Music

I don’t know why this symphony came on my mind today but I just felt a need to listen to it, so that’s why I’m posting about it here.
It’s the third symphony of Brahms in F major; this symphony is renowned for the exceptional expressive intensity of its orchestration.

Brahms is one my favorite composers and out of his four symphonies this symphony is my favorite. The style of Brahms is marked by his supple and masterful control of rhythm and movement that distinguishes him from all his contemporaries from the romantic period in the second half of the 19th century. He was always able to vary the pace of his musical thought in a startling manner, often tightening and speeding it without a change of tempo.

And unlike many of his criticizers like composer Richard Wagner, Brahms kept himself away from the exploitation of new harmonic effects and tone colors (which were the main styles that marked music in the romantic period) for their own sake, that’s why he was accused of formalism, of being old fashioned and of being too much influenced by the classicism of the past.
However, he utilized new and unusual effects in a way to enhance the structural nuance and not for their own sake, which allowed him to let the fiery emotional range of the romantic spirit strongly appear in all of his works. And critics nowadays agree that no 19th century composer is able to surpass him in his command of harmony, tonality and rhythm.