Brahms lived and wrote through the latter half of the nineteenth century. The exact dates of his birth and death are probably only important if you plan to be a "Jeopardy" contestant, in which case you should already be familiar with Brahms.

I recently heard an old Edison wax cylinder recording of Brahms speaking. In English, he said, "Hello, this is Johannes Brahms." It was a tight, squeaky voice. Hardly what you would expect from a composer whose works sound as if they are fashioned from massive granite blocks.

Brahms could do no wrong. There is not a note out of place, nor a moment of wasted time. His music conveys so much dynamic energy, that, I swear, you could light a city for a year on the power generated by one of his symphonies or piano concertos! In particular, I think the 2^ND Piano Concerto is possibly the most exciting and accessible of his many works.

I grew up listening to a recording of the 2^ND Piano Concerto with Rudolph Serkin as the pianist accompanied by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. These two men and this orchestra - Cleveland (yes, Cleveland) were the pre-eminent Brahms interpreters of our time. No one before, and no one since, can do better by Brahms than they.

The 2^ND concerto is a monster. Each of the four movements is full of vigor and drama, and while the piano part is integrated more fully with the orchetral accompaniment than in concertos from earlier periods, it is still rather like a competition - Piano versus Orchestra.

I also recommend the Szell/Cleveland collaboration in the four symphonies that Brahms wrote. But, virtually any recording will do. It's only a matter of tempo. Most conductors "feel" Brahms correctly and I recently heard a recording of the 2nd symphony led by Vladimir Ashkenazy which was very exciting. But, Szell and his Cleveland gang are still my favorites. Especially in the fourth symphony. It is a huge, emotional work,,as are most of Brahms' orchestral works) and they pull it off without getting sentimental (often a problem in interpreting the Romantic composers.)

If you should have the opportunity to obtain, or just watch, a video recording of Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in the Brahms Fourth Symphony, by all means do so. It is a great performance, and it is the finest example of filming of a symphony orchestra that you will ever see.

TCHAIKOVSKY

BEETHOVEN