“Brahms and Liszt” is Cockney rhyming slang for “pissed” as in “drunk”. I used to frequent a wine bar in London called the Brahms & Liszt. In fact, I may still have a beer mat from it somewhere or other.
One would be hard-pressed to find two more different musickal personalities of the 19th Century to pair together than these two. Although Brahms – who was younger than Liszt – admired the older man’s admittedly fantastic keyboard abilities, he became increasingly critical of what he considered Liszt’s wilder compositional style as he became more secure in his own technique. The relationship of these two started out cordially enough, but rapidly deteriorated over the years.
I have always wondered whether whoever came up with the expression realized this, or whether it was just a happy coincidence.
Personally, I have no trouble taking sides. To me, Liszt’s musick is the stuff of pure egomania, as, apparently, was everything else in his life.
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November 7, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Anchovy
But–but–but–there is some good Liszt (though there’s certainly some dreck too). I’ll just assert rather than argue, lest I become even more tiresome than usual.
November 9, 2008 at 12:26 am
The Bovina Bloviator
Yes indeed there is good Liszt, e.g. Années de Pèlerinage, a fine collection. I guess he was a teensy bit egomanical but let’s not forget, he did take minor orders later in life and after doing so, lived chastely and piously, when it was daylight.
November 9, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Christine
Yes, but Liszt is such fun to play (Waldesrauschen comes to mind).
November 9, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Robbo
One of these days I mean to write a longer post on it, but the fact is that I haven’t played anything but Bach for going on two years now. Listened, yes, but not played. Just don’t want to.