I don't want to get into this like in the Brahms and Liszt topic, and I might get flamed for saying this, but in my opinion a lot of the "emotion" in Brahms 1 is staged. It's the piece of his in which I feel this problem is most evident, and I would willingly shut up about all other Brahms pieces if only to talk about this one. Brahms 1 is a concerto worth playing because it's very well designed (particularly for 51 minutes) and is never as pretentious as, say, the Grieg. But the emotional content is another story. I don't know about you, but the melodies are too eloquent, grandiose and high-minded to speak to me. The second theme in the first movement, for example, slams F major in your face in the most eloquent way possible rather than letting the key and atmosphere speak for itself. The piano entrances are too perfectly placed to the extent of sounding staged. Personally it sounds like his compositional ability speaking in those spots, rather than whatever emotion was behind the piece.
And honestly, to me the entire piece sounds designed, manufactured, staged because he follows the "rules" so predictably. When he states the second theme in the parallel major near the end of the first movement and then falls back into D minor, he does it so unsubtly and so predictably that it's evident it's not because he's trying to depict a glimmer of hope that gets shattered or something - he's just following the expectation for how you're "supposed" to wrap up a minor sonata-allegro movement. The slow movement is a happy, gentle, sunshine-meadows movement because it's the epitome of what a slow movement is "supposed" to be - a nice, balm contrast to the dark minor movement which came before. The finale is a fast romp to a triumphant finish in D major because that's how a concerto's "supposed" to end. And if you're getting furious at me for listing these so-called rules and expectations, which I imagine you are, talk to Brahms about it. He didn't have to follow them, they're not concrete rules. But he did follow them, and he did extremely well because of his mad compositional skills. An idiot couldn't have composed melodies like that and kept a 51-minute concerto interesting. But it sounds staged to me - powered by compositional design and expectation rather than emotion.
That's my Brahms 1 schpeal. *waits for the flaming and criticism and outrage* *hides*
Poll
Topic: Emotional Concerto Poll. I HAVE TO CHOOSE!