A little Brahms to kick off the Weekend is always a good thing. Perhaps it will even inspire myself a little to work on my two papers coming up.

I thought I'd try and start something here by featuring some orchestral work on every Friday. As most of the focus in the previous posts has been on piano music, this blog in general is for the love of "music," and with it comes other forms, obviously.

I thought I'd start with Brahms mostly because it was his third symphony I was listening too when I decided to post. But also, why not start off strongly with a Romantic great?

Brahms' Symphony No.3 in F Major, Op.90 was written in the summer of 1883 at Wiesbaden coming nearly six years after the completion of the second symphony. This was a period of great intellectual and emotional clarity for Brahms as some of his greatest works came within that span. Among them, the Violin Concerto and the mammoth Second Piano Concerto.

It was premiered in Vienna on December 2, 1883 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under direction of Hans Richter, who had been bold enough as to proclaim the symphony as Brahms own"Eroica.

In examining some subtle irony here, Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony was also the third one he composed. Beethoven's third was considered by many the birth of Romanticism in music and with such emotional intensity found within its composition, the connections to Brahms' third are overwhelmingly simple.

The symphony itself is perhaps Brahms most elusive and daring. It modulates adventurously in the first movement and contains a strong connection in establishing thematic inter-relationships between voices, a trend borrowed from Schumann nonetheless. Whilst many label the symphony as dark and dramatic, it is not without its sublime, more heavenly moments as heard in the introduction of the andante second movement. Hans Zimmer must have loved this movement as I hear several flashbacks to the "Lion King." You can watch the second movement here. There's a great write up about it in the description

It wouldn't be me if I didn't include the finale movement as well. I find it is the most emotionally troublesome and dramatic of the symphony. A tumultuous tumble beginning in F minor, seeking its way through so much adversity before resolving in the much anticipated F Major, where the symphony ends. The coda is rather subdued, which is particularly unusual for Brahms but much like Beethoven, so much turmoil and dissent needs to be properly resolved. The Finale simply fading away makes it perfect in my mind, it' like watching the clouds fade away and the sky brightening up after a huge storm. You can watch the fourth movement here

The Best Recording I have heard of this symphony in my young life is of the BRT Philharmonic Orchestra in Brussel with Alexander Rahbari. However Karl Bohm, the conductor in the two videos brings a vitality to the second movement unscaled by the Rahbari recording.

Now to go think about how I can follow up Brahms next Friday...