On the Ugly German Composer

Maybe in my musical autobiography, I gave the impression that I detest everything Johannes Brahms ever wrote. This is not the case. I tend to like his large ensemble music. It is his chamber works that drive me to fits of rage, especially his piano music. I have no beef with the orchestral or choral works (in fact, singing the Neues Liebeslieder Walzer was one of the great musical joys of my life).

A similar situtation is found in Ravel, who could orchestrate like none other, but wrote the noodliest piano pieces known to man. I never could find anything to like in his piano music, even when I played the piano. It just seemed that one was wasting time playing Ravel, when one could be playing Debussy.