Music Video Lesson: Brahms & Ravel VS Tchaikovsky & Beethoven

Welcome to living pianos.com, Robert Estrin here. The subject today may be really strange sounding to you, Brahms and Ravel versus Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.

You might think I've gone off the deep end with this one, or wonder what could I possibly be talking about? Well, for one thing, these are four great composers, and this indeed is not a contest, it's just an interesting observation, but a fundamental difference among composers.

I chose these four composers, because there is something that Brahms and Ravel share and that Beethoven and Tchaikovsky share. And I bet you're dying to know what it is. And I wonder how many of you at this point, if you stop this YouTube video and think about it, or if you're reading this article, you stop and think, and think if you can figure out what I could possibly be bringing up. Well, here is what it is.

As I said, these are four phenomenal composers, and with a tremendous output of great music, but there is a fundamental difference in how they presented their music to the public, which lives on to this day. Look, for example, at Brahms and Tchaikovsky, since they are both 19th century Romantic composers, who wrote a bunch of works.

Well, Tchaikovsky actually wrote six symphonies, and Brahms wrote four symphonies. So the output of Tchaikovsky is a little bit bigger than Brahms in this regard. However, if you look in what orchestras typically program, it's only three of the Tchaikovsky symphonies that get 90% of the play.

The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth symphonies are played constantly. They're played in public performance and recording. If you were to search out how many different recordings there are of those latter three symphonies, it's far greater than his first three symphonies. Not that those early works were mediocre, by any stretch of the imagination. However, the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphony are arguably better works that has earlier ones.

So what about Brahms? He wrote four symphonies. Could you say that maybe the third and fourth are better than the first two? I don't think so. As a matter of fact, you might have a favorite, but you couldn't honestly say that any of those Brahms symphonies, one is better than the next.

Why is this? Because Brahms destroyed any music he didn't feel was on the absolute highest level. So we don't know what Brahms wrote that wasn't his absolute best. Tchaikovsky, on the other hand, wrote a lot of works and some of them are phenomenally great. For example, his B-flat Minor Piano Concerto.

Everybody knows and loves that concerta, but that is his second piano concerto. What about the first concerto? I don't even know it particularly, and you probably don't either, because it's seldom played. The second concerto is a blockbuster everybody knows and loves.

So Tchaikovsky released whatever he had, whereas Brahms was more selective. And the same thing is true of Ravel.

Beethoven, on the other hand, look at Beethoven. Nine symphonies. Now, there is not a bad symphony among them. They're all great. However, if you look at, generally, the odd-numbered symphonies are the ones that are really enriching, and played much more than the even-numbered ones.

In general, they're all great worthwhile works, but you could arguably say that the Seventh and Ninth, for example, and the Third compared to the Fourth, I mean, not that they're bad works, because it's all great, it's Beethoven. But there are some Beethoven that's better than some other Beethoven, arguably, and have lived on more.

32 piano sonatas, there are some that are absolutely stupendous, they're all worthwhile. But some are arguably better, the Appassionata, and the Hammerklavier and the Pathetique, yet there are other sonatas that are not played as much. They're still worthwhile works. He let it all out, for better or for worse, and they're all worthwhile.

So the question is, if Brahms and Ravel had released more of their music that maybe wasn't up to their highest standard, would we be richer for it? Because I certainly wouldn't want to have less Beethoven, and less Tchaikovsky works out there, even if they're not among the absolute cream of those composers. So it's a different methodology.

And I'm curious as to what your feeling is about this, about composers being very selective and self-editing, before the music even gets out to the public, so that we only have the greatest works of Brahms and Ravel.

But with Beethoven, there are some works that are still great, but not as great as other works. And the same thing goes for Tchaikovsky. I hope this has been interesting for you, and in the comments, if you can list other composers, you feel released, maybe things they shouldn't have, or composers, you wish they had released more, maybe they were too selective. It's a tough thing as a composer, knowing which things to release, and which things to hold back.

The same thing is true as a performer. If you have performances, or recordings of concerts, or recordings that you made in the studio, which ones to release, and which ones to hold back? It's always a question, and you wonder which way to go.

Thanks again. I'm Robert Estrin here at livingpianos.com, your online piano resource, lots more content to come. And Patreon is an option for you, if you want even more things you can't get anywhere else on the internet.

Thanks for joining me. We'll see you next time.

Find the original source of this video at this link: https://livingpianos.com/brahms-ravel-vs-tchaikovsky-beethoven/

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