Brahms string quartet no 3

 Day 95

Brahms String quartet no 3 in B flat major op 67

Artemis Quartet

Brahms has always been a complete mystery to me. I simply do not understand why he is ranked among the great composers. I've never found a way to make any sense of his music. Over the years I have played almost all of the orchestral works and while they are highly enjoyable as pieces to perform - he really knows how to to use the Contrabassoon - I don't find being in the middle of the music brings any greater appreciation. There are some beautiful moment of course, but to me nothing really fits together. Melodies start well but peter out and to me all to often the music drifts without any real sense of purpose. I know that these are heretical views and that for many Brahms is revered for his melodic gifts and sense of form. Perhaps one day all will become clear - though I played the 2nd symphony only a couple of weeks ago and I still felt very much the same.  Still I am not entirely alone in feeling this about Brahms - Tchaikovsky and Britten, to name only two composers, were very scathing indeed in what they said about his music.

I think at some stage years ago I might have heard this string quartet, when I was making an effort to get to know Brahms, but if I did I don't remember any of it.  Listening to it today brought back all of my feelings about the composer. Some attractive parts but nothing seemed to hang together and all too often the sense of line was interrupted. One of my biggest bugbears about Brahms is the constant interaction between 3/4 and 6/8 - he seems unable to stick to one or the other for any extended length of time. That was certainly true here and it continued to irritate me!  The last movement is in variation form - so at least it was possible to follow what he was trying to do. But towards the end there is a sudden intrusion of the opening material of the first movement.  I can see on paper that he was trying to show that there was some commonality in the shape of that material and his variation theme, but as a purely aural experience it just jarred.

So this was not the moment when I had a revelation from on high and the greatness of Brahms revealed itself to me - perhaps it will happen one day. After all, as I have mentioned here, it did with Handel and Rameau. But time is running out..........