Hyperion Records

Although many listeners may regard Brahms as one of the last bastions of the Romantic Period, he was not a mainstream Romantic, but rather maintained a Classical sense of form and order within his works – in contrast to the opulence and excesses of many of his contemporaries. Thus many admirers (though not necessarily Brahms himself) saw him as the champion of traditional forms and "pure music," as opposed to the New German embrace of program music. With the possible exception of Anton Bruckner, Brahms was arguably unmatched as a symphonist in the late 19th century. His symphonies helped revive a virtually moribund genre, and inspired such composers as Gustav Mahler and Jean Sibelius. Though he was viewed as diametrically opposed to Wagner during his lifetime, it is incorrect to characterize Brahms as a reactionary. His point of view looked both backward and forward; his output was often bold in harmony and expression, prompting Arnold Schoenberg to write his 1933 essay "Brahms the Progressive", which paved the way for the re-evaluation of Brahms's reputation in the 20th century. Only in recent decades have scholars begun to examine Brahms's remarkably original rhythmic conceptions, which include 5- and 7-beat meters. Brahms himself had considered giving up composition at a time when all notions of tonality were being stretched to their limit and that further expansion would seemingly only result in the rules of tonality being broken altogether. But he offered substantial encouragement to Schoenberg's teacher Alexander Zemlinsky, and was apparently much impressed by two movements of Schoenberg's early Quartet in D major which Zemlinsky showed him.