# Calling all Brahmins



## elysimonoff (Jul 28, 2013)

All four of Brahms’ masterfully orchestrated symphonies (especially the two in minor keys) literally take my breath away, and, for as long as I can remember, always have. I wondered why, looked it up, and got this clinical explanation. Neuroscientists describe the phenomenon as the release of dopamine sending a signal to the brain’s nucleus accumbens (the critical component in the brains pleasure center) communicating with the superior temporal gyrus. Given all that, I am no less enthused.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

I can't wait for MillionRainbows to weigh in on this thread...


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

The symphonies are GREAT!!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Here's an interesting quote from _Music, The Brain, and Ectasy_: Through using MRIs, a team of brain researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University has discovered that when we listen to music, blood rushes away from areas of the brain linked to fear or depression and toward areas associated with intense pleasure: the same areas aroused by sex, chocolate, coffee, alcohol, and illicit drugs.

"Music recruits neural systems of reward and emotion similar to those known to respond specifically to biologically relevant stimuli, such as food and sex, and those artificially activated by drugs of abuse . . . This is quite remarkable, because music is neither strictly necessary for biological survival or reproduction, nor is it a pharmacological substance." Robert Zatorre, the leader of the team.

It sounds like Brahms' symphonies, for you, are better than ... uh, chocolate.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Manxfeeder said:


> Here's an interesting quote from _Music, The Brain, and Ectasy_: Through using MRIs, a team of brain researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University has discovered that when we listen to music, blood rushes away from areas of the brain linked to fear or depression and toward areas associated with intense pleasure: the same areas aroused by sex, chocolate, coffee, alcohol, and illicit drugs.
> 
> "Music recruits neural systems of reward and emotion similar to those known to respond specifically to biologically relevant stimuli, such as food and sex, and those artificially activated by drugs of abuse . . . This is quite remarkable, because music is neither strictly necessary for biological survival or reproduction, nor is it a pharmacological substance." Robert Zatorre, the leader of the team.
> 
> It sounds like Brahms' symphonies, for you, are better than ... uh, chocolate.


Needed to quote all of that, for context. Either your synopsis is incomplete, or those folks at McGill were sloppy in their music selections. The first time I heard Stravinsky's "Rite", my 'old' brain ganglions had me reaching for the tree limb a couple times.


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

elysimonoff said:


> All four of Brahms' masterfully orchestrated symphonies (especially the two in minor keys) literally take my breath away, and, for as long as I can remember, always have. I wondered why, looked it up, and got this clinical explanation. Neuroscientists describe the phenomenon as the release of dopamine sending a signal to the brain's nucleus accumbens (the critical component in the brains pleasure center) communicating with the superior temporal gyrus. Given all that, I am no less enthused.


I'll comment on the neuroscience when I've a little more time, but just to get something straight about the title 'calling all Brahmins' - a Brahmin is a Hindu scholar, not a lover of Brahms.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

elysimonoff said:


> Calling all Brahmins










..................................


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Bix said:


> I'll comment on the neuroscience when I've a little more time, but just to get something straight about the title 'calling all Brahmins' - a Brahmin is a Hindu scholar, not a lover of Brahms.


 you beat me to it ,whether they might like Brahms is a moot point.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

PetrB said:


> View attachment 21916
> 
> ..................................


That's called a Brahman (that was all I wanted to post,this new rule is stupid).


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

moody said:


> That's called a Brahman (that was all I wanted to post,this new rule is stupid).


and all this time I was misspelling it and mispronouncing it as "Brahmsian." Tsk. Tsk.

Brahmsite, however, which is found in the German Alps, is an extremely dense mineral with a remarkably complex structure.


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## astronautnic (Mar 25, 2013)

elysimonoff said:


> All four of Brahms' masterfully orchestrated symphonies (especially the two in minor keys) literally take my breath away, and, for as long as I can remember, always have. I wondered why, looked it up, and got this clinical explanation. Neuroscientists describe the phenomenon as the release of dopamine sending a signal to the brain's nucleus accumbens (the critical component in the brains pleasure center) communicating with the superior temporal gyrus. Given all that, I am no less enthused.


Whatever "Brahmin", "Brahman", "Brahmsian" , "Brahmsianer" , your "clinical explanation" absolutely speaks my "mind" (and "other areas associated with intense pleasure"


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

In Hinduism, *Brahman* is "the unchanging reality amidst and beyond the world", which "cannot be exactly defined", but is Sat-cit-ānanda (being-consciousness-bliss) and the highest reality. (Wikipedia)


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

aleazk said:


> In Hinduism, *Brahman* is "the unchanging reality amidst and beyond the world", which "cannot be exactly defined", but is Sat-cit-ānanda (being-consciousness-bliss) and the highest reality. (Wikipedia)


"Hindus call this god Brahman,westerners call him the supreme being who makes everything that exists." (From the Hindu website.).
So you have Brahman priests.


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## elysimonoff (Jul 28, 2013)

Bix said:


> I'll comment on the neuroscience when I've a little more time, but just to get something straight about the title 'calling all Brahmins' - a Brahmin is a Hindu scholar, not a lover of Brahms.


George Bernard Shaw, playwright, pacifist, socialist, and music critic did not like Brahms, the man, or his music. He characterized Brahms' aficionados as "Brahmins" (think Boston Brahmins)by which he meant: staid, stodgy, tedious, tiresome, dreary, and deadly dull. In one critique he opined that Brahms was "a sentimental voluptuary... the most wanton of composers"… His music is "trivial". We realize today that these were clearly erroneous and excruciatingly bone-headed critiques. In late life he nullified these opinions calling his earlier animosity to Brahms "my only mistake". Shaw is recognized today as a brilliant music critic. Brilliant, perhaps, but not prescient, or he would have properly recognized, as we do today, that Brahms is, a great and worthy successor to Beethoven.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I think, compared to Schumann, Liszt and Chopin, Brahms is extremely underrated as a Romantic piano composer.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Well, whatever the correct term is, I love Brahms. I adore his symphonies, his choral music, his concertos, his orchestral music, and his chamber music. He's one of those composers that I want to hear everything he's written (and I'm probably getting close).

Regarding the issue of the brain's response to music, I would _love_ to understand in detail why certain brains exposed to certain music respond differently than other brains exposed to the identical music. I suspect that knowledge will not be available for quite some time.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

PetrB said:


> Brahmsite, however, which is found in the German Alps, is an extremely dense mineral with a remarkably complex structure.


Not surprised they chose that name. :tiphat:

Certain pieces of music in certain circumstances are enough to give me emotional amnesia, that is, I forget how I was feeling moments before I started listening. That happened once, I was feeling down about something, brooding too much as usual, but I started listening to some of my favorite high-energy Russian ballet stuff, and in a matter of 3-4 minutes I felt so much better, almost like a physical change. Then I tried to remember how I was feeling about 5 minutes before, and it was only a blur, something my mind wasn't able to recall. I mean, I remembered (barely) what I was thinking about, it's just I couldn't retrace the emotions was having while thinking about it, my new emotions of pleasure from music entirely overshadowed everything else. I then realized that music has a lot more powerful effect on me than I use to think, since it now proved to be an artificial stimulator, just like food or a drug like caffeine, and amnesiac.


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## Forte (Jul 26, 2013)

Manxfeeder said:


> It sounds like Brahms' symphonies, for you, are better than ... uh, chocolate.


I always knew, deep inside, that the Brahms symphonies are actually chocolate...


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Forte said:


> I always knew, deep inside, that the Brahms symphonies are actually chocolate...


And Dark Chocolate, not milk chocolate


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

I'm tired of hearing about Brahms to quite honest, especially when Bruckner and Mahler were so much more compelling composers IMHO.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Neo Romanza said:


> I'm tired of hearing about Brahms to quite honest, especially when Bruckner and Mahler were so much more compelling composers IMHO.


Bruckner? Mahler? Did they write symphonies too? I'll have to check them out! If they haven't been recorded, maybe there's something on YouTube...


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Bruckner? Mahler? Did they write symphonies too? I'll have to check them out! If they haven't been recorded, maybe there's something on YouTube...


Haha, but seriously, I like Brahms but feel his symphonies are a bit overrated. I mean they're a fine cycle, but they never have done much for me. This said, I always liked _Symphony No. 4_ and the opening of _Symphony No. 1_ was just a stroke of genius.


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

IMHO, Brahms was gifted for chamber music; it has a beautiful intensity, but his symphonic work hasn't impressed me as it has had -for example- Mahler, Dvorak & Shostakovich; even when I haven'f finished it's exploration because I get hooked with his eight.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I used to feel that Brahms' symphonies were really overrated too, but then one day they just clicked for some reason.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I loved Brahms, and I loved to play his pieces at the piano. Now I don't care very much, but from time to time I listen to some of his pieces with great enjoy.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

violadude said:


> I used to feel that Brahms' symphonies were really overrated too, but then one day they just clicked for some reason.


I have admired the honesty of some of our whippersnappers, when they admit that some 'standard' music seems overrated to them. That was before I realized that the admissions came from juvenile arrogance rather than humility.


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## Geo Dude (May 22, 2013)

Ondine said:


> IMHO, Brahms was gifted for chamber music; it has a beautiful intensity, but his symphonic work hasn't impressed me as it has had -for example- Mahler, Dvorak & Shostakovich; even when I haven'f finished it's exploration because I get hooked with his eight.


Indeed. I love Brahms' symphonies, but one doesn't know Brahms unless they know his chamber music.


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