Johannes Brahms: Serenade No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11
‘Serenade No. 1 in D Major’ was composed in 1857 and it was the first orchestral work by the twenty-four-year-old Brahms to be published in print. The first version of ‘Serenade’ was a chamber piece written for nine instruments, and it was actually performed in this form in Hamburg. Brahms ultimately considered the orchestral version to be his primary work. This version was performed in Hanover in 1860, and the piece was conducted by Joseph Joachim. As for its form, ‘Serenade’ reveals the influence of the Viennese Masters, primarily that of Haydn and Mozart, while the sound and flow of the musical ideas of the composition are reminiscent of Beethoven. The first movement opens with a cheerful, naive horn theme, which creates an almost rural atmosphere. The development of the second theme of the movement is a fine example of the rhythmic complexity that would later become characteristic of Brahms. The second movement (Scherzo) features the contours of the waltz, which was a fashionable ballroom dance of the Romantic era. The slow movement (Adagio non troppo) is considered by many to be one of the cosiest pieces of music written by the young Brahms, with the joint “song” of the clarinets being particularly moving. The fourth movement in G major and then in G minor confirms that in the mid-19th century Brahms still considered the minuet a valid form of dance. The fifth movement is again a Scherzo, in which Brahms now directly presents himself as the heir to Beethoven’s symphonic scherzos: the musical material not only recalls the scherzo of ‘Symphony No. 9’, but – in its thematic material – it also openly refers to a part from the scherzo of ‘Symphony No. 2’. The work is finally rounded off by a light and carefree Rondo.
Béla Bartók: Concerto
Béla Bartók’s ‘Concerto’ was born through inspiration by a conductor, and was commissioned by Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra Serge Koussevitzky. Bartók himself prepared a programme note for the Boston premiere of the piece and wrote: “The general mood of the work represents, apart from the jesting second movement, a gradual transition from the sternness of the first movement and the lugubrious death song of the third, to the life assertion of the last one. […] The title of this symphony-like orchestral work is explained by its tendency to treat the single orchestral instruments in a concertant or soloistic manner. The ‘virtuoso’ treatment appears, for instance, in the fugato sections of the development of the first movement (brass instruments), or in the perpetuum mobile-like passage of the principal theme in the last movement (strings), and especially in the second movement, in which pairs of instruments consecutively appear with brilliant passages.”
When the composition was premiered in Hungary in April 1947, distinguished Hungarian composer and occasional music critic Endre Szervánszky wrote the following: “The concert-goer audience in Budapest happily concluded that this time they understood everything: they shared Bartók’s suppressed deep lyricism and laughed at his grotesque humour. I believe that Bartók’s ‘Concerto’ will rival the greatest works of world music in popularity.”