Brahms and Bach were both in an unusual position: their profound mastery of compositional craft was partly made possible by their position at, even past, the en

Brahms and Bach were both in an unusual position: their profound mastery of compositional craft was partly made possible by their position at, even past, the end of the tradition of music they represent. By the time Bach was writing his intricate contrapuntal masterworks, the world had moved on to homophony, and while Brahms was crafting balanced, classically-proportioned works, Wagner and his followers had been boiling Romanticism into Expressionism. (I have to take issue with your characterization of the late Beethoven quartets as "the pinnacle of chamber music". I prefer the term "dissolution". (And I always enjoy your comments on musical topics.))