I have only the version conducted by Karajan in the 1960s, and
with analog recording, of course. The No.3 is seldom mentioned by the critics,
because his most famous ones are No.1 and No.4. No.1 is regarded as a successive of
Beethoven's No.9 and this gave Brahms worldwide fame. But I really love the 3rd
movement of Brahms's No.3, it is the warmest chapter I have ever heard. The theme is
simple and without climax, but in its smooth flow there is a nature of affection, without
being intimate, a light anxiety and fear of departure. In a grief but still surrounded
with warmth and hope, like the fountain with heat out of the vally of despair.
I'm so impressed by a girl, who sat calmfully in her seat during our fire drill when all
the other people ran out of the building. We stood in the winter wind and I imagined
her still in big fire. Should I ever rush back and rescue her from the disaster?
Was it also cruel to bring her out of the warm space and into the cold wind?
She is so full of characteristic (the genuine gold) but she could really not stand the
coldness. There was a time later she had bad cough, and this is the first time I
noticed her beauty of tenderness. The 3rd movement of Brahms' No.3, a theme that
melts the coldest ice, should belong to her. It is like a streamer in the wind,
waving in its obscure color to me.
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