movement of this symphony uses a melody from one of Bach’s cantatas. The influences of Palestrina are also evident.

The first movement of the Fourth Symphony shows why Brahms has been said to be able to “create something out of nothing”. The first melody is constructed from the famously simple motif of two descending notes, each one an interval of a third. It is subsequently developed by a canon in the woodwind, a contrapuntal technique synonymous with earlier periods of music. The final movement is a rare example of a symphonic passacaglia, drawing on elements of sonata form and theme and variations (an extremely popular technique in the 19^th Century). Brahms’ brings rationality to a seemingly complex sound, and again highlights his talent in creating complexity out of simple and basic techniques. The conclusion is categorically macabre, ending dramatically in minor tonality, exhibiting Brahms’ burgeoning preoccupation with death as he became older. 

To purchase tickets to 'The romance of Brahms meets Britain's Britten' click here. The concert will take place on Friday 18th October in the beautiful St. Nicolas Church, Newbury. 

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