Schoenberg's arrangement of the vigorous Piano Quartet, Op. 25 by Brahms has often been criticized for unidiomatic touches, such as the chromatic writing for brass (a style of orchestral thinking which never became a part of Brahms' musical vocabulary although it became technically possible even before he wrote his First Symphony). Purists object to the uncharacteristic use of coloristic percussion, such as xylophones, in the final movement.

These criticisms lose sight of the main issue, which is that the orchestrated work brilliantly presents in new garb a major chamber work which too few people would otherwise get to know. The overall orchestral sound, moreover, has the burnished richness and thickness we would expect from Brahms—never mind that Schoenberg achieves it by use of heavier reliance on brass doublings than Brahms would have used. (Schoenberg, perhaps with tongue in cheek, suggested that if Brahms had recourse to these "modern" scoring touches he would have used them, no doubt aware that all these elements of scoring were well known throughout the last half of Brahms' career.) In short, it is a vigorous and attractive version that does carry Brahms' message very well into a new medium.

© Joseph Stevenson, Rovi