Brahms- Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, op. 68 Part II
We continue our discussion of Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C Minor with movements II and III.
- Un poco sostenuto- Allegro
- Andante sostenuto
- Un poco allegretto e grazioso
- Adagio- Piu andante- Allegro non troppo
II. Andante sostenuto
The second movement begins with a simple rising motive in the strings that soon descends. A bass line wells up from the depths (0:24) and plays a countermelody to the high strings. At 1:11 the oboe enters with theme two, a lyric but somewhat sad melody accompanied by quiet, sustained winds and brass and unobtrusive accompaniment in the strings. At 1:55 a syncopated ascent in the strings leads to sweeping sustained string figures accompanied by the syncopated rhythm in the low strings and winds. The oboe returns at 2:38 and is soon joined by the flute over the rhythmic string figures setting the pace of the movement. The music seems to gather momentum , building up to a forte at 3:33 before immediately dropping to piano. Ascending strings and sustains in the winds lead to a four-note motive passed around the winds and strings (4:02). Another rising string/wind motive descends into a pause in the movement with only a soft timpani roll. This quiet moment almost at the dead center of the movement is actually the climax- a turning point after which the themes have changed from their original incarnation. Very subtle!
After the timpani roll the music returns to the peaceful, flowing melody we first heard in the strings, except now it is now played in the high winds. The winds begin to replay the oboe theme from the first half of the movement, but are interrupted by the strings. The solo violin plays the oboe melody (6:00) against pizzicato strings and accompanied by the horn. At 6:44 the horn takes over as the violin slowly weaves around its melody and steady rhythms in the lower voices. The winds alternate rising and falling motives in turn echoed by the solo violin before a chorale-like passage (7:32) in the brass. A string ascent is echoed by the winds before the solo violin ends the movement sustaining on a high note.
The second movement contains the only solo to be played by the concertmaster in the whole of Brahms’ orchestral music.
III. Un poco allegretto e grazioso
The third movement provides a much-needed respite from the emotional rigors of the first two movements. It is in ternary form (not strictly Minuet and Trio, because it is not a dance movement), with a general structure ABA.
It begins with a cheerful melody in the clarinet over a walking pizzicato bass line. The orchestra plays to support the endings of the clarinet’s opening phrases before an even brighter and carefree descent in the flutes (0:14) leads to a restatement of the theme in the orchestral strings accompanied by clarinet arpeggios. Another descent in the flutes, this time in a minor key (0:59), leads to tense eighth notes in the low strings and a new theme (theme two) in the clarinet. The flute takes over before the winds play in unison (1:09). A wind/string dialogue ensues, followed soon after by the return of the first phrase of theme one.
The B section begins at 1:41 and is built entirely off of a 3-note motive. It starts in the flutes and is immediately followed by a descent in the strings. The flutes rise and descend before the horn and clarinet repeat the phrase. The motive is returned to the flute (1:53) and then the brass, before the strings break out of their role as accompaniment and finally get to play a bit of the melody. More motives in the flutes before sequencing the entire theme upwards. The string accompaniment becomes more decorative (2:09) before a pulsing orchestral rendition of the theme leads to the entrance of the trumpets at 2:26. The section reaches a mini-climax, after which the entire theme is repeated. The music builds to another climax, but this time the trumpets give the music a more serious tone followed by a four-note descent in the strings, another trumpet call and a pizzicato string descent back into the A section.
Section A is repeated beginning at 3:22. It is played through once as we’ve already heard it, but at 4:05 the low strings take up the melody, which dissolves into a dotted descent in the winds paired with a matching ascent in the strings. The “B” theme is repeated wistfully in the high strings and descending low winds before the movement ends softly with a pizzicato note in the high strings and a final, resonating 3-note descent from the low strings.
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If you are interested in listening to a recording, I recommend Wolfgang Sawwalish’s 2007 recording with the London Philharmonic on EMI. You can buy this recording from Amazon by clicking on the image below (download only). Alternatively, you can purchase this recording from the iTunes Music Store often at a reduced price by following the link below.
This article is part of the Music 365 series. To find out more about this project, please visit the project homepage.
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