Brahms: O Welt ich muss dich lassen (#2) - Bradley Lehman

[meschtei1971]

Brahms, do host a scheiss-variation gmocht.bessa wos eigenes komponiern!

[organman52]

The metric unit is the half note in this piece, not the quarter note. This is too slow as a result, and it is entirely too ponderous, not to mention the constant fluctuations in tempo. The latter will probably be 'justified' by 'interpretation.'

[thebpl]

@organman52 I was definitely feeling it in 3/2, not in 6; and hopefully also projecting it in 3, most of the time. If I had felt it in 6, I would have done the accentuation entirely differently, both in articulation and in using different agogic accents. As for basic tempo, the text is about gently yielding into death, and it therefore seems wrong to rush the piece. Sorry you didn't like it.

[organman52]

@thebpl There is no way this sounds like the half note is the beat - or metric unit (the better terminology). My guess is that you had not even thought of the issue of meter signature, but simply played the piece as you felt it. Most performers I have known do not give the deserved importance to the meter signature. Brahms is always specific. Again, your rendition sounds like the quarter note is the pulse. To play it a bit faster and more steadily will not damage the text's meaning in any way.