Search - Johannes Brahms, Daniel Barenboim, Chicago Symphony Orchestra :: Brahms: Symphony No. 2; Tragic Overture

Like many composers, Brahms loved to work in the country during holidays; he wrote the Tragic Overture in 1880 in Bad Ischl, the Second Symphony in 1877 in Pörtschach, a lovely village on the Wörthersee. Unlike the First Symphony, finally completed in 1876 after many laborious years, the Second was composed in one summer in an unbroken flow of inspiration; its peaceful, pastoral serenity and jubilant high spirits reflect Brahms's contentment in the countryside, where he also wrote his Violin Concerto the following summer. His friend Theodore Billroth, physician and amateur pianist, described the symphony as "all rippling streams, blue skies, sunshine, and cool, green shadows." In the Tragic Overture, composed, according to Brahms, merely to satisfy the melancholy side of his nature, the dark, dramatic tension is immediately established in the powerful major-minor opening; the relentless syncopated rhythmic accompaniment acts like a driving, surging undertow. The tension is relieved by a warm, lyrical, ardent second theme, but the agitation prevails in a turbulent coda. The performance is grandly conceived, flowing yet expansive, flexible and expressive; Barenboim projects a strong personal response to the music in all its changing moods, yet lets it speak for itself. The playing is wonderful, but the recorded sound exaggerates the dynamics. --Edith Eisler