Dmitri Bashkirov plays Brams Intermezzo Es Moll # 6, Op. 118

[achoacho46]

he was born in georgia 

[suzettegm]

Solitude.....

[maxpakhomov]

excellent performance.

[Xman1993]

It IS a really depressing piece, about his best friend,who passed away and the middle part is a funeral march...Brahms himself indicated in the tempo part the italian word "mesto"- which is much more negative than sad...

[caijpp]

For me, funeral marches are never depressing. Rather than seeing them as mournings for the dead, I see them as a confirmation by the spirits of the living.

[suzettegm]

Very interesting performance of my favorite (depressing?) Brahms piece, thanks Truecrypt!

[snaaptaker]

My favorite Brahms piece, too, Josette. But I think it's Brahms' most heavenly (not depressing) piece. Perhaps the performance was a bit depressing....?

[suzettegm]

Hi snaaptaker, actually I agree with you, this is not a depressing piece (hence the question mark)I was referring to the comment of sagalat below. Best wishes, Josette

[cziffra1980]

Not depressing? This is surely one of the darkest pieces of music ever written. I think the clear allusion to the dies irae shows what this piece is about.

[suzettegm]

Dear cziffra1980, I guess we could argue about this a great deal.For me this is not depressing in spite of the allusion that's certainly there. Brahms never depresses me, but rather when severely depressed I take recourse to Brahms and next to (or after) the ddepression there always seems to be in his music and also in this piece some acceptance of the losses we all have to face. kind regards, Josette.

[cziffra1980]

These things are always subjective to an extent,but I find it hard to see how anyone could view this as more heavenly rather than dark. Every time there is a ray of light, Brahms pulls it back down. The middle section is heroic and noble for a time, but the music soon descends into a collossal struggle, before being returning into the darkness of the opening. Also, at the end there is absolutely no sense of the mood having been resolved. The piece resigns itself to an extremely dark minor close.

[suzettegm]

Sure, he pulls it back down but that (for me)

is the marvelous "restraint" in Brahms's music, he's not one for crying out loud but rather keeps this ironclad grip on himself..oh well, what can I say but that this utterly fails to get me depressed, maybe you're saying that Brahms was feeling depressed when writing this but I even doubt that. What more can I say? It must be subjective then. I agree with Snaaptaker on this.Not denying what you're saying though.

[cziffra1980]

I don't really see this piece as being restrained though, rather I think that the manner in which Brahms is usually performed is restrained. There's an rather unusual performance of this by Nyiregyhazi that really brings out the darkness. He makes the passage at around 4.10 sound extremely tortured (unlike in this performance) and it's the most tragic performance I've heard. He disobeys a number of markings, but personally I think he captures the spirit of this piece better than anyone.

[cziffra1980]

As for what Brahms was feeling, I have no idea for sure, but for him to allude so directly to the dies irae suggests plenty to me. I think this piece shares a similar mood to Rachmaninov's etude tableaux in A minor (with the same motif).

[Noshirm]

I wholly agree! I think there is a difference here between 'wistful' and 'depressing'. There is also beauty to be found in these measures. I don't hear the middle section as a funeral march at all - I hear in it a certain determination, almost a fist-shaking at physical death, which is understood by the soul as a temporary separation from those it loves. The piece ends not depressingly, but mysteriously, and with a hint of calm resignation, even acceptance, of the finality of mortal existence.

[suzettegm]

Why, thank you for your comment, I'd all but forgotten about this exchange. And I like your allusion of "fist shaking" very much, that's exactly how it feels. Moreover trere's balance and justice in this piece. How could that be depressing?

[Noshirm]

Merci beacoup for the invite, and I do accept! (:-D) I thought your stance made a lot of sense, and I felt as you did about this music. It really is rather tiresome when people seek to bludgeon one with their point of view...it does border on the rabid, don't you think?! It's one thing to tender an opinion - but QUITE another to seek to hammer it home as gospel truth. Suffice it to say you've earned my respect, Suzette! Let's keep up our Marche des Davidsbundler contre les Philistines, shall we?

[suzettegm]

Done deal! Though I'm often marching rather slowly, oh well.

[Noshirm]

Slow or fast, Madame - the march must be steady, n'est-ce pas? (:-D) A BAS les Philistines!

[suzettegm]

Right, let's beat them into submission....ooops, now WHAT did I say??? ;)

[Noshirm]

I have learned that one can never 'win' an argument - one can simply seek, with varying degrees of 'success', to more or less impose one's point of view on others, or at the very least, to seek to convince them that one's views are somehow better informed, even 'superior'. Ugh! The truth is that one simply has to learn to agree to disagree - without being disagreeable. That is a fine balancing act; people often lose their balance therein! (:-D) Submission?! Mais pourquois? Vive la difference!

[caijpp]

Bravo! You've found your balance!

[sagalat]

Profound and penetrating performance of this gorgeous depressing piece