Oh yes dear....make an exception on this movie! And take tissues cuz I bet your a patriotic sapp like me! lol
This is one of the greatest warhorses in the chamber repertory. As I put it to the late Toby Saks, founder and 30 year Artistic Director of the festival, “It puts asses in seats.” Concerts that feature this piece routinely sell out. Over the next 45 minutes, you’ll hear why.
It was written by the young, athletic Johannes Brahms, years before got fat, grew the full-face beard, and traded in his four-packs-a-day for Cuban stogies. (“They’re rolled on the thighs of fifteen year old virgins,“ he would tell his cronies when he passed them out.)
Haydn introduced sonata format with two subjects in the exposition. Schubert added a third subject, and in this piece Brahms adds a fourth and fifth subject. As a result, the exposition is so long that he doesn’t bother with repeat markings.
It starts quietly in G minor, in 4/4 and marked “allegro”, with a theme that turns pensive and then breathtaking.
At 1:46, the second subject enters in D minor with the cello taking the lead, followed by the piano.
At 2:47, the violin and viola play the next subject in unison, symphonic style, while the piano and cello work around it. That tune is one of the juiciest things Brahms ever wrote.
At 3:32, the newest subject is in D Major, and it’s even juicier. The piano and viola introduce it while the cello supports it and the violin stays silent for the moment. Then the violin jumps in, and the moment is glorious. He liquidates it by using the main motif of the first subject broken into pieces by the strings in unison against arpeggios on the piano, a kind of self-development
At 5:45, you think he’s going to repeat the exposition, but he quickly takes off on the development. He breaks up the first subject into more segments with strings against piano. He liquidates this by disconnecting the concept of key and softening it
At 8:17, he brings back the earlier D Major subject in G Major.
He recaps at 9:15. Deleting the subjects he worked with in the development, he goes into the unison passage, then takes the earlier D Major subject and hands it to the strings in G minor, but very quietly.
The coda begins at 12:14, and it builds to an amazing climax before ending quietly and a bit sullenly.
These videos feature four of the greats: Emmanuel Ax on piano, the late Isaac Stern on violin, Jamie Laredo on viola, and Yo-Yo Ma on cello.