I am obsessed with Brahms, and my project in life is to record his complete piano works because no one else has really made a spectacular recording. They all seem to pound his music out or have poor sound quality. Also, there is this catch phrase out there that "Brahms is Boring" and I amtired of it. No one seems to understand him.

Also, one of my friends called him a 'B' composer which made me furious, stating that his music sounds 'square'.

That's a pretty strong statement.

And fortunately it's wrong.

Brahms' works are performed and studied a lot. Maybe you love Brahms so much that you would like to see him played even more -- and I couldn't argue with that.

I know my teacher greatly enjoys Brahms' work, and so do I. I've played a good number of his keyboard works, too. Indeed, the general musical public doesn't appreciate him as much as he deserves; I do believe, however, that among serious musicians Brahms is usually revered and venerated.

Have you tried the recordings of Brahms by Julius Katchen? We like them quite a bit. I can't remember if he recorded all of Brahms piano repertoire, but if he didn't get all of it, he sure got a lot.

Dan

Nice "katch"!

Amazon page for his multi-CD set
(Offhand, I don't notice anything missing there.)

Where in the name of god do you live? That's definitely not the case here.. Brahms is loved, and his chamber works at least get played tons. Not just chamber, solo too - in fact I've had quite enough of op. 117 or the Rhapsodies =P I wish people would play other stuff of his. I'd love to play the 3rd violin sonata, or the Handel variations for two pianos. Brahms is awesome!

Julius Katchen recorded Brahms' complete piano works. Do you not like his recording?

Assume you meant 'Haydn' for 'Handel'.

I've played the piano part of the G major violin sonata, would love to do the others someday.

Brahms is indeed awesome -love the early piano works, especially the F minor sonata and Eb minor Scherzo- and I confess I have no idea what the OP means. There are a number of fine composers who I might think 'neglected', but Brahms is certainly not one of them. Very few of his compositions are not in the repertory, though singers could be a bit more adventurous in programming the lieder. The usual suspects tend to dominate.

Yeah, she did -- an easy mistake to make, and one that's made all the time.
And it even looked right to me.

We all do it. In the Gulda thread a few days ago I said that Gulda recorded the Mozart 2 piano concerto with Herbie Hancock. In my haste I slipped up... Chick Corea after all.

I see the Katchen recommendation is covered several times over. Good work everyone.

I have noticed that his chamber works are performed more often than his solo works, but Op. 76-119, the Handel and Paganini Variations, the Ballades, and the Concertos are staples of the repertoire.

^ I have the Katchen set also. (Should have mentioned that!)

My worst mistake like that: One time at a concert, I announced a Scarlatti piece as "Köchel" number whatever.
(Somebody in the audience yelled out "Kirkpatrick!")

I guess that must be so in some places, because a couple of you said it, but it's not my experience. From where I've been, the chamber works are performed a whole lot, and the solo works are performed a whole lot.

I love Brahms! I don't know how much his works are played around here, but a few of his intermezzos seem to turn up on the ABRSM grade 8 syllabus fairly frequently.

Katchen playing the Hungarian Dances is my current Brahms-recording hero.

(Well, except for Christa Ludwig and the Alto Rhapsody, but that's not fair. The Hungarian Dances don't make me cry until I play them. )

Who do you consider a B composer yourself? I'm interested in this, because there are people who consider almost all composer's A composer, and don't mind saying that a Strauss and Bach were equal in abilities

Strauss... Richard Strauss? No 'B' composer there.

I wouldn't exactly rate Ricky on the level of John, but I could not live without either. Both of them speak to me quite differently, though I love them both. Don't know when I'll be whistling Schoenberg anytime soon. Not the most charismatic music I should think...

I just found that Perahia has recorded the Handel variations ... can't wait to listen to that. I saw him performing this work last year and he was grande. Katchen 's recording is awesome too, as well as Arrau's and Richter's live recording on DoReMi (he must ve been like 75 when he recorded those, btw).

Oh, yes--I do have the Julius Katchen recordings which are marvelous!!! However, the sound production/engineering is quite poor, and not in a charming, old-fashioned way. The ballades sound so far away (though played perfectly) and I have to turn my volume up to the max to hear them. The loud parts then sound too loud (which I know is a common thing to say about classical recordings, but it doesn't have to be that way if recorded properly). Ironically, my friend who is a professional, revered pianist (the same one who said Brahms is a 'B' composer) says that the Katchen recordings sound like a novice is playing them--not fluid, choppy and sloppy, ha!
Believe it or not, because of this Brahms blasphemy, I told him I would not speak to him again until he had learned to show Brahms respect. I told him that in his case, with Chopin being his favorite composer (and the composer who is most easy to digest immediately), Brahms would most certainly be an acquired taste for him, since Brahms music is more sophisticated and vast, requiring a longer attention span (I hope I don't get jumped for that statement!).

iHeart,
I'm assuming you've heard Gould's ballade recordings, yes?

I love Brahms! I'm learning the Ballades Op. 10 and they are all wonderful works! I also want to do the entire Op. 116-119, two piano concerti (surprisingly I like 1 better than 2... Is that okay?) and who knows what else? All three violin sonatas plus that scherzo from that sonata composed by multiple composers are wonderful pieces!

Shame on me!

Lol, for the longest time I couldn't figure out why that was bad. "Bach, Beethoven, Brahms...yes, of course he's one of the B composers. It's a source of honor to be in that group right?"

That being said, I have to admit that I don't fully enjoy most of Brahms. If I'm picking and choosing, I can find works that are enjoyable enough, but as far as pieces on my list of all-time favorites, I think I can only include the Paganini Variations, the Hungarian Dances, the Variations in d (from the Sextet) and the Violin Concerto. There are a few others that are reasonably satisfying but may not ever make it to my favorites list like the Ballades, the Rhapsodies, some of the Waltzes, the Scherzo and perhaps some movements of the Sonatas. But as far as all the late opus number small pieces, the remaining variations, etc, they often have interesting themes buried within them, but to my aesthetic sense they are often suffocated with excessive repetition of figures, loss of rhythmic pulse, and a general static sense (perhaps slow harmonic changes, perhaps long distances between occurrences of themes...I'm not sure what all accounts for this feeling). At any rate, I don't mean to argue with you - I'm glad you feel so passionate. Perhaps you and others can provide a description of what Brahms does after he introduces a theme that you find enjoyable? I've known him and listened to his works for about 15 years now, so while I expect my musical tastes to mature throughout my life, I don't consider myself a newbie.

MarkH,

If you want to get into Brahms piano music a bit more, I would strongly suggest the chamber music. I can't imagine anyone not falling deeply in love with the piano Trios, piano Quartets, piano Quintet, violin sonatas and cello sonatas.
They are even more fun to play. Hard as hell though.

One of my favourites performed by the great Neuhaus

I love Brahms. I have not played very much by him, but I love what I have played and want to play more.

I love Katchen's box set. Steven kovacevich also has a (smaller) box set that likely has better audio quality but I don't have it yet.

Mark, Most of Brahms pieces are heavily, acquired tastes because there is so much unique sound...I understand you have been listening for fifteen years, but the question is, how have you been listening? The pieces you mentioned are the most digestible, easy to comprehend upon first listening. His more profound pieces, such as his Piano Concertos (especially the second which is his most exquisite piece after the German Requiem) and his Symphonies are ones that you must listen to over and over--there is no way to grasp their complexities and nuances unless you constantly, conscientiously expose yourself to them. The other pieces you mentioned are just gateways. It will unravel itself eventually--focus on piece at a time for quite some time. I recommend the Second Piano Concerto.