Performing Brahms: Early Evidence of Performance Style(Musical Performance and Reception)

Although the music of Brahms is central to the lives of classical performers and listeners, few know how Brahms and his contemporaries performed his music. This study brings most of the available evidence into a single volume, along with commentary by leading Brahms experts. Most importantly, the book contains an unique CD of historic recordings--including an actual performance by Brahms--which provides tangible insight and a greater appreciation of the composer.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; 1. How different was Brahms's playing style from our own? Bernard D. Sherman; 2. Performing Brahms's music: clues from his letters Styra Avins; 3. Joachim's violin playing and the performance of Brahms's string music Clive Brown; 4. Metronome marks and timings Bernard D. Sherman; 5. Performance issues in A German Requiem Michael Musgrave with Appendix: 'Ein deutsches Requiem', Siegfried Ochs, introduced and translated by Michael Musgrave; 6. Fanny Davies and Brahms's late chamber music George S. Bozarth; 7. Flexible tempo and nuancing in orchestral music: Understanding Brahms's view of interpretation in his Second Piano Concerto and Fourth Symphony Robert Pascall and Philip Weller; 8. Brahms in the Meiningen Tradition: His Symphonies and Haydn Variations in the Markings by Fritz Steinbach Edited by Walter Blume, Excerpt: The First Symphony Walter Frisch (translation and introduction); 9. In search of Brahms's First Symphony: Steinbach, the Meiningen tradition and the recordings of Hermann Abendroth Walter Frisch; 10. Early trends in the recorded performance of Brahms's music Michael Musgrave; 11. Performing Brahms in the Style Hongrois Jonathan Bellman; 12. Brahms's musical world: balancing the evidence Robert Philip; Appendix: Introduction to supplementary CD and list of contents; Discography.

About the Author :
Michael Musgrave is Emeritus Professor of Music at Goldsmiths' College, University of London but lives in New York. He is author of The Musical Life of the Crystal Palace, The Music of Brahms, Brahms: A German Requiem and the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Brahms. Bernard D. Sherman is the author of Inside Early Music (1997) and the essay 'Authenticity in Music' in The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (1998). He contributes regularly to The New York Times, and his work has appeared in Early Music, Historical Performance, The American Brahms Society Newsletter, and many other publications.

Review :
'… this is a fascinating book.' Early Music